Here goes another classic. I tried different recipes and this gives the best results.

Ingredients

unsalted butter…185 g

best dark chocolate…185 g

plain flour…85 g

cocoa powder…40 g

white chocolate…50 g

milk chocolate…50 g

large eggs…3

golden caster sugar…275 g

(this makes pretty big brownie, I usually just make half of that)

Steps

  1. Cut unsalted butter into small cubes and tip into a medium bowl. Break best dark chocolate into small pieces and drop into the bowl.

  2. Fill a small saucepan about a quarter full with hot water, then sit the bowl on top so it rests on the rim of the pan, not touching the water. Put over a low heat until the unsalted butter and best dark chocolate have melted, stirring occasionally to mix them. [I just melt it directly in the saucepan]. Leave the melted mixture to cool to room temperature.

  3. While you wait for the chocolate to cool, position a shelf in the middle of your oven and turn the oven on to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.

  4. Tip plain flour and cocoa powder into a sieve held over a medium bowl. Tap and shake the sieve so they run through together and you get rid of any lumps. [this step is important, make sure to sieve the ingredients]

  5. Chop white chocolate and milk chocolate into chunks on a board.

  6. Break large eggs into a large bowl and tip in golden caster sugar. With an electric mixer on maximum speed, whisk the eggs and sugar. They will look thick and creamy, like a milk shake. This can take 3-8 minutes, depending on how powerful your mixer is. You’ll know it’s ready when the mixture becomes really pale and about double its original volume. Another check is to turn off the mixer, lift out the beaters and wiggle them from side to side. If the mixture that runs off the beaters leaves a trail on the surface of the mixture in the bowl for a second or two, you’re there.

  7. Pour the cooled chocolate mixture over the eggy mousse, then gently fold together with a rubber spatula. Plunge the spatula in at one side, take it underneath and bring it up the opposite side and in again at the middle. Continue going under and over in a figure of eight, moving the bowl round after each folding so you can get at it from all sides, until the two mixtures are one and the colour is a mottled dark brown. The idea is to marry them without knocking out the air, so be as gentle and slow as you like.

  8. Hold the sieve over the bowl of eggy chocolate mixture and resift the cocoa and flour mixture, shaking the sieve from side to side, to cover the top evenly.

  9. Gently fold in this powder using the same figure of eight action as before. The mixture will look dry and dusty at first, and a bit unpromising, but if you keep going very gently and patiently, it will end up looking gungy and fudgy. Stop just before you feel you should, as you don’t want to overdo this mixing.

  10. Finally, stir in the white chocolate and milk chocolate chunks until they’re dotted throughout. [I like to add some nuts here as well, for example some pecan nuts]

  11. Pour the mixture into baking tin, scraping every bit out of the bowl with the spatula. Gently ease the mixture into the corners of the tin and paddle the spatula from side to side across the top to level it.

  12. Put in the oven and set your timer for 25 mins. When the buzzer goes, open the oven, pull the shelf out a bit and gently shake the tin. If the brownie wobbles in the middle, it’s not quite done, so slide it back in and bake for another 5 minutes until the top has a shiny, papery crust and the sides are just beginning to come away from the tin. Take out of the oven.

This looks like a lot of steps but it’s actually very simple. The important thing is to put as much air as possible into the sugar-egg mix so make sure you mix it really well. If you mix the rest of ingredients gently you will get very light brownie. I actually like my brownie to be a bit denser so I’m not that careful when mixing in the melted butter and flour. You will have to try couple of times to find the consistency you like most but the idea is simple: the more air you keep in the mix the lighter the brownie. If you don’t sieve the flour you will have to mix more to get rid of the lumps and you will get denser brownie.

The result is amazing, light brownie with great, crunchy crust.