Chocolate Cocoa Brownies

My fiance and I cycle to work every day. It's a 30 minute ride each way, which doesn't sound like far, but crikey, you'd be surprised how loud my tummy's grumbling by 11am! So I think that I deserve a little snack with my mid-morning coffee. And so do you.

Everyone has their own particular preference with brownies; fudgey, gooey, cakey, crispy. I prefer a fudgey brownie in the afternoon, a gooey rich one in the evening, and a cakey one with a crisp crust in the morning (not all on the same day I promise). This recipe will give you a brownie of the morning category, fairly light, not too rich, but still devilishly chocolatey, with a satisfying cakey crumbly texture.

Think brownie, think expensive? This recipe uses cocoa, instead of solid chocolate. Most brownie recipes call for 3 or more eggs, 200g high quality dark 70% chocolate and copious amounts of butter. The use of cocoa in this recipe, instead of dark chocolate (as well as more conservative quantities of butter -phew) however means that brownies can be an 'everyday' treat, instead of a luxury. In fact, I calculated that this recipe costs £2.51! Cut into 12 slices, that's just 20p per brownie.

Another advantage is that brownies are so moist, that they last for ages in the fridge without getting dry or stale. Mine were still fresh and yummy at the end of the week, and I reckon (if we hadn't scoffed the lot) they'd have been good into the next. This recipe will give you 9 big chunky brownies, or 12 more modest portions. That's at least a weeks worth of brownies for two!

Chocolate Cocoa Brownies - adapted from Leiths Baking Bible

115g margarine
45g cocoa powder
2 eggs
225g caster sugar
1tsp vanilla essence
55g self-raising flour (try wholemeal self-raising, for wholesome brownie points)
50g chopped hazelnuts (or whatever nuts you fancy or happen to have in the cupboard)
55g chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat your oven to 170 degrees (fan) and line a 20cm square cake tin with baking parchment.

Melt the margarine over a low heat. I like to do this in the microwave (30 seconds on 50% power) because its fast and results in less washing up! Once it's melted, stir in the cocoa powder to make a chocolatey paste.

Put the eggs and the sugar in a mixing bowl and beat for a minute or so with a hand blender, or for 5 minutes or so by hand. Then fold in the chocolate paste and vanilla essence.

Sift the flour into the bowl, then fold it in.

Pour half the mixture into the cake tin and spread it evenly. Then sprinkle with the chopped nuts and chocolate chips. Top with the rest of the mixture - think brownie-nut sandwich.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out damp, but without uncooked brownie bits stuck to it.