How is it Monday yet again?
The problem with having a Monday just after the weekend is that I am always the most exhausted I can possibly be on a Monday morning.
Not because, sadly, I've had a wild and crazy weekend. Although I did have a glass of wine on Saturday night while watching The Voice UK and trying to decide if I had a bigger crush on will.i.am or Danny from The Script. Oh and trying to explain to my boyfriend why will.i.am was such a clever name ("it's like William but with dots in it but at the same time it's like he's saying that he is Will").
The wine was really only to celebrate the fact that we'd finally got off our lazy bums and been to the garden centre to buy a pot for a plant that had been living in a bin bag for 18 months (after my boyfriend broke its old pot by tripping over it when drunk). We only live 10 minutes walk from the garden centre so I'm not sure we really should have been celebrating our tardiness quite so much.
Back to Mondays though. The main problem is that by Sunday night, I feel relatively well rested. Even if I get up early at the weekend, the effect of not having to go to work cannot be underestimated. Sunday night, therefore, sees me tossing and turning and having weird Homeland-inspired dreams.
I think the only thing that's going to get me through this relatively busy Monday is chocolate and plenty of it. Handy, therefore, that I took the time at the weekend to see what it would be like if you used buckwheat flour to make brownies. The answer, for future reference, is delicious. The nutty flavour of the flour works well and gives a depth of flavour that you don't typically get from brownies made with normal flour (or, indeed, no flour at all). They also got the seal of approval from the coeliac on my boyfriend's side of the family which is really all that I ask from a brownie.
~
Buckwheat flour chocolate brownies Yield: A 23cm square tin of brownies (approx 20 brownies)
Ingredients
- 150g (2/3 cup) unsalted butter
- 125g (3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon) dark chocolate (85% for preference), broken into small pieces
- 150g (2/3 cup) caster/granulated sugar
- 120g (2/3 cup) brown sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 40g (just over 1/2 cup) cocoa powder
- 80g (2/3 cup) buckwheat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder (gluten free if necessary)
- 1/4 teaspoon instant coffee powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Crease a 23cm square baking tin.
- Melt together the butter and chocolate in the microwave or in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.
- When melted, take off the heat and scrape into a large bowl. Add the sugars and stir with a wooden spoon to combine.
- One at a time, add your eggs and continue to mix with your spoon. With the last egg, throw in the vanilla.
- Finally, fold in your dry ingredients until just combined. Pour into a baking tin and bake for 20-25 minutes until the brownies are coming away from the side and feel set if you touch them gently on top. Allow to cool in the tin before cutting into squares.