How to nail perfect gooey brownies every time

These brownies are a labour of love but will be eaten in a flash, says Ella Walker

Pay attention: melting white chocolate can be tricky

Melting white chocolate can be tricky. When it is in the bowl over a pan of just simmering water, don’t stir it or it may well seize and go lumpy – leave it for 10 minutes and even though it won’t look melted it will be fine,” says cookbook author Donal Skehan.

Perfect fudgy dark and white ripple brownies with raspberries

Makes: 16 squares

Ingredients:

100g (3½oz) dark chocolate, broken into pieces

100g (3½oz) white chocolate, broken into pieces

150g (5oz) unsalted butter, softened

200g (7oz) caster (superfine) sugar

75g (3oz) soft light brown sugar

3 large free-range eggs

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

150g (5oz) plain (all-purpose) flour

150g (5oz) raspberries

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/350F/gas 4 and grease and line a 20cm (8in) square cake tin with baking parchment.

‘Everyday Cook’ is a ‘real celebration of family life’

2. Melt the dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of just simmering water. Set aside to cool a little bit. Do the same with the white chocolate in a separate bowl.

3. With a hand-held electric whisk, beat the butter and both sugars together until light and fluffy. Beat the eggs together in a small jug then gradually pour them into the butter and sugar mixture, whisking the whole time until you have a fluffy smooth mix. Beat in the vanilla bean paste and then the flour. Divide the mixture in half.

4. Gently fold the melted dark chocolate into one half of the mixture and the white chocolate into the other half.

5. Roughly dollop the mixture like a checkerboard into the prepared tin and push the raspberries into the mixture. Us the end of a teaspoon to swirl the two colours together.

6. Bake the brownies for 35–40 minutes so that a skewer comes out almost clean but still a little bit sticky. Leave to cool completely in the tin before cutting into squares. These taste even better the next day so try not to eat them all straight away!

Recipe extracted from ‘Everyday Cook’ by Donal Skehan (published by Hodder & Stoughton, £25), available now.