Recipe: Cinnamon Pecan Chocolate Brownies

September is upon us and I don’t know about you, but I’m fully ready for autumn! Summer has never been my favourite season and now that they’re getting hotter (hello, climate change), I’m even less of a fan (no pun intended). One of the big downsides of hot summers: it’s way too hot in my kitchen to bake anything! Now that the weather has calmed down again, though, I’ve gotten back in the kitchen and the first thing I baked unintentionally ended up being very autumnal.

I love me some brownies – everyone who’s been following my blog for a while will probably be aware of that fact already. I also love experimenting with brownies, and when I got the baking itch again, I decided to take it easy and do just that. Nothing too difficult; I’d just make those regular old brownies that I could make in my sleep, and then add an extra little something, which ended up being cinnamon and pecan nuts. 

That extra little something turned out to be a great addition! Cinnamon and chocolate go great together and pecan nuts make just about any bake rise to another level. The moment I took my first bite off these delicious morsels, I knew autumn was here to stay! These brownies are autumn in a bake. I love it!

You’ll need… (for 20 brownies)

• 160 g sugar
• 125 g salted butter
• 3 eggs (medium)
• 70 g flour
• 200 g extra dark chocolate
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 75 g pecan nuts, roughly chopped + extra for the top 
• baking tin, 20 x 24 cm
• and an oven, of course! These brownies need to be baked at 150 °C (don’t forget to preheat your oven!)

So, let’s get baking!

1. Melt the chocolate You can melt the chocolate in the microwave, but I always prefer to melt it au bain marie style (don’t know what au bain marie is? I explain in this recipe)

2. Mix sugar and butter While the chocolate is melting the next order of business is to mix the sugar with the butter. For this recipe, you can just melt the butter (I used the microwave) and then mix it together with the sugar.

3. Add eggs So, now you’ve mixed the butter with the sugar it’s time to add the eggs one by one, and whisk them through. Little anecdote: while making these, I cracked an egg with one hand for the first time, and it went well!

4. Add flour, cinnamon and pecan nuts Once you’ve added the eggs and whisked them through your batter, you should add the flour and cinnamon to it, and mix the batter again. Also add the roughly chopped pecan nuts and mix them through.

5. Add melted chocolate Now, it’s time to add the pièce de résistance; the melted chocolate! Whisk this through as well.

6. Transfer batter to tin, add pecans on top and bake! Butter and flour your baking tin, and then pour your batter into the tin and make sure it’s evenly spread out. Place some extra pecan nuts on top for decoration, and then put the tin into the preheated oven and bake the brownies for 25 minutes. Insert a skewer to check if it’s done – if it comes out a little moist, but clean, your brownies are done! Take the tin out of the oven and let the big brownie cool down within the tin. Once it’s almost completely cooled down, you can cut it into pieces.

And that’s it! You’ve got your own, very autumnal, cinnamon pecan chocolate brownies!