Rich Chocolate Brownies

Tomorrow I'll be making these brownies for the 4th time in 10 days. So they've qualified for getting shared with you. Well, the recipe at least - you'll have to come over on Friday afternoon for the real thing!
The first time I made them was for a weekend away; the second was for the Easter cookies class tea; the 3rd was to bribe my colleagues at the hospital to get going on time with the caesarean we needed to do quickly before the Easter cookies class, and this 4th will be for my daughter's birthday party.

That first bake (weekend-away-brownies) was meant to be this brownie recipe, but I was out of dates, so substituted that fruity flavor with apricot jam, instead. And it worked really well (judging by the response to Easter-class-brownies and can-we-please-get-this-caesarean-done-by-8.30-brownies...). The idea to use jam came from these chocolate cupcakes.  That's why I've called them "rich".
Good brownies should be rich, so it's a little redundant. But it sounds more appealing  than "apricot jam" brownies, doesn't it?

Rich Chocolate Brownies
Recipe by Tea, Cake and Create

Preheat the oven to 180'C 
Grease and line a brownie baking pan. 

Ingredients:
400g chocolate - broken into small even-sized pieces 
80g butter
80g flour
140g smooth apricot jam
100g pecan nuts, roughly chopped
100g caster sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1tsp vanilla extract

Melt chocolate and butter together (use a double boiler or the microwave on low power.)
Set aside to cool slightly.  

Beat the eggs and sugar together until pale and creamy. 
Pour the cooled chocolate into the egg mixture. Add the vanilla extract and apricot jam. Beat on low speed until incorporated. 
Sift in the flour and salt. Mix. 
Fold in the pecan nuts. 

Pour the batter into the prepared brownie pan and bake at 180'C for approx 35min - a skewer inserted into the centre of brownies should come out with sticky crumbs stuck to it.  

Now I'm off to finish my daughter's birthday cake. 

Happy baking! 

xxM