Pistachio and Dark Chocolate Brownies

Competition Winner!

There’s an excellent opportunity for some child labour here because the pistachios taste so much better if they’re the shell-on salted kind (trust me, the salt really works), so enlist the help of your small people to shell enough pistachios to end up with 4oz. They’ll love you for it, I promise:

A bar and a half (225g) of Green and Black’s 70% dark chocolate
6 oz butter
3 eggs
8 oz caster sugar
4 oz plain flour
4 oz shelled salted pistachio nuts (roughly chopped, or don’t bother if you’re really idle)
So, help your child melt the butter and chocolate in a bain-marie (bowl over saucepan of simmering water – yes, I know you knew that, but just in case…). Take it straight off when it’s nearly there as you only need it just warm – you should be able to put your finger in it - any hotter and you’ll have scrambled eggs. Let them mix up the eggs and the sugar in a bowl(you don’t need to whisk or anything, just until they’re combined), then add in the butter/chocolate mixture, the flour and the nuts and mix. Bung it in a greaseproof paper-lined tin (I used my lasagne tin which is rectangular (11x7x1.5) and bake for about 35 mins at 180C/350F/gas 4 until it looks all shiny and cracked on the top, but still deliciously squidgy in the middle. Cool, then stuff into face. Magic! - Becky Wiggins