CHOCOLATE RUM BROWNIES

These brownies are SO good, every time I've made them they've been devoured (once one person ate 8 of them in half an hour!) They are gooey and boozy, and delicious warm with a scoop of organic vanilla ice-cream.

1 tin of prunes, destoned
4 shots of Captain Morgan dark rum
250g caster sugar
200g soft salted butter
3 large eggs, plus 1 yolk
150g organic fairtrade dark chocolate
100g organic fairtrade milk chocolate
60g plain flour
60g cocoa powder, or dark drinking chocolate
1 tsp baking powder

Drain a tin of prunes and put them in a bowl. Cover the prunes with dark rum. Leave to soak for up to an hour.

Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
 

A food processor is helpful but not essential for the next stages. Mix the sugar and butter. If you don't have a processor do this with a spoon, and mix until light and creamy. Add 3 large eggs and the extra yolk to the mix and beat lightly.
 

Bash the dark and milk chocolate so it breaks into little pieces (the best way to do this is to leave it in its wrapper and bash with a rolling pin). Place all the chocolate in a dry bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (make sure the bowl doesn't touch the water). Leave over a low heat until most of the chocolate has melted - it's nice to have a few bits unmelted as they make chocolate chunks.
 

Once the chocolate is nearly all melted, slowly add it to the butter and egg mix. Then, by hand, mix in the rum soaked prunes. The final stage is to add the dry ingredients. Sift the flour and cocoa powder (or organic drinking chocolate) with the baking powder into the chocolatey mix. Gently fold the flour and cocoa into the wet mix.
 

Pour the mixture into 20cm baking tray, greased and lined with greaseproof paper, and cook for 30 minutes.
 

Remove from oven - even though they might not look cooked, they are! Leave to cool in the tray you cooked them in. Do not try and take them out of the tray. Once the brownies are cool, put them in the fridge, still in the tray they were cooked in. You can remove them from the tray once they have been in the fridge for a few hours.
 

These brownies keep for up to a week and you can re-heat them just before serving.