Brownie muffins with pecans

I don’t really need to convince you to bake these – after all, the word “brownie” should be tempting enough on its own! And with the addition of crunchy pecans… even better. Baked as individual muffins, everyone gets their own rich, chocolatey treat.

Makes 10 muffins.

Ingredients for the brownie muffins:

• 80 g butter
• 150 g dark chocolate, chopped
• 100 g light brown soft sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 100 g plain flour
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder

Ingredients for the topping:

• 50 g dark chocolate, chopped
• 30 g pecans, roughly chopped

All the ingredients should be at room temperature.

Place the butter in a saucepan and melt it over a low heat. Remove from the heat, add the chopped chocolate and leave for 2 minutes. Stir until smooth and glossy. If necessary, strain the mixture through a sieve. Leave to cool slightly.

In a separate bowl, lightly whisk the eggs with the sugar and vanilla extract using a balloon whisk. Add the cooled chocolate mixture and stir until combined. Sift the flour and cocoa powder directly into the bowl and mix until just combined. Finally, fold in the additional chopped chocolate.

Line a standard 12-hole muffin tin with 10 paper cases. Divide the batter evenly between the cases and sprinkle the tops with the chopped pecans.

Bake at 185°C for about 20 minutes. The brownies are ready when the tops are set and slightly springy, while the centres remain soft and fudgy. A skewer inserted into the middle should come out coated with melted chocolate, but there should be no traces of raw batter. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Recipe source: The Australian Women’s Weekly Everyday Cakes and Cookies.