Moist fudgey brownies

Ever since I've baked my first batch of biscuits in that little Japanese microwave combi oven we have, I've made it a bit of a habit to indulge in some simple baking pleasures during my free time on weekends. Last weekend, it was brownies. Pretty simple and easy to make, and the result is a rich, moist chocolatey sweet treat. I've been told that it is pleasantly not too sweet.

Note - my first batch, baking at 170degC for 30 minutes, had a bit of a cake-like crumb texture (as you can see in the first picture on the left). I have since tried baking it at 160degC for 25 minutes and it came out beautifully fudgey (picture on the right) - even better than my first batch.

Ingredients

100g butter
1/2 cup (50g) cocoa
1 cup (150g) sugar
3/4 cup (90g) flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs

Method

Preheat the oven to 170deg C. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Sift cocoa and mix well with the melted butter. Add the sugar, eggs and vanilla extract and mix well, beating lightly (I used a wooden spoon) to incorporate into the cocoa/butter mixture. Sift in the flour and baking powder to the liquid mixture and mix well to form a nice smooth batter. Grease an 8-inch square baking ware (I used a Pyrex dish) and pour the batter into it. Place in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes. To check if it is ready, poke a toothpick/skewer into the centre of the brownie - it's ready if it comes out clean. Let the brownie cool in the dish before removing and cutting into pieces.

Compare my first batch of brownies (170degC for 30minutes) with my preferred outcome (160degC for 25minutes):