Off-Grid Baking: Brandy Butter Brownies

January can be a depressing month so what better way to fight the blues than with a delicious, boozy brownie? Not the way to keep up with the January dieting but everything in moderation! I gave a lot of it away to friends.

This recipe was adapted from a  recipe found on Sofia's Journal. I had bought some brandy butter from Waitrose, reduced to 19p and wasn't sure what to do with it, when I had a brainwave - to add it to a brownie recipe for a tasty twist. It worked really quite well, giving a subtle extra, 'grown-up' taste to the brownies, and they were perfectly dense but gooey with a crusty top.

P.S Brandy butter is just sugar and butter in equal measures with a dash of brandy, so since it's not the season for it any more, then just adding a shot of brandy (cognac or rum would work nicely too) to the recipe has the same effect.

100g / 4oz butter (200g / 8oz if you've not got brandy butter)

40g / 1.5oz caster sugar (140g / 5oz caster sugar if you've not got brandy butter)

200g / 8oz brandy butter if you have it OR 25ml brandy/rum/cognac

200g / 8oz dark chocolate

175g / 6oz dark muscovado sugar

4 eggs

50g / 2oz ground almonds

50g / 2oz plain flour

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/Gas 4 then grease and line a 20cm square brownie tin. Heat butter (and brandy butter if using it) and chocolate in a pan until melted. Stir through both sugars, and shot of spirit if using it. 

2. Leave to cool for 5 minutes then stir in the (beaten) eggs until smooth. Mix in the almonds and flour then pour into the tin. Bake for 30-35 minutes. It should be just cooked through in the middle with a slight crust to the outside.

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