French Style Triple Chocolate Brownies

Unsurprisingly, I love reality cookery TV shows. I love the recipes, the presentation, the dramatic music- will the chocolate fondant still be runny in the middle? Dun dun duuuuuun. Why do so many contestants go with the fondant option? There's a split second when the outside is crunchy with sugar and the centre is oozing with chocolately goo. A moment either side and it's wrong, just wrong.

I feel like screaming at the TV- "it's a moelleux au chocolate you need, a moelleux!". They never listen.

What's the difference between a fondant and a moelleux you ask? Nothing. A molleux is acceptable with a runny middle or allowed to cool and solidify into a squishy cake. This is where we can get clever. What's better than a squishy-middled chocolate cake? A squishy-middled chocolate cake dotted with nuggets of milk and white chocolate and served as brownies.

These are the best brownies ever. There will be no argument. I've done the research and none compare.

You'll need:

200gr salted butter
200gr dark chocolate (min. 70% cocoa solids)
3 large eggs
250gr caster sugar
90gr plain flour
40gr cocoa powder
100gr white chocolate, chopped into chunks
50gr milk chocolate, chunked

Begin by melting the butter and chocolate together. This can be done in a heat-proof bowl over boiling water on the hob or by microwaving (is short blasts of 30 seconds before removing from the microwave to stir). Set aside to cool.

Using the balloon whisk of your mixer, beat the eggs and sugar on a high setting. After 2-3 minutes, the mixture will be pale and frothy, like a custard.

Remove your bowl from the mixer and, using a spatula, gently fold the melted chocolate mixture into the egg and sugar. The aim is to keep as many of those frothy bubbles intact as possible, they'll be very important later. 

Work with the spatula until everything is combined.

Next, sieve in the flour and cocoa and fold in, scraping the sides of your bowl with the spatula to ensure everything is incorporated. Again, aim to keep the bubbles!

Finally, fold in the chunks of milk and white chocolate.

Pour the mixture into a 25cm x 20cm shallow tray, lined with baking parchment. The mixture won't rise very much in the oven.

Bake at 180 degrees Celsius (160 in a fan oven) for 25 - 30 minutes. They're done where the top has a solid papery (from the bubbles!) coating and the brownie wobbles when you shake the tray. At this stage, your kitchen will smell amazing. Not the-love-of-small-child amazing. Chocolately amazing- even better.

Resist the urge to dig in right then and there. Be strong. What happens now may sound a little unorthodox but trust me. Place the tray of hot, runny brownies in a safe place and walk away from them. Ignore them for as long as you can, ideally 24 hours but 6 will do. At this time, lift the parchment and brownie out of the tray and tuck in. They'll be very soft on the inside with chunks of milk and white chocolate spotted throughout. The top with be papery with cocoa. You won't need a big piece, it's an intense chocolate hit best served with ice-cream or whipped cream.