Indulge in some delicious homemade brownies

Brownies - the gooey, chocolatey epitome of comfort food.

When you think of homemade brownies, you might envision a serene afternoon, the scent of cocoa wafting through the air, and a perfectly clean kitchen. But let's get real. Making homemade brownies is an adventure filled with joy, mess, and more than a dash of chaos.

Last weekend, my cravings for brownies took over and I decided it was time for said adventure of joy, mess and a bit of chaos. The smell of baking brownies is pure heaven.

You hover around the oven door, peeking inside every few minutes as if expecting the brownies to escape. And then, the moment of truth arrives.

You pull out the pan and are greeted with a sight that brings tears to your eyes. They look perfect! You let them cool for an excruciatingly long 10 minutes before slicing in. The first bite is nirvana, and all the chaos of the kitchen fades away. The brownies are fudgy, rich, and worth every mishap of misshapen cuts and squares.

The top is cracking and you hope that the gooeyness is set enough and doesn’t look like black lava sneaking its way down a volcano.

Biting into a fresh, warm brownie must be the equivalent of pure innocent enjoyment! But let's talk ingredients:

350g chocolate, 375g unsalted butter, 6 eggs, 1tbsp vanilla bean paste (this is worth the money), 500g caster sugar (I think I used the word indulgent a few times), 225g plain flour, 2tbsp unsweetened cocoa, 150g chopped walnuts (macadamia nuts also work nicely).

I sometimes throw some white chocolate chips in as well. Every brownie recipe seems to require ‘the finest quality chocolate’ – something I don’t have much time to search for, so chocolate bars from the supermarket are perfectly fine. I tend to use a mix of milk and dark chocolate (to make up 350g).

First melt the chocolate and butter in a large pot. As the chocolate and butter melt (make sure to give it the odd stir to avoid the chocolate sitting lazily on the bottom of the pan and starting to burn), you turn your attention to the dry ingredients.

Mix the flour and cocoa together in a bowl. In another bowl start whisking the sugar, vanilla and eggs together – now, here’s where people tend to cut corners and just give it a quick mix. Oh no, be patient here and whisk it until the sugar has completely dissolved and the mix resembles a thick and delicious looking custard (trust me, it is worth the effort).

Leave the chocolate butter mix cool down before adding the egg mix (otherwise you are getting ugly looking black scrambled eggs – and no one would confuse that with indulgence).

Mix it well together and finally add the flour and mix in well until every single bit of flour has disappeared into the warm embrace of the chocolate. Finally add the nuts and chocolate bits if using.

Pour the mix into a prepared pan and bake at 180C for about 25 minutes – the top should look light in colour and should have a light wobble.

Don’t be tempted to cut into the baked goodness no matter how much it is teasing you – leave it for at least 10 minutes, then you can let loose! If your face isn’t covered in chocolate after eating or if you can stop after just one slice, I don’t know if we can be friends!