Chocolate brownie lovers tend to fall into two camps – they are either fans of the fudgy, denser style, or the drier, cake-like consistency. Expat Living editor Anthia Chng falls into the first camp and shares her recipe for easy fudgy chocolate brownies here. “There are two key factors to making sure these brownies turn out fudgy: don’t overmix the batter and don’t overbake,” she says.
Ingredients
• 125g unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 200g semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon instant espresso (Anthia uses Nescafe)
• 1 teaspoon hot water
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (Anthia uses Hershey’s)
• 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius and line an eight-inch square tray with baking paper.
2. Place the butter, sugar and chocolate chips into a large, microwaveable bowl.
3. Microwave in intervals of 30 seconds and stir in between, until the butter and chocolate have melted together. Let the mixture cool down.
4. Mix the instant espresso with the hot water and add it to the chocolate mixture.
5. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and salt into another bowl.
6. After the chocolate and butter mix has cooled down completely, beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well with a whisk after each addition.
7. Add the vanilla extract and espresso mix.
8. Gently fold in the dry ingredients with a big spoon or spatula, and make sure you don’t overmix it.
9. Pour the brownie batter into the pan and bake for around 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the brownie comes out with some crumbs. The middle of the brownie should still be slightly soft to the touch.
10. Take out the tray and let it cool before cutting brownies into squares to enjoy
See more in our wine & dine section:
Where to find the best ice cream in Hong Kong
This article first appeared in the August/September 2018 issue of Expat Living magazine. Subscribe now so you never miss an issue