Sticky Chocolate Brownies with a Baileys option

These sticky, chocolate brownies are just so gooey and delicious that they are impossible to resist and if you are looking for a treat for the grown ups only, then you can make these with a splash of baileys as well. As I like my desserts alcohol free, this is the not so naughty version but I will tell you when to add your Baileys if you decide that that is the tasty option for you.

There is a section where the flour needs to be folded into the mixture and as sometimes people find folding difficult to do I made a little video to show you how it is done. Thanks Kate Corrigan (my sister), who is spending her isolation time with me, for filming that. We will spend this time getting fat together (she is very disappointed that I didn't make the Baileys option). Also please excuse my dishevelled, unbaker-like attire. I hadn't planned on doing a video when I started baking the brownies or I would have gotten much more dolled up. Hopefully you are more interested in the Brownies than me anyway.

So let's go!

Ingredients

• 100g of butter
• 175g of caster sugar
• 75g of Dark muscavado sugar
• 75g of Dark Chocolate.
• 50g of milk Chocolate
• 1 generous table spoon of golden syrup
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon of Vanilla extract
• 100g of all purpose, plain flour
• 2 level tablespoons of cocoa powder
• 1/2 a level teaspoon of baking powder
• 80ml of Baileys liqueur (Optional)

TIP -

When it comes to chocolate that you are cooking with, you don't need to use Belgium's finest but I tend to steer away from cooking chocolate. It has such a synthetic favour and has much less sugar in it which may be the reason I dislike it personally.  I have a big sweet tooth.

If you are a less experienced Baker then you might feel more comfortable using cooking chocolate but I find Aldi's brand Dairyfine is perfect - it has a great flavour and it copes very well with being melted. Also Lidl'd own brand (I can't remember the name) is great chocolate for cooking with too.

Any brand of chocolate will do really but some brands such as Cadburys don't cope as well with being melted. The chocolate burns quite easily so if that is what you are planning to use,  then stay by your pan as it is melting, stirring continuously. Don't turn your back on it for a second.

Method

1. Prepare your tin. I am using an 8 inch square tin with a loose bottom. That isn't necessary. Any 8 inch tin will do. Trace around the outside of the tin and cut out a square of baking parchment. Lightly grease your tray with butter. and place your parchment onto the bottom of the tray.

2. Place the butter, sugars, dark chocolate, milk chocolate and golden syrup into a heavy based saucepan and heat gently on a low heat, stirring until the mixture is well blended and smooth. Remove from the heat and leave to cool for at least 20 mins. You are going to add the eggs next and if your mixture is still hot then your eggs will cook and you will get little lumps of scrambled egg in your brownie - you don't want that!

3. Beat the eggs and vanilla extract together and then whisk into the chocolate mixture.  If you are adding Baileys then now is the time to whisk that in also.

4. Sieve together the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder into a bowl and then add it to the chocolate mixture folding it in carefully using either a metal spoon or a spatula.

Here is a video of me doing this. It is 2 minutes, 49 seconds long because I am unable to edit anything (no technological skills whatsoever!). You don't need to watch until the end unless you want to. You'll see all you need to see in the first minute.

5. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees - 160 degrees if you have a fan oven. My fan oven isn't the greatest so I always set mine to 165. Know your own oven. Spoon your mixture in to the pan you prepared earlier and bake for 25 minutes.

TIP - you'll know the brownies are done when the top is crisp and the edges of the cake are starting to shrink away from the sides of the pan. The inside will still be quite stodgy and soft to the touch.

6. Leave to cool completely in the pan and then cut into 9 squares.

And finally - a TIP! These chocolate brownies hold all their lovely chewy deliciousness in their edges. The best brownie in the whole tray is the one in the corner. You can either share that little nugget of information or keep it all to yourself. Enjoy!!