Gluten-Free Chocolate Brownies with Hazelnuts

I don’t often eat brownies but I do like them very much as an occasional treat.  When I saw a recipe for a gluten-free version in The Guardian I decided to give it a try.  That recipe suggests walnuts where I decided upon hazelnuts.  But you can use any chopped nuts, dried fruits or chopped up biscuits you might like, or you can just make the brownies without extras.

The recipe is very simple and doesn’t take much time at all.  In fact I would think it takes longer to cool down and remove from the cake tin than it does to actually make them.

I really enjoyed how mine turned out, they tasted great and the texture was chewy and dense like a brownie should be.  The taste was very good indeed and the extra crunch and flavour given by the hazelnuts were an extra treat.

Ingredients:

• 300g(1 3/4 cups) dark chocolate chopped
• 250g(2 sticks + 2 tbsp) unsalted butter, cubed
• 3 medium eggs(large in the USA)
• 275g(1 cup + 6 tbsp) soft light brown sugar
• 100g(3/4 cup) roughly chopped hazelnuts(or other nuts, dried fruits etc)
• 75g(1/2 cup+2 tbsp)cornflour(cornstarch)
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/350 F.
2. Grease and 8 inch cake tin and line with parchment paper.
3. Place the chopped chocolate and the butter into a bowl and melt on a pan of barely simmering water(or in the microwave), stirring occasionally until all melted and combined. Don’t let the bowl touch the simmering water.
4. Set the chocolate mixture aside.
5. In a large bowl add the eggs and sugar and whisk together until all combined and the mixture has tripled in volume.  I did this with my hand mixer, but a stand mixer will work, or it can be done manually.
6. Add a little of the chocolate mixture and stir in, to temper the egg mixture a little. If, after 35 minutes the mixture is too wobbly, indicating that it is set enough, bake for more time, 5 minutes and check again.
7. Add the remaining chocolate mixture and fold in until all is combined.
8. Add the vanilla extract, salt and cornflour and fold in until all is combined.
9. Add the chopped nuts and fold in.
10. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and give a little shake to ensure it is spread into all corners.
11. Place in the oven and bake for 35 minutes, until the top of the brownies has set and giving the pan a gentle shake shows that it is still slightly wobbly.
12. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before removing from the tin and cutting into squares.