The Last Bake in the UK

I’ve been making these chocolate ginger brownies for years. The original recipe was adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe and shared online, and I’ve made it my own versions over time.

For a long while, I didn’t use cocoa powder—I wasn’t a fan of the texture it produced. But after baking chocolate mint brownies a few weeks ago, I realized something important: you can never have too much chocolate in a brownie. So now, it’s cocoa all the way.

In this adaptation, I reduced the sugar content to 150 grams, increased the ginger and spices to 1 teaspoon, and added ½ cup of chocolate chips.

The difference was incredible. So chocolatey. So chocolatey. I’ve discovered that biting into chunks of chocolate in a homemade brownie feels so good.

There’s not much more to say about that. These little beauties kept me company during my penultimate week at work.

We shared them with friends during a tabletop role-playing game. And sometimes, I just savoured them with a cup of tea, curled up on the sofa by the Christmas tree.

Pure bliss.

Ingredients

1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
3 oz (75g) dark chocolate, broken into squares
1 cup (200g) caster sugar (I reduced to 150 g)
2/3 cup (95 g) plain flour
1/4 cup (30g) cocoa
2 eggs
1 tsp fresh root ginger, grated
1/2 tsp vanilla (I increased to 1 tsp)
1/2 tsp nutmeg (I increased to 1 tsp)
1/2 tsp ground ginger (I increased to 1 tsp)
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground cloves (I increased to 1/2 tsp)

1/2 cup of chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 170°C and grease and line a 20cm square baking tin. Just
2. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a medium sized saucepan over a low heat. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
3. Add all the other ingredients and stir until smooth.
4. Pour the batter into the lined pan and bake [for 30 minutes] until set.
5. Cool in the pan, and then cut into 16 squares.