Dine with Dina

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EPIC Fudgy Cardamom Brownies....

Dina Macki

Isn’t weird how everyone claims to have a great brownie? I mean there really needs to be a brownie competition to establish who actually is the go to for brownies! And if there is one, I now after 25 years feel confident enough to enter!

I am proud enough to say I can cook and bake very well, but I have always been embarrassed to admit how much I sucked at brownies! Part of me felt it was okay, as everyone is selling them but then lately quarantine got me thinking that I just need to master this so I can create epic flavours for you all! I am so HAPPY to tell you that I have mastered the perfect brownie after a GAZZILION attempts and as long as you follow all my tips you won’t go wrong!

Ps. Can we ignore my not so appealing photos. You have all been going crazy for me to get this recipe out that I haven’t got the perfect shot yet!

MUST DO TIPS:

  1. You need scales, everything must be accurate - slightly too much flour or coco powder and it will flop.

  2. Good quality ingredients are good to use, but I’ll let you into a secret…. I have used galaxy hot chocolate powder with these before and I didn’t notice a difference.

  3. If you don’t have butter don’t worry, I do use dairy free butter sometimes and it’s fine.

  4. You MUST sieve the flour otherwise when you fold it in it will lump up and then you’ll spend too much time knocking out the air while you take out the lumps.

  5. Timing is crucial. A few minutes over and you are doomed! If you want them super ridiculously fudgy than 23 minutes is good. If you need them slightly less 25-26minutes is your number.

  6. An electric blender is crucial unless you have arms of steel as you need to whip those eggs like no tomorrow - this will give you the rise and stop them from being dense.

  7. You MUST melt the butter on the hob, you need a vigorous bubble to really melt the chocolate and coco powder, a microwave melt won’t do this.

  8. You need to roughly chop the chocolate into small pieces otherwise when you pour the melted butter over, you’ll have a thicker consistency and we NEED runny and silky.

  9. When folding in the flour make sure to just fold it in till you don’t see it, DON’T over work it, this will give you cake and not brownie.

  10. At the half way point, you’ll need to remove them from the oven. TRUST ME, this is crucial for an even brownie and for that cracked surface. It sounds scary but it’s the BEST tip. You’ll have to bang it on your counter top, I know sounds even more crazy but trust me, PLEASEEEE!

  11. Once your edges come out clean when you stick a fork in it, you know it’s time to bring them out. Don’t panic if the middle isn’t cooked - they will continue to cook when they come out as the baking dish is still hot.

  12. Lastly (of course) I use Cardamom you can use Vanilla, but I prefer this for the smell and flavour it brings.

  13. This recipe uses a 8inch Square tin.

  14. FOLLOW ALL THESE RULES OR DON’T CRY WHEN IT COMES OUT WRONG!

Ingredients:

  • 150g Dark Cooking Chocolate, divided

  • 35g Cocoa Powder, divided

  • 170g Butter

  • 170g White Sugar

  • 55g Dark Brown Sugar

  • 3 Medium Eggs

  • 1 TSP Sea Salt + Extra for Sprinkling

  • 1/2 TSP of Ground Cardamom or 1 TSP of Vanilla Extract

  • 85g Plain Flour


Method:

  1. Heat your oven to 180°c and a line your tin with two pieces of greaseproof paper (going each way) so that you are able to pull the brownies out later.

  2. Begin my roughly chopping your chocolate and placing 110g of it into a bowl with 25g of coco powder.

  3. Melt your butter on a stove, until it is vigorously bubbling and then immediately pour over the chocolate and coco mixture. Leave to sit for two minutes and then whisk till silky smooth. It should have a very loose consistency.

  4. Set aside and let it cool slightly

  5. In a large bowl combine both sugars, eggs, cardamom and salt. Whisk them on a medium speed till your batter becomes thick, pale and doubles in size. Mix for about 4-5 minutes.

  6. Once your egg mix has reached the right stage, while still whisking, pour the melted chocolate mixture in and continue whisking till incorporated.

  7. At this stage your eggs have been whipped up super well and WE DON’T want to lose this.

  8. Sieve in your flour and the remaining coco powder, then drop in 20g of the remaining chopped chocolate and fold in so carefully till you can’t see any flour. I do about 6 big folds, sometimes I see a bit of flour but when I pour the batter into the baking dish it mixes in.

  9. Pour the batter in your baking dish, sprinkle over the remaining 20g of chopped chocolate and place in the oven for 10 minutes.

  10. After 10 minutes, remove from the oven and BANG the baking dish on your counter top 3 times, then sprinkle sea salt over.

  11. Place it back in the oven for another 10 minutes. At the end of this time I pull it out and stick a skewer in the edge to see if it’s clean. My oven is slow, so I put it in for a further 3 minutes and the edge came out clean. 23 minutes is perfect for me as I get a gooey centre which I LIVE for, but you can add an extra 2-3 minutes if you want.

  12. Remove from the oven, leave it to cool in the baking dish for 10 minutes then pull out of the tray and leave to completely cool, or eat it hot with ice cream if you fancy!