Dinosaur Egg Brownies (Finding the Perfect Brownie Part 2)

I'm still continuing my search to find the perfect brownie and this contender comes pretty close to being the chosen one. The edges are lovely and chewy, underneath is dark chocolatey beautifullness. 

I've discovered that the trick is to take them out when you think they're not cooked, because it's likely that they actually are. I have made brownies that are too gooey, but I think it's better to have brownies with too much goo than being dry and terribly disappointing. 

These rank very highly on the brownie scale. Wonderfully fudgy, yet not too oozy....they are close to perfect. We're nearly there guys. There's something missing...I feel like these brownies appeal to the kid in me, but I want something a bit grown up. Like coffee or hazelnuts, ginger, cherries....something a little more sophisticated. 

The M&Ms were a great idea and they look like dinosaur eggs, I also chucked in a daim bar because who doesn't love daim bars? If you haven't tried the Daim cake from Ikea, then you haven't lived.

I've adapted the recipe to suit my own tastes. These will impress most kids and adults (I guess some people will never be impressed, you can't please everyone), they are gorgeous, give them a go. 

Brownie rating: 8.5/10

Recipe I have adapted from BBC Good Food

Dinosaur Egg Brownies

The secret to these brownies lies in two things: how long you cook them and the refrigeration, which both ensure optimum fudginess. 

Makes 12 big brownies, or many more smaller ones. 

Ingredients:

185g/6oz butter

185g/6oz dark chocolate, chopped

85g/3oz plain flour

40g/1 1/2 oz cocoa powder

3 large eggs

135g/4 3/4 oz caster sugar

135g/ 4 3/4 oz muscovado sugar (I used half caster and half muscovado because I love the toffee flavour of muscovado)

1 tsp vanilla extract

3-4 Daim bars, chopped
Enough M&Ms to cover your brownie, I used about four small packs but one big pack should be more than enough 

White chocolate to drizzle (optional) 

1. Melt the butter along with the dark chocolate over a bain marie, or in the microwave until totally melted. Leave to cool. 

2. Meanwhile beat three eggs with the vanilla and both sugars. Preheat your oven to 180C. 

3. Mix the eggs into the chocolate (or the chocolate into the eggs, it really doesn't matter in my experience), and then sieve in the flour and cocoa and mix this in till you have a lovely glossy chocolatey batter. 

4. Stir in the daim bar pieces and pour into your tin. I used quite a small square tin as I wanted my brownies quite thick. Think it's around 23cm x 33cm. But I reckon most smallish baking trays that will work well. 

5. Now what you want to do is do is cook your brownies for 15-20 minutes. Until the brownie has a nice crust and is just about solid on top. Press the M&Ms into the and bake for a further 5-10 minutes, until they start to crack and look like prehistoric dinosaur eggs. The brownies will still be a bit wobbly, but don't worry, they'll set and be gorgeously moist and fudgy. 

If you want to make the brownies sans M&Ms, it takes around 25 minutes for the brownies to cook in the oven.

6. Take the brownies out and allow them to cool in the tin. Then pop into the fridge overnight. You can drizzle with white chocolate at this point before if you like, it's a nice decoration. Next cut with a sharp knife into squares the next day. You can eat them as is, or let them come to room temperature. 

Seriously good! xxx

Another day, another goofy brownie selfie because well, I think it's now a little tradition. Excuse the lovely bout of hormonal acne.