Winter sea salt brownies – Recipe

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Currently compensating for all my failings as a PhD student by eating my way around London and bribing my entire department with baked goods. Still unsure if I want to be Nigella or marry her. Definitely want to live in a gingerbread house. Think Beetroot is an abomination.

Latest posts by Flora Renz (see all)

Weekend Brunch Flatbreads – Recipe - 22 January, 2016
Winter sea salt brownies – Recipe - 19 November, 2015
Grilled Aubergine Bruschetta - 19 August, 2013

The first time I made these it was not entirely on purpose. I got up early to make brownies for a friend’s birthday and in my semi-comatose state ended up using flaky salt instead of table salt. Well turns out it actually worked. These have that lovely combination of sweet and savoury that you get in peanut butter brownies but with the added benefit that that one friend of yours, the one with the horrible nut allergy, isn’t going to choke to death in front of you.

They are at their best warm with a scoop of ice cream. Warm chocolaty gooeyness combined with cold crisp vanilla ice cream is just what the doctor ordered now that the weather is all miserable and grey again.

Makes an 8×8 pan of brownies

90g dark chocolate, broken into pieces 115g unsalted butter, cut into chunks 250g granulated sugar 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I use ground up vanilla pods but I have yet to find those in an English supermarket, so extract will do) 1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt 85g plain flour

1. Line an 8x8inch pan with baking paper and butter& flour the sides

2. Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees (160 if you like me own a fan oven that tends to turn everything into charcoal)

3. Melt butter and chocolate together. I tend to do it by putting my mixing bowl on top of a saucepan full of water on the hob (You can use your microwave if you prefer, but don’t come crying to me if you’re cleaning butter splashes out of it for the next week)

4. Let butter and chocolate mix cool a bit then stir in sugar

5. Add eggs one at a time. You are not trying to make this mixture particularly fluffy so no need to go crazy with the mixing.

6. Stir in vanilla and sea salt

7. Stir in flour. Scrape the sides of the bowl down once or twice with a spatula or knife to make sure everything is combined properly.

8. Bake for 25-30min depending on how hot your oven is and how gooey you want them. They are done when you can insert a skewer in the middle and it comes out clean.