Salted Caramel Chocolate Brownies

Cut 200g unsalted butter into small cubes and tip into a medium bowl. Break 200g dark chocolate into small pieces and drop into the bowl.

Fill a small saucepan about a quarter full with hot water, then sit the bowl on top so it rests on the rim of the pan, not touching the water. Put over a low heat until the butter and chocolate have melted, stirring occasionally to mix them together.

In another saucepan add all the ingredients for the salted caramel sauce. Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan set over low heat, and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Turn the heat up and let the sauce bubble. Allow this to bubble for 2-4 minutes until golden and syrupy. Leave to cool in the fridge for 20 minutes before adding to the brownie.

Remove the bowl from the pan. Alternatively, cover the bowl loosely with cling film and put in the microwave for 2 minutes on High. Leave the melted mixture to cool to room temperature.

While you wait for the chocolate to cool, position a shelf in the middle of your oven and turn the oven on to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.
Using a shallow 20cm square tin, cut out a square of non-stick baking parchment to line the base, we would recommend that you butter the tin and dust it with flour so the brownie doesn’t stick to the tin.

Tip 85g plain flour and 40g cocoa powder into a sieve held over a medium bowl. Tap and shake the sieve so they run through together and you get rid of any lumps.

Break 3 large eggs into a large bowl and tip in 275g golden caster sugar. With an electric mixer on maximum speed, whisk the eggs and sugar. They will look thick and creamy, like a milkshake. This can take 3-8 minutes, depending on how powerful your mixer is. You’ll know it’s ready when the mixture becomes really pale and about double its original volume.

Pour the cooled chocolate mixture over the eggy mousse, then gently fold together with a rubber spatula. Plunge the spatula in at one side, take it underneath and bring it up the opposite side and in again at the middle. Continue going under and over in a figure of eight, moving the bowl round after each folding so you can get at it from all sides until the two mixtures are one and the colour is a mottled dark brown. The idea is to marry them without knocking out the air, so be as gentle and slow as you like.

Hold the sieve over the bowl of eggy chocolate mixture and resift the cocoa and flour mixture, shaking the sieve from side to side, to cover the top evenly.
Gently fold in this powder using the same figure of eight action as before. The mixture will look dry and dusty at first, and a bit unpromising, but if you keep going very gently and patiently, it will end up looking gungy and fudgy. Stop just before you feel you should, as you don’t want to overdo this mixing.

Pour ½ the mixture into the prepared tin, then add spoonfuls of the salted caramel sauce on top of the mix, it will spread when cooking. Then top with the rest of the mix and ensure you are scraping every bit out of the bowl with the spatula. Gently ease the mixture into the corners of the tin and paddle the spatula from side to side across the top to level it.

Put in the oven and set your timer for 25 mins. When the buzzer goes, open the oven, pull the shelf out a bit and gently shake the tin. If the brownie wobbles in the middle, it’s not quite done, so slide it back in and bake for another 5 minutes until the top has a shiny, papery crust and the sides are just beginning to come away from the tin. Take it out of the oven.

Leave the whole thing in the tin until completely cold, then. Lift out the brownie with the parchment. Cut into quarters, then cut each quarter into four squares.

They’ll keep in an airtight container for a good two weeks and in the freezer for up to a month. If they last that long!