This post was written as GoodEggFoodie.com. Please excuse any wonky formatting. Visit the homepage SHE-EATS.com for the latest, shiny new content.

---

One of my favourite cakes, and the one which first made me think ‘yeah, I can bake’ is a Nigel Slater chocolate hazelnut cake. That cake is the inspiration for this brownie.

I’ve done away with my usual dark sugar and replaced with caster sugar which has resulted in a really, really crisp top. I like it, but use soft dark sugar if you wish for more ‘squish’ up top!

I was sent this new product, Peanut Hottie, to try. It’s an instant hot drink, but peanut rather than chocolate. I must admit, I couldn’t make friends with it as a drink- I don’t think my brain would compute that I was drinking peanuts! But I subbed out some flour and used this in its place to add to the overall nuttiness of these brownies. Don’t worry if you can’t get your hands on it, just replace with 15g of plain flour.

Use whatever nuts you wish – my lazy inclination lead me to the bag of mixed chopped nuts in the baking aisles, but if you chose whole nuts, whack them in the food processor to blitz them to pieces.

Nut Brownies

Makes 1 tray

•  300g chocolate – dark or a good milk would work for this. I used 60% dark
• 125g butter
• 65g Greek yoghurt
• 3 eggs
• 3 tbsp espresso – cooled
• 250g caster sugar
• 70g flour
• 15g Peanut Hottie
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 75g chopped nuts

What you do

• Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature
• Line / grease your brownie tin
• Heat the oven to 170c

•  Melt the butter and chocolate and leave to cool slightly – hot mixture will make everything curdle
• Wisk your eggs and sugar in a food processor and mix until frothy and pale
• Add in the yoghurt and espresso, followed by the cooled chocolate and butter
• Gently fold in the flour, Peanut Hottie and baking powder
• Add the nuts and give one quick blast to mix them without grinding them to dust
• Pour into your tray and cook for 35-45 minutes. A wooden kebab skewer or knife inserted carefully will come out with just a few crumbs on when ready
• Resist the temptation to take it out of the tray until it is cool- it might just fall apart. Then lift it gently out and finish cooling it on a rack before cutting and serving

In other news – I’ve got a new brownie tin- ooh exciting eh! It’s one of these which you put a ‘frame’ in so you get individual little brownies all with a crispy edge. This was my first use and I think I need a bit more practice with it! I didn’t fill it because I was worried about it spilling over when I put the frame in;  that was a mistake so these are a little flat and in hindsight they would have been fine. But if I can persevere it could be a godsend- 18 perfectly bitesize brownies with a crispy top and edge. What every brownie needs surely!

NB My usual brownie tray is 27cm x 18cm. If yours is smaller but deeper, cook a little longer. If it is shallower, reduce the time by a couple of minutes.