Food, life and love.
Chocolate Pecan Fudge Brownies
If you love chocolate then you have to love chocolate brownies, this recipe results in a deliciously fudgy chocolate brownie, the key is to only work the ingredients as little as possible and to make sure that you aren’t tempted to bake them too long. I often hear the argument that brownies are bad for you, I would agree if I thought happiness and joy were bad things, what is bad for you is a lack of self control Susan (and these brownies will test that self control). If it helps these brownies can be frozen just wrap them properly before freezing and allow them to defrost in the fridge so that they are not rushed.
Wrap them individually once they are completely cool so that you don’t need to defrost everything at once. To help cut the brownies into small pieces you can chill them in the fridge first, then they will be much easier to cut into smaller size pieces (I think this would technically make the brownies healthier – unless you eat two pieces at a time). I have used pecans because I am a huge fan, but hazelnuts or walnuts will work just as well – if you can’t eat nuts just leave them out – the brownie is.
Chocolate Pecan Fudge Brownies
Ingredients
240g butter, melted and cooled
2 tablespoon vegetable oil, canola / sunflower
200g brown sugar
150g white sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 tsp instant coffee (optional) (Note 1)
150g all purpose flour
120g good quality, unsweetened cocoa powder – we love Nomu!
1 teaspoon salt
100g roughly chopped chocolate or large chocolate chips, the better the chocolate the tastier the brownie
100g pecan nut halves (you can totally use pecan pieces if they are available and cheaper)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 175°C then line a baking tray (20x20x5) with parchment paper, up the sides (Note 2), and set aside. In a small bowl add your 2 tsp of vanilla extract to this add your coffee and stir until dissolved – if not using the coffee ignore this step.
- In a large bowl combine melted butter, oil and both sugars, the eggs, vanilla & coffee and the salt then whisk for about one minute until evenly combined and light in color, you are not looking to add volume just to get the ingredients thoroughly combined.
- Place a large sieve over the bowl and add both your cocoa and flour (Note 3), now sift the mixture. Then fold the wet and dry ingredients together until JUST combined (do NOT over mix). Once the mixture is 70% combined add your chocolate chunks and finish folding through.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, then smooth the top. Now arrange your pecan halves or sprinkle the chopped pecans over the top evenly.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the centre of the brownies just barely jiggles and is JUST set to the touch.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature before removing the brownies from the baking tray and slicing into 16 brownies. Enjoy!
Notes
- Note 1: You won’t taste coffee as a flavour but it will help to intensify the flavour of the chocolate.
- Note 2: By allowing the paper to go up on two side it will make the job of lifting the cooled brownies out of the tray much easier.
- Note 3: By sieving them together you will avoid the risk of any small lumps of cocoa powder.
