Brownies

That's not what we had for dinner (we had leftovers) but it's what you and I need to talk about today. Remember how I wasn't so thrilled with the brownies I made on Sunday? Well, a day on they transformed themselves, and I am pretty thrilled. I always forget the rule of baked chocolate: it improves exponentially with age.

Nigel Slater's Brownies: "As dense and fudgy as Glastonbury Festival mud."

golden caster sugar [I used plain old white]—300g
butter—250g
chcolate (70% cocoa solids)—250g
eggs—3 large, plus one yolk
flour—60g
cocoa powder—60g
baking powder—1/2 teaspoon

Preheat oven to 355; line a square pan (23cm) with parchment.

Cream the butter and sugar. Melt 200g of the chocolate in a double boiler; roughly chop the remaining 50g. Let the melted chocolate cool while you beat the eggs into the butter and sugar. Stir in the melted chocolate and chocolate pieces; fold in the sifted flour, cocoa, and baking powder. Pour into the pan and smooth; bake for 35 minutes. A tester will come out of the center wet but not sticky with raw batter.

Place the pan on a cooling rack and surround it with barbed wire and alarms to fend off marauding children, spouses, etc., and serve at least a day later.

PS—What's that you say? You're bummed out by all the metric units? Get over it! If you bake at all you should be baking by weight rather than volume anyway. Invest the $30 in a nice digital kitchen scale; you'll thank me later.