All photography © Heather Elizabeth Wilkinson 2012
For me, the perfect chocolate brownie should be rich (but not sickly), dense (but not too heavy) and, without doubt, moist in the middle.
I’ve tried a fair few recipes over the years (all in the name of research!) and my favourite by far is this one by Nigel Slater - with my own little seasonal twist.
The flavours of chocolate and hazelnut compliment each other perfectly. However, adding a dash of rum to the mix brings a certain element of sophistication – something to warm your cockles on a cold winter's day.
In addition to Nigel’s recipe, I added 4 tablespoons of good quality dark rum and approx. 100g of roughly chopped hazelnuts, added at the same time as the flour and cocoa.
And if you don’t manage to eat all your brownies and they should start to go dry (never a problem in my house), simply wrap them in tinfoil and pop them in a moderately pre-heated hot oven for about 15mins – they will magically come back to life!