Brownie-licious

Pardon my first attempt at baking brownies. I'm quite aware that my brownie ain't the prettiest or the tastiest that you've ever seen or eaten (not that you got a chance to do so :D). Anyway, I'm quite a novice in baking cakes and such, so I'm constantly picking up learning points each time. In any case, the brownie was nice enough for my hubby (he's not the type that would lavish me with praises if I didn't deserve them) though I thought it could have been fudgier. I later checked with my friend, the baking expert, who enlightened me on how I could have done the job better. Thanks Annie. :D

I got the recipe from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Quick-and-Easy-Brownies/Detail.aspx and referred to Annie's blog too but I halved the amount as I didn't have enough eggs on hand to make the full recipe.

Here's my adaptation of the recipe:

Brownie

Ingredients

• 8 tablespoons white sugar
• 120ml melted butter
• 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 2 eggs
• 8 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup walnut halves (I didn't add these as I'm allergic to tree nuts but I just left this ingredient here as an option to those who aren't allergic to nuts)

Method:

1. Melt the butter.
2. Combine melted butter, vanilla essence, beaten eggs and sugar.
3. Sift in the cocoa powder.
4. Combine flour, baking powder and salt and mix well. Sift in this mixture last. (I learned from Annie that this is DIY self-raising flour provided you follow the instructions carefully!)
5. Mix the ingredients together (but don't overmix the batter or you'd get hole-y brownies like mine) and pour batter into the cake tin.
6. Pre-heat the oven to 170degC (I used 180degC so the brownie turned out less fudgy... I'd definitely bake it at 170degC in future!).
7. Bake the brownie at 170degC for 25-30min (I baked it for 25min).
8. Remove and let brownie cool on wire rack before removing or cutting the brownie.
9. Serve with vanilla ice-cream on the side (which I didn't have this time!)