Marbled Fudgey Brownies

Being an extrovert stuck at home ALL THE TIME with no traveling plans or Bumble/Hinge boyfriend was really a special kind of hell. My go to, to ease the pain of only having virtual friends and plans, is baking. My family has been subjected to a myriad of baked goods but my Mum’s famous brownies are a real crowd-pleaser and were able to bring a glimmer of joy into another day in the barren wasteland of life that was level 5 lockdown in South Africa.

So without further ado, I present to you some chocolate porn and the recipe for the best brownies ever (these brownies are so good that my friend packed a few in her Kilimanjaro snack bag and ate them all the way up the mountain until she got altitude sickness and gave them to me)

Marbled Fudgey Brownies

Ingredients

• 120 g butter, divided into 2 x 60g blocks
• 90 g 70% or 80% Lindt dark chocolate (any dark chocolate works but the higher quality ones provide the best results)
• 250 g granulated white sugar, divided into 2 x 125g servings
• 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
• 2 eggs
• 120 g plain flour, divided into 2 x 60g servings
• 90 g white chocolate (use a chocolate such as Milky Bar instead of baking chocolate for the best flavour and texture)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 C and line a square cake tin with grease-proof paper or a small amount of butter.

Combine 60g butter and dark chocolate by stirring in a pot over medium heat, until just melted (stir regularly to ensure chocolate doesn’t burn). Remove from heat, stir further to melt completely and set aside. In a separate bowl beat 125g sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1 egg on medium speed with an electric mixer until combined and the mixture has lightened in colour. Stir in the melted chocolate mixture. Sift and gently stir in the flour until mixture is just combined. Set mixture aside.

Repeat above process using the white chocolate.

Drop large spoonfuls of the two mixtures into cake tin but do not mix together. Once the cake tin has been filled with the mixture, run the back of a knife or spoon through the mixture to create light swirls.

Bake at 180 C for 35 minutes. Remove from oven and pierce with a skewer – the skewer should come out with sticky, but cooked brownie on it. This is the ideal texture for the brownies, but if you prefer them a bit firmer, cook for another 5 – 10 min.

Allow brownies to cool before cutting.

Best enjoyed with a glass of Pinotage or full bodied Merlot

X x x

Seemz

(Recipe adapted from Superb Slices by Woolworths (1998))