The Best Brownies

I know, I know. Every cookbook you open and every blog you click on, they all claim to have the brownie recipe. The only one you'll ever need for the rest of your life. The one that will change your thoughts on brownies forever. Well, I thought I'd had enough of all of that and had found multiple recipes that all worked equally beautiful. That was until Thursday evening when I set about baking brownies with a new recipe, the 'Best Brownie' recipe from Alice Hart's 'Alice's Cookbook'.

I don't want to get you too excited, or put your expectations too high, but these brownies did get a standing ovation in the office on Friday afternoon. A very tired, very hot afternoon in an office full of chefs. No biggie.

Gooey in the middle, with the perfect crust on top, not too sticky and dense, but not too light and fluffy. These really are the best brownies.

Ingredients

300g dark chocolate

250g unsalted butter

4 free-range eggs

200g caster sugar

150 light brown soft sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

120g plain flour

½ tsp baking powder

Large pinch of salt

20g cocoa powder

Method

1. Grease and line a large, square baking tin (at least 5cm deep). Preheat the oven to 180°C.

2. Melt the chocolate with the butter in a bowl set over simmering water. Chop the remaining chocolate.

3. Beat the eggs, sugars and vanilla together until light and velvety.

4. Sift in the flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa.

5. Pour in the melted chocolate and beat briefly to combine.

6. Stir in the chopped chocolate.

7. Scrape into tin, reduce oven temperature to 170°C and bake for 40 minutes, until almost firm in the middle.