Walnut and Fudge Brownies

Giving in to the excesses of the season, I used my 'best' brownie recipe, which gives dense, sweet and chewy brownies. The recipe comes from a 2000 edition of Good Food magazine, but I've never seen it on their website.

For a 7"(18cm) square tin, you use a large bowl over a pan of simmering water to melt together 100g each of 70%+ chocolate and unsalted butter, then take the bowl off the heat and allow to cool slightly, so that the chocolate mixture isn't so hot that it scrambles the eggs. Stir in a pinch of salt, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract and 300g of caster sugar. Next beat in two large eggs, one at a time, and then 125g plain flour and 2 tablespoons of cocoa, sifted together. Beat the mixture for about 1 minute, until smooth, the transfer to the lined baking tin. Bake at 180C for about 40 minutes, or until a probe comes out with a few damp crumbs still sticking to it.

I doubled the recipe and stirred 100g of chopped walnuts and 100g of chopped fudge into the batter. This was so that CT could have half the batch, to start his Christmas eating with some home cooking. I used Lindt cooking chocolate which gave a really dark colour to the brownies. I'd forgotten how good these brownies are! And how rich - I could only eat half a portion at a time!