Olive oil and pecan brownies

Not that brownies can ever be described as ‘good for you’ (shame on those who try!), but I’ve developed this recipe to use a wonderful, heart-healthy light olive oil instead of butter but still retain that gooey, more-ishness that a good brownie should have.

This is such an easy-to-bake recipe it would be perfect to get your children involved in the cooking. Maybe they could help could turn this into a birthday or Fathers Day treat.

It’s actually a highly adaptable recipe: you could swap out the milk chocolate chunks for the recipient’s favourite chocolate bar too or swap out the pecans for white choc chunks (double chocolate brownies!) or other fruit or nuts as preferred. Macadamias and hazelnuts/cobnuts make especially delicious alternatives that pair with the chocolate.

I‘m very flattered that Filippo Berio liked this recipe so much that they’ve added it to their website.

Ink Sugar Spice blog https://inksugarspice.wordpress.com/

Notes

Don’t use a fruity or virgin olive oil for this (as the flavour would overpower and it’d really be a waste too!), something like Mild & Light or a Classic olive oil would work very well here
Do stick to the right size tin. The brownie mix is the perfect volume for the height of a 20cm x 20cm (8″x 8″) tin… using a larger or smaller tin will change the texture of the brownie along with its height (a shallow wide tin would produce overbaked dry brownies and a smaller higher tin may mean the brownie is still raw in the middle)
When testing to see if the brownies are done with a skewer, this is not quite the same as testing a sponge cake…the brownie is supposed to be moist in the middle so the skewer will not come out dry. If it has a dry crust to the top but some sticky brownie mix on the skewer it’s done… if it’s very wet it still needs a little longer
You can substitute other nuts if you can’t find pecans. Walnuts are the closest match, but macadamias would also work well
You’ll notice I’ve put (g) grams for the olive oil, not the liquid (ml) millilitres. Grams and millilitres are interchangeable (for most liquids) when weighing out. I’ve used grams as it’s so very much easier to measure out the olive oil straight into your saucepan on a digital scale. If you don’t have a digital scale, just measure out the equivalent (100ml) in a liquid measuring cup

Equipment

Small saucepan
Bowl
Square baking tin, 20cm x 20 cm (about 8″ x 8″)
Baking parchment or paper
Wooden spoon
Flexible spatula
Digital scales (or liquid measuring jug)
Kitchen towel

Ingredients

Classic or mild & light olive oil (don’t use an extra virgin) – 100g
Dark chocolate, around 70-72% cocoa solids – 150g
Tipo 00 or plain flour – 150g
Eggs, large – 2
Caster sugar – 120g
Vanilla extract – 1 teaspoon
Baking powder – 1 teaspoon
Milk – 2 tablespoons
Milk chocolate – 100g
Pecans – 40g

Method

Warm your oven up to 180°C fan/190°C conventional
Put your saucepan on your scales and weigh out the olive oil and break in the dark chocolate
Warm the olive oil and chocolate over a low heat, stirring with the wooden spoon
Remove from the heat when the chocolate is almost completely melted: it will continue to melt
Leave to one side to cool a little (you can use it once it’s got to about room temperature)
Chop up the milk chocolate and pecans into large chunks and leave for later
Prep your baking tin by lining with baking paper or parchment and leave an overlap so you can use this to lift the brownies out once they are cooked
Lightly oil the baking paper by dampening a sheet of kitchen paper in a little oil and rubbing it around the lined tin
Weigh out the flour, caster sugar, baking powder, vanilla extract, egg and milk into the bowl and mix it all together until it is all fully incorporated
The chocolate and oil should be cool enough to use now, so pour it into the bowl and mix it in thoroughly
Add the chocolate chunks and pecans and swirl through the mix
Pour the mix into the prepared tin, using the flexible spatula to get every last bit out and smooth the surface over with a spoon
Cook on the middle shelf for 23-25 minutes
Once cooked, leave to cool almost fully in the tin, then lift out using the overlap of baking paper you left
Cut into nine large squares (or smaller bites if you prefer)
Delicious served warm with vanilla ice cream or cream and strawberries or leave to cool and enjoy as a tea time treat