A traditional American recipe, brownies have caught on in a big way in the UK. With the arrival of coffee shops on every high street, brownies came too.

Traditionally, the basic brownie had nuts in it, such as walnuts or pecans, but these can equally be substituted with fruit or pieces of solid chocolate. They are easy to make, but the important element is to make sure they are not overcooked as a good brownie should be very moist inside if not almost gooey.

These brownies are rich and moist and have the addition of raspberries and mint. Once baked, they need to cool down completely before being cut into portions as they can fall apart very easily when hot.

As a change to the basic recipe you can add a variety of different ingredients and flavours for example macadamia nuts, whole almonds or ground almonds, fresh raspberries and cherries, dried cranberries, cherries, mango, peach, apricot or blueberries, mint and orange zest.

Chocolate, Raspberry and Mint Brownies

This quantity, which can be scaled up, makes approximately 12 pieces

Ingredients

Dark chocolate 250g

Unsalted butter 250g

Soft light brown sugar 300g

Eggs 3

Plain flour 100g

Baking powder ½ tsp

Cocoa powder 30g

Raspberries150g

Chopped mint5g (1 tsp)

Method

1.Melt the chocolate and butter together. Whisk the eggs and sugar for a few minutes until they are pale and light.

2. Sieve the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder together.

3.Mix the melted chocolate into the egg mixture and fold in the flour. Quickly fold in the raspberries and mint.

4.Bake (170C) for 30-40 minutes. A sharp knife pushed into the centre should come out still moist with a few bits of mixture sticking to it. It will solidify on cooling. Once cold, take out of the tin and cut into pieces.