Hazelnut and Red Berry Brownies

I think I need to write this post to prove I'm still alive! Hubs and I were away the first week of the month, and I left a batch of brownies in the cake tin for the 'lodgers' - FB and CT. Since we've been back, we have been very busy, but I did manage to cook another batch of brownies from my favorite recipe.

This time I used sunflower oil instead of olive oil - I think using olive oil is an expensive waste, as the flavour of it is lost in the chocolate flavour. Instead of adding 100g of mixed chopped chocolate, I added 50g finely chopped hazelnuts and 50g of dried red fruit, from a mix called Berries and Cherries, roughly chopping the large pieces of fruit.

Adding dried fruit to brownies is unusual for me, but the result was better than I expected, as I think the fruit complimented the hazelnuts well! As usual, the brownies were moist and chewy, and richer than usual as I used a small proportion of 85% chocolate in the melted chocolate - about 1/3.

Now I really need to get thinking about this month's baking challenges, as I've lost almost half the month already!