Big swirly brown comfort – AKA Black & White Brownies

When I was little I used a cry a lot. I was just one of those weepy children who cry over everything. My dad always knew how to make me smile though. As tears drizzled down my  pink cheeks he used to sweep them up with his Dad sized sausage fingers & eat them!

It always made me laugh. I could have used it yesterday.

I don’t know if it is the move, or having finished school or just being a little further away from everyone but I have been feeling a little bit alone lately. My dad lives in another state (granted it is only about 45 minutes drive just over the border) my sister is 4 hours away and everyone has their own lives and stuff to deal with. I guess I am just saying I have been feeling a bit blue.

It was time to take comfort into my own hands and Nigella seems to know a thing or two about comfort eating. Now was not the time for subtlety, it was the time for blunt force sugar, butter & chocolate. Aren’t brownies a joy?

And since I can’t choose between a blondie and a brownie, here we have both. Unapologetically swirled & mingled into something new & so right I can’t help but smile.

My favorite thing about a good brownie is not the gooey center or the chewy texture (although they certainly help). My absolute brownie must have is a flaky sugary crust that develops on the top of the brownie that flakes & sticks to your fingers….heaven. These achieve a great crust because they have lots & lots of sugar, you can’t skimp on the sugar with brownies, they just aren’t the same without it.

I know you are going to ask too, what is up with your cardboard baking box? Isn’t that kind of dangerous? Are you trying to use up your old moving boxes?  Well no, they have a story but you will have to hold your horses for a couple of days to hear about those because they’re really quite incredible.

 For the recipe you basically divide the 2 kinds of chocolate into their own bowls then add half the ingredients to each, so you end up with 2 brownie batters to swirl together. I doubled this recipe for my big tray which I cut 40 generous servings from, lay  myself right on the timber deck & consumed while listening to the birds.

Black & White Brownies

(Adapted from Nigella Lawson’s “How to be a domestic goddess”)

Ingredients:

• 185g good quality dark chocolate
• 185g good quality dark chocolate
• 375g unsalted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 5 eggs
• 500g caster sugar
• 120g plain flour
• 10 eggs

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 180c & line the bottom & walls of a 30cm brownie pan with baking paper.
2. In 2 separate microwave safe bowls (or 2 heavy bottomed saucepans over low heat) melt the chocolate with half the butter, stir until smooth & set aside to cool.
3. In a large bowl, cream the eggs, vanilla & sugar until pale. Beat half of the egg mixture into each bowl & then half of the sifted flour to each until you have 2 bowls of smooth brownie batter.
4. Spoon the blondie &  brownie batters into your prepared brownie pan, alternating between the batters & then marble with a teaspoon. You don’t want them mixed together..just happily mingling.
5. Rest the brownie batter for about half an hour. This step is optional however I think it adds to the crusting process.
6. Bake uncovered for 30-40 minutes until the surface is crusty. Leave to cool with the oven door ajar & whatever you do keep your kids, husband, boyfriend, pets out of the house until it is cooled because they will instantly want to stick a spoon right in the middle.