Swedish-style brownies

Ingredients

125g/4½oz butter, plus extra for greasing
100g/3½oz dark chocolate, broken into pieces
200ml/7fl oz plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
50g/1¾oz cocoa powder
250g/9oz caster sugar
30g/1oz vanilla sugar
2 free-range eggs, lightly beaten

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3. Line a deep-sided baking tray with lightly buttered greaseproof paper or foil.
2. Put the butter and chocolate into a large bowl, place over a pan of simmering water and allow to melt.
3. Sieve the flour, baking powder and cocoa into a bowl and set aside. Remove the melted chocolate from the heat and stir in the caster sugar and vanilla sugar. Stir in the eggs and fold in the flour.
4. Pour the chocolate mixture into the prepared cake tin. Place in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes. The top should be firm but the inside should feel soft when lightly pressed. Allow to cool in the tin on a wire rack. Remove the brownies from the tin and cut into squares.
Note: You can buy vanilla sugar in some supermarkets and delis, but it's easy to make your own. Just put a vanilla pod into a jar with some caster sugar - the sugar will absorb the aroma and flavour from the pod.