There is something wonderful about what the overwhelming reactions you receive from people when you say the word ‘brownie’ out loud. Eyes light up, mouths start to salivate, and if they’re fresh out of the oven, there’s no holding back. Yes, I am one of those people who always burn my mouth on freshly baked goods, lured in by the incredible scent and unable to wait until they have appropriately cooled.

There is always much debate in our kitchen about what constitutes a good brownie and whether importantly, you prefer a piece from the edges of the tin or from the middle (for the record, I love a fudgy, not fully cooked brownie and cut me a corner piece please). As for filling, there are so many options, be they nutty or fruity, but for me, not surprisingly, the more chocolate the better!

These brownies are incredibly delicious and always a crowd pleaser. They are deep, dense and fudgy, with hints of gooey sweetness thanks to the addition of our handmade gianduja. For those of you wondering, gianduja is a traditional Italian confection and is the combination of chocolate and hazelnut paste, but quite often the traditional recipe has quite a lot of sugar added. Our gianduja is a slightly more refined take on this classic, and we choose to use only single origin milk chocolate, pure hazelnut paste we make ourselves from Italian organic hazelnuts, and crushed hazelnut pieces to add final texture and crunch.

METHOD

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius (150 fan-forced) and butter your tin. You can choose to use a square muffin tin for individual brownies here or a large tin 22cm x 14 cm in which you can then cut brownies to desired size.

Place dark chocolate and butter in a large bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (don’t let bowl touch water) and melt together. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

In a small bowl sift flour and cocoa powder together.

With an electric mixer, whisk eggs and sugar to a thick, pale ribbon stage, then gently fold in chocolate mixture and finally the cocoa/flour mixture. Stir to just combine, then transfer mixture to prepared tin.

Dot with the chopped up pieces of gianduja (press pieces into the mix so that they are three-quarters submerged) and cook for 20-25 minutes. Brownies should be soft and gooey when tested, they will solidify a lot when cooled. Cut in desired shapes or just pop out of the tin.

Huge thanks to Jade the Chocolate Maker for this devilishly decadent Tasty Tuesday series!  You can check out Jade’s scrumptuous work on the Monsieur Truffe website – all their chocolate handmade by Jade and her team in Brunswick.  You can also follow Jade’s chocolate making adventures on Instagram!