Midnight brownies

Well, this is a live recipe post. I woke up two hours ago at 3 am due to how hot it is, while my eczema doesn't leave me a little respite and with a way too philosophical conversation with my boyfriend from last night still in mind which is really troubling me right now in the middle of the night. I just watched a few YouTube videos but at a certain point when your body is awake for more than 1 hour, it just won't go back to sleep that easily and on the other hand my belly is wanting some food so badly. I thought it could be the best time for some brownies baking session, and since brownies are just my favorite thing to bake and eat, and that I just never shared my own recipe, I thought I could bring you in the kitchen with me.

I used:

• 200g dark chocolate 
• 80g butter 
• 4 Medium eggs 
• 300g brown sugar 
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1 teaspoon coffee powder 
• 90g whole wheat flour 
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 

First thing preheating the oven to 150°C, then rounding up all the ingredients and starting melting the chocolate and butter together with a bain marie. I hate when the weather is this hot but the chocolate really takes just a few minutes to melt down which is good. Can I please have a spoon? Stirring, blending well with a spoon while on a medium heat to avoid the mixture to burn. When it's all melted I just turn off the heat and leave the mixture there to cool a little bit while mixing together the rest of the ingredients. In a big bowl I've mixed the eggs with the brown sugar, vanilla extract and coffee powder and blended super well with a spoon. Don't forget that coffee powder even if you don't like coffee as you won't be able to taste it but it really enhances the chocolate flavor and makes everything a lot better and unique. Then I added the chocolate and butter mixture to the egg mixture and had a blend out of it as well before adding the flour and the baking powder and mix everything together again and again. Then I've just taken my new super cool brownies baking tin and lined it with a foil of baking paper (not wet as I find when it's dry my brownies have the best consistency and will be easier to cut into pieces and remove from the baking tin) and then throw in my brownies mixture and leveled it with my spoon. Time for the oven at 150°C for 30/35 minutes but I always suggest to check them out with a toothpick in the middle of the tin when 25 minutes are passed. The toothpick has to be dry but not too much when you pull it out, and with all probabilities your brownies won't be ready after only 25 minutes but we all have different ovens and you never know. With brownies it's all about achieving the perfect texture, not too wet and greasy but still soft and gooey, so you really have to remember to check the oven pretty often. Off to licking the spoons now!

When they start to crack on the surface, then you know you did it right and your brownies are almost ready. When they do, pull them out of the oven and leave them cool for a little bit before cutting them into big squares. I know, you'll be so tempted and most of the times I just can't wait and have to have a bite out of them when they're still hot and way too wet, but we all know brownies are prefect if only slightly warm, when they have sat there to rest and come together. As a reward for having been good this time (have I?) I think I deserve an extra little square paired with some soy vanilla ice cream. I know it sounds crazy I woke up in the middle of the night and thought to just go in the kitchen and start baking, but sometimes you just feel like there's no way you'll be back to sleep peacefully any time soon and you have to do something else instead. Also having your kitchen all for yourself is one of the best things if you love baking like I do, you can take your time and really relax while mixing and blending and cracking those eggs, which I can never do on day time - and hopefully you can treat yourself to these delicious brownies as well. Please let me know if you try this recipe and how they turn out!