They're not Mary's, They're Mine! - Indulgent Walnut Brownies

In my bid to be prepared for the pre-Bake Off baking marathon, I may have gone a little overboard on the Tesco shop and now have a cupboard full of walnuts. So when it was announced that this week's WeeklyBakeOff was Mary Berry's Dark Indulgent Walnut Brownies I knew I was taking part!



Perfecting a brownie recipe is an art form which is completely beyond me; I usually use Nigella's flourless recipe as my mum is gluten free and they make deliciously gooey brownies. That, I think, is the key - I have tasted far too many sad, dry brownies (or maybe I have tasted too many brownies - no, that can't be right!). For me, the perfect brownies also must contain nuts so this recipe sounded promising.



To give the brownies their extra chocolatey indulgence Mary added chocolate chips as well as the dark chocolate melted into the brownie mixture. Wanting to do something a little different, I decided to swap these for white chocolate chunks. I cut big chunks so they wouldn't melt and disappear (as expected, I lost the smaller chunks.)

The recipe said to bake for 40-45 minutes but when I checked after half an hour they were definitely done and the edges were almost burned (oops!). I think I need to buy an oven thermometer as this often happens and I am not convinced of the accuracy of my oven temperature. I definitely need to buy a new tin for traybakes as the one I used was too big so the mixture spread so some of the brownies were thinner than I would have liked.



I was worried that the brownies would be dry, especially as I used less than the extortionate amount of chocolate the recipe called for (not deliberate, I hasten to add, just an error in not taking the recipe when buying ingredients). But in fact they were very moist without being so gooey that they lost all structure.



I must admit that I was a little unsure about this recipes. Not that I doubt Mary is any way but I am always a little hesitant when it comes to brownie recipes. However, they are delicious and are disappearing quickly for a flat that it supposedly on a diet..... I will definitely be repeating this recipe with the full amount of chocolate!