Chocolate Brownies with a Twist

Oh, these are naughty, very, VERY naughty - there is no expense spared here, and not a calorie saved! 

Well, they're chocolate brownies, and I'm a chocoholic, so what else would you expect? There is NO compromising where chocolate is concerned in this house!

However, if you're trying to be good, and want a leetle, leetle there is the option to cut them into little baby brownies and 'reduce' the calories that way. But be careful, they are DANGEROUSLY more-ish...

And if you don't like pecan nuts, you can just leave them out (or even substitute them for something you do like of the same weight) and still have delicious, chocolate brownies.

So, you have choices about how you cut them up. If you want to play baby brownies, you can cut them into 6 each way, giving you 36 mini brownies at 82 calories each. If you want more man-sized brownies, just cut them into 16 (four each way) for 185 calories each. Or don't cut the finished article at all, and treat yourself to a giant-sized brownie - no, don't do that, it's far too dangerous! Anyway, the whole shebang comes to 2,964 calories, so if you're counting, you can figure out how many calories each when you cut it up.

Ingredients

• 100g butter (salted, or use unsalted and add a pinch of salt to the flour) [737 calories]
• 50g good quality cocoa powder (I like Green & Black's Organic) [173]
• 2 medium eggs [176]
• 225g caster sugar (I use golden caster, as unrefined) [902]
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (Madagascan, if you have it) [37]
• 50g self-raising flour [166]
• 50g dark chocolate chips [254]
• 75g pecan nuts, roughly chopped [518]
• Optional - 1 heaped tsp of good quality instant coffee powder really compliments the earthy pecan flavours and makes the chocolate flavours more intense [1]

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4.

2. Lightly grease and line a shallow baking tin (around 23cm/9” square) with baking parchment.

3. Melt the butter, and add the cocoa (coffee powder, if using) and vanilla essence/extract, stirring to remove any lumps.

4. In another bowl, beat the eggs and add the sugar, mixing until smooth, then stir in the cocoa/butter mixture. Gradually add the flour, stirring until fully combined, then mix in the chocolate chips and pecans.

5. Pour into the baking tin, and place into the middle of the oven for 20-30 minutes (check around 20 minutes in case your oven is on the hot side – you don’t want to over-cook your brownies and dry them out) – they should be crisp on the top, and soft in the middle.

6. Leave to cool for 10 minutes, then cut into squares. Enjoy.... also delicious warm with a scoop of ice cream! Keep in an airtight container, or freeze some so that you don't eat them all at once!