Fudgy Walnut Brownies

Chocolate is a fickle thing. Delicate, full of flavour and smooth on its own, it can easily become quite overpowering when made the soloist of most any cake. While I do enjoy eating a piece of wonderfully dark chocolate, I don't jump at the opportunity to have a piece of chocolate cake. Well, I used to jump at the opportunity, but since my teenage years my taste buds have evolved from wanting everything chocolate into wanting, well, more. When I was younger, my Mum found a lemon meringue pie recipe in a magazine, and every so often she would make it. All of my sisters and brothers loved it, but I never even tasted it, claiming I didn't like lemon. Nowadays, it would be quite an impossible task to try to pry me away from anything citrusy.

But today's post is not about lemon or lime, but about the wonderful brownies I made for my au pair children. They were fudgy, chocolaty and walnutty, with hints of coffee and vanilla that made my mouth sing with excitement. Simply wonderful. I adapted the recipe from one I found on Epicurious.

Fudgy Walnut Brownies



Ingredients
250 g unsalted butter
250 g dark chocolate (I used 85 %, would have preferred 70 %)

250 ml sugar
3 large eggs
3 1/4 teaspoons instant espresso powder or instant coffee powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
200 g walnuts

Instructions
Preheat oven to 175 °C / 350 °F. Butter 30 x 20 cm / 13 x 9 inch glass baking dish. Melt butter and chocolate in heavy medium saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat. Let cool 10 minutes.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat sugar, eggs, espresso powder and vanilla in large bowl until blended. Add melted chocolate mixture and beat until smooth. Add dry ingredients and stir just until blended. Fold in walnuts.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Smooth top. Bake until top looks dry and tester inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 30 minutes. Transfer pan to rack and cool completely. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with foil and store at room temperature.) Cut brownies into squares and serve.