Jamie Oliver's Alliterative Brownies

This recipe appeared most recently in a little booklet which Jamie very kindly put together for Red Nose Day this year called "Jamie's Little Book Of Big Treats". It's published under the name "Bloomin' Brilliant Brownies" which why it's easier to refer to them as "Alliterative Brownies" but in so doing, they're no longer an alliteration.

You will be relieved to know that the object of this post is not to explore the curious irony of how how putting a label on something destroys it's original meaning but to post arguably one of the best chocolate brownie recipes I've eaten in my short-ish life and I've eaten many, believe me.

I first made them sometime towards the end of March and they turned out to be better than I hoped but I made them a second time with a change in the recipe and cooking time but they didn't turn out. This time around, I resorted to what I did the first time around and it worked.

I'm now sufficiently satisfied that result of this recipe is reproduceable without any disappointment. I've deviated from Jamie's original recipe so perhaps the renaming is justified although somewhat ironic.

As Jamie was kind enough to publish his recipe in aid of Red Nose Day, please do your bit whenever you use this recipe. You don't have necessarily have to make a donation but at least try to do something nice for someone, even if it means giving them what you baked from this recipe. I won't know whether you do or don't - it's a matter for your conscience.

Enough of my drivel, the recipe is as follows:

Ingredients
250g butter
250g dark chocolate (min 70% cocoa, if not higher)
100g dark chocolate, very roughly chopped (min 70% cocoa, if not higher)
360g caster sugar (use proportionately less if the cocoa content of the chocolate is less than 7o%)
80g cocoa
80g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon amaretto (optional)
50g walnuts (optional; quantity flexible )
75g dried sour cherries (optional; quantity flexible)
1 teaspoon mixed spice for sweets (optional)

Method
Pre-heat oven to 180 Celsius. Double line a 25cm x 15cm cake tin with greaseproof paper.

In a bain-marie, melt 250g of the dark chocolate and butter together and once done, leave to cool. It need not be at room temperature for the next step. In a mixing bowl, thorougly mix caster sugar and eggs - best to use an electric mixer.

Sift cocoa, flour and baking powder together. Add some mixed spice if you like.

Once thoroughly mixed, drizzle the melted chocolate mixture into the egg and sugar mixture while the mixer is still going.

When all the chocolate has been added, stir in flour mixture until there are no more lumps. Add in the remaining 100g of roughly chopped dark chocolate, nuts and cherries and stir to distribute evenly in the batter.

Pour out into the lined baking tin and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Do not use the skewer test as it will hopelessly fail. At the end of the baking time, a crust will have formed at the top of the cake but it will still be wobbly.

DO NOT PANIC. This is how it's meant to be. The reason being is that the chocolate pieces have all melted, making the cake wobbly.

Leave to cool in the tin. The cake will fall in the meantime. Again, do not panic, this is to be expected because of the liquid chocolate will shrink in volume once it solidifies. Once cooled, wrap the brownie, tin and all in a large plastic bag and place in the freezer overnight. The brownie can keep very many months in this state but I assure you that once you've tasted it, there won't be much left to keep around for many days, much less many months.

After having had the overnight cold treatment, remove the brownie from the freezer and lift the brownie out of the tin. If you've lined it properly, it will lift out quite easily. Strip away all the greaseproof paper and using a large, sharp knife, cut into as small or large pieces as you like. These can now be stored in the freezer or in the refrigerator. They taste delicious cold or warmed up briefly in the microwave. The reason for storing it overnight in the freezer is that it's much easier to cut after having had a night in the freezer. If you try it cut it after it's cooled down, it will be very gooey and messy.

Jamie suggests that the brownies be accompanied by creme fraiche and orange zest but if you can't be arsed, a quantity of ice-cream will do. If you really can't be arsed, just eat them out of the freezer. They are a good way to get your daily chocolate fix.

If you want to go OTT with this, you can make a ganache and spread it over the top of the brownie before cutting it up and then have it with chocolate ice-cream. Much as I like chocolate, I think that's going too far. It's nice enough without.