"In this house we have chocolate cake for breakfast" (Practical Magic)

And why on Earth not?! I thought I would share with you my recipe for triple chocolate brownies. These are absolutely delicious but come with a health warning: always make sure you have plenty of people around to share them with!

Ingredients:

275g plain chocolate

275g unsalted butter

325g unrefined caster sugar

4 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

175g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

85g milk chocolate chunks

85g white chocolate chunks

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170˚c and find a baking tin that is around 4cm deep and roughly 25cm by 30cm. Line the baking tin with greaseproof paper and grease lightly with margarine or butter.

Melt the butter and plain chocolate together in a bowl (I usually do this over a pan of boiling water).  When they are melted, add the sugar and mix well. Break the eggs into a small bowl and beat lightly with the vanilla essence. Add this to the chocolate mixture and stir. Add the flour and baking powder to the mixture and fold in thoroughly. Stir in the milk and white chocolate chunks. Pour the mixture into the baking tray and bake for around 25-30 minutes.

When you take the brownies out of the oven, check with a knife that the middle is still sticky but not molten. It can take some experimenting but you are aiming for brownies that are still gooey in the middle, rather than cake-like. Leave to cool before removing from the tray and cut into small squares.  Well, you can cut into large squares if you like, but somehow eating them in smaller pieces seems to make it feel less naughty. Enjoy for breakfast, elevenses, lunch, afternoon tea and supper. *Wink*