the leap year brownie celebration

Spring mood on the special day of the year :) What else to celebrate, but a spongy, soft, moist, delicious brownieeee :) Unlike the peanut butter brownie this one is like a cloud of fluffyness. The texture is lighter, moister, crazy heavy on the chocolate though... who cares? And it includes one of my favourite fruits - apricots :) the idea? "borrowed" from a baking book in one of the corners of the local Marks & Spencer (yes, I like exploring cookbooks while no one is watching, thank you :D)

and yes white tulips are definitely my fav flowers, reason to miss the Netherlands for a while..

back to the recipe...

Apricot, almonds and choc buttons brownie

Ingredients

(makes 16 pieces)

200g dark chocolate

150g butter (into cubes)

1 cup brown sugar

4 eggs

1tsp vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

pinch of salt

1/2 cup flaked almonds

1 cup apricots (cut into long pieces)

handful of chocolate buttons

choose your pattern...

don't forget to make your dough though, here is how:

the chocolate chopped into pieces, butter cubes and your cup of sugar are melted into a luscious liquid in a pot on medium heat (doesn't mind if your sugar is not fully melted, mine granules were quite big); then put aside and leave to cool off for a while.

beat eggs in a bowl and start adding to the chocolate mixture in portions... with a wooden spoon... carefully until all of the eggs are absorbed; vanilla extract added in the process; one cup of flour also has to be incorporated within the mixture

a brownie tray is covered with baking paper; oven is preheated to 175C. The dough is evenly spread in the tray, so choose your apricot/choc buttons/apricot pattern; I went flowery and then random on the almonds;

bake in a pre-heated oven (175C) for 25-30 minutes; don't let it lose the moisture (and I think this is hardly achievable :)

leave it cool down, enjoy a piece with a friend, and then let it live in an air-tight container;

come back to them on a sleepy afternoon :)