My brownies are richer and softer than some classic recipes but are in fact low in sugar and gluten-free. I love the toffee notes of raw sugar and pecans, but you could quite easily replace the pecans with an equivalent weight of your favourite nuts or fruit and nut combinations; such as, dried cherries with walnuts, or macadamias with chopped stem ginger would be scrumptious here, too. Use this recipe as your brownie base to play with.


Ingredients

• 8 oz. dark chocolate, chopped
• 1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces
• 3 eggs
• 1⁄2 cup raw sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1⁄2 cup fine rice flour
• 1⁄4 teaspoon crushed
• sea salt
• 1 cup shelled pecans, roughly chopped

Directions
1 Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

2 Melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Once melted take the bowl off the heat and leave to cool for a few minutes.

3 Beat the eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract together in a separate bowl with a handheld electric mixer, until increased in volume, pale, and fluffy.

4 Fold the rice flour and salt into the egg and sugar mixture and then stir in the pecans, reserving a handful to scatter over the top. Add the melted chocolate and butter mixture and gently fold it all together.

5 Pour the mixture into a 9-inch square brownie pan, base and sides lined with a single piece of foil or baking parchment, and tap it on the work surface to ensure it is level. Scatter the reserved pecans over the top.

6 Bake in the preheated oven for about 15–17 minutes, until risen at the edges but still squidgy in the middle. Don’t worry if it seems undercooked, as it will continue cooking after being taken out of the oven. Don’t be tempted to overcook it or the brownies will be dry.

7 Leave to cool in the pan and then cut into squares of a size to suit you.

Note: The brownies will keep stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Makes 12–16 brownies.

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Excerpted from Chococo Chocolate Cookbook, Copyright © 2011 by Claire Burnet. Photography Copyright © 2011 by Jonathan Gregson. Excerpted by permission of Ryland Peters & Small. All rights reserved.