Baileys Chocolate Brownies

What did you get for Christmas?

Fat.

I got fat.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you had an AWESOME Christmas. What New Year's resolutions do you have? Me - I'm going to cook more (more from scratch)! I am so far 4 days in and going strong. I am doing 3 days better than I did last year.

Actually, that's a lie, I don't even remember what my resolutions were last year. Whoops.

But I divert. 

Back to brownies!

I made these quite a while ago for a party (in an attempt to feed people drinks in the only way I know how) and this was when our oven wasn't working, so I kind of half grilled half baked them. But I would recommend using a working oven, cos, you know, that makes sense.

A few tips for making brownies: When the brownies come out of the oven after the cooking time (usually about 15 minutes), poke a skewer into it to check it's cooked like you would a cake, but when you take the skewer out it should still have some brownie mix stuck to it (instead of when making a cake, when it should have nothing stuck to it)

That way, then you take it out of the oven (the brownies will cook a bit further after you take it out), when they are cool it will be all nice and gooey and fudgy and delicious. And CHOCOLATELY. Oh my.

There seems to be a bit of a Baileys theme to my last few posts. I just... love Baileys =O I would eat cereal with Baileys (if it weren't frowned upon in normal society). I would bathe in Baileys. I would brush my teeth with Baileys.

Actually, I take that last one back. That's kinda gross.

Anyway, here's to 2014, all the best for the next 12 months!

Lots of love,

Baileys Chocolate Brownies Takes about 45 minutes Makes about 20-25 squares 300g / 11oz unsalted butter 300g /10 ½ oz dark chocolate, minimum 70% cocoa solids 5 large eggs 400g / 14oz granulated sugar 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 250g / 8 oz plain flour 1 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons Baileys (I used Baileys with coffee extract) Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4. Line the baking tin with greaseproof paper or baking parchment. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a heatproof bowl suspended over a saucepan of simmering water (alternatively, melt in three or four 30 second intervals in a microwave but be very careful it doesn’t burn, keep stirring after each interval to further melt the chocolate). Beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla and Baileys together in a bowl until the mixture is thick and creamy and coats the back of a spoon. Once the butter and the chocolate have melted, remove from the heat and beat in the egg mixture. Sift the flour and salt together, then fold into the mixture. Pour into the baking tin, and bake for 15-20 minutes until the top has formed a crust that is beginning to crack. A skewer inserted inside should come out with gooey bits stuck to it. When it has cooled for about 20 minutes, cut into squares in the pan.  (You can also add some frosting made up of around 1 cup of icing sugar, 2 tablespoon of butter and 2 tablespoons of Baileys and frost on top of the brownies once cooled and before cutting it into squares). Eat and enjoy!