Do you ever get tired of eating healthy? I do.

It doesn’t happen often, but after weeks of eating low carb /low cal/sugar free meals, there comes a point where fatigue sets in and the prospect of a gooey rich treat becomes an obsession. When this happens my favourite go-to pick-me-up is chocolate. In can take many shapes: plain square of dark chocolate, dainty truffle, silky smooth tart or superbly decadent brownie.

I have experimented with many brownie recipes over the years, and the best one I found is an oldie but a goodie from the Australian Women’s Weekly which I have adapted to suit our family’s likes and needs, mainly replacing the nuts with semi-sweet chocolate chips ( it still provides the crunch factor while boosting the chocolate flavour!) I have also reduced the amount of sugar, to compensate for the extra sweetness in the chocolate chips. While it sounds like these brownies are quite sweet, they are not overly so and a perfect partner with a good cup of coffee (or a glass of milk, say my kids!) Needless to say that one serve is enough, well, for most people anyway…

Chocolate brownies

Makes about 16 serves

Ingredients:

30g butter

250g dark chocolate, finely chopped

80g unsalted butter, extra

2 tsp vanilla essence

¾ cup brown sugar, firmly packed

2 eggs

½ cup plain flour

½ cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup sour cream

Chocolate icing

125g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

60g thickened cream

1. Grease a 19cm square cake pan, line with parchment paper.
2. Melt the butter in a pan over low heat, add chocolate, stir until chocolate is melted. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.
3. In a food processor, beat the extra butter, vanilla essence and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Stir in the sifted flour, then the chocolate mixture, chocolate chips and sour cream.
4. Spread the mixture into the prepared pan and bake in the oven at 180C (375F) for about 45 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan.
5. In the meantime, make the icing: bring the thickened cream to the boil over medium heat. Pour over the chopped chocolate in a small bowl, stir with a wooden spoon until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is well combined and smooth. Cool to room temperature and beat until thick and spreadable.
6. Lift the cake from the pan, remove the paper. Spread chocolate icing and allow to set before cutting.
7. Enjoy!