Easter treat: Salted rolo brownies

I know, I know. Easter is already a time for chocolate overload. But I can promise you that if you whip up a bunch of these bad boys then they will be gone before you can say 'Easter egg hunt.' Plus you can change up the chocolate bar in them with what you have left over from your Easter eggs. 

In fact I had forgotten how delicious rolos actually are and may well have eaten as many as I put in the brownies. Grazers beware. I certainly didn't love anyone enough to save them my last one.

These should come with a health warning as they are seriously addictive. I am making a pan for our annual Jones family get together this Easter weekend. So why don't you make a pan too and share the love? Did I also mention how easy they are to make? 

Here are the ingredients: (from Delicious magazine)

200g unsalted butter, plus extra to grease
200g plain chocolate (70 per cent cocoa solids) broken into small pieces
125g light muscovado sugar
125g caster sugar
4 medium free-range eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
125g plain flour
1 tbsp cocoa
1 tsp sea salt flakes to taste
126g bag rolos, half chopped and half left whole

Method:

1) Heat the oven to 170 degrees. Grease and line a 20 cm square cake tin. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a saucepan constantly stirring over a low heat. Don't overheat as it may seize - allow it to cool slightly.

2) In another mixing bowl beat together the sugars, the eggs and the vanilla extract until pale and fluffy. Now stir in the cooled melted chocolate mix. 

3) Sift in the flour and cocoa powder, then fold through the batter with the sea salt to taste.

4) Mix the chopped rolos into the batter and then top with the whole ones. Bake for 25-30 minutes until firm to the touch but stil gooey in the middle - as they will continue to cook as they cool.

5) Leave to cool in the tin and then transfer to a wire cooling rack. If you're stuck for time put them in the fridge to set.

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My notes...

I used a mixture of half dark chocolate and half milk as The Belgian had raided my cooking chocolate cupboard when there were no snacks in the house. This is one of his annoying habits, does anyone elses' partner do this?  My sister (who is a cake expert) said they weren't very chocolatey but we kinda liked them this way.

I only cooked mine for about 18 minutes and this was perfect in my opinion, but I like my brownies quite fudgy. Also I used a Pampered chef brownie pan so it is bigger and rectangular in size so the brownies were thinner. For this same reason I quartered most of the rolos and then cut then whole ones in half to decorate the top - this seemed to be the right amount of caramel goodness for these brownies. 

It is really worth getting the sea salt flakes as they really add something. In the past when a recipe has called for salt I have used whatever we had in the house, but this time I went all out and it was so worth it. I sprinkled a bit extra on top of the brownies too.

Enjoy, but don't say I didn't warn you.

One will not be enough. Nor will two. Or three. Or...

(The Baby prefers limes)