Sometimes, you just gotta make brownies.

Sometimes you just gotta make brownies using Nutella because… Because Nutella is delicious. And if you don’t spread it on your slice of bread or eat it straight from the jar when nobody’s looking what else do you do with it? You make brownies.

Sometimes you wake up and you remember it’s the weekend. And sometimes you realise that you have nothing planned for the weekend except to study for exams. So in other words, you have nothing planned for the weekend. So what do you do? You make brownies.

And you don’t even feel bad that you’re procrastinating and that your science books are sitting in the corner of your room staring at you like, “Open meee!! Stare into my soul and learn about intermolecular forces and stoichiometry and Le Châtelier’s predictions!” trying to make you feel all guilty and stuff. No. That guilt tripping isn’t going to work because you spoke to your friends and they told you they aren’t studying either so you you don’t feel bad for being lazy because everyone else is too. And also… brownies. You’re eating a very tasty, Nutella swirled brownie and for a moment everything feels right in the world. Because sometimes, you just need to take a break from the whole studying and working and stressing and worrying about life business and make some brownies. Because you. Yes, you. Sitting there, staring at your screen with those gorgeous eyes of yours. You, deserve it.

Nutella Swirl Brownies

Ingredients

• 175g chopped dark chocolate
• 150g cubed butter
• 3/4 cup (160g) sugar
• 2 tbsp (16g) sifted cocoa powder
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup (120g) sifted plain/cake flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 100g  roughly chopped roasted hazelnuts (optional but strongly  recommended)
• 190g Nutella

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180°C (453°F) and line a 24cm × 24cm square baking tin with nonstick baking paper.
• Place the chocolate and butter in a microwave safe mixing bowl and place in the microwave for 30 seconds then mix it and then repeat until the chocolate and the butter are completely melted and well incorporated.
• Add the sugar and cocoa powder to the chocolate mixture and mix until well combined.
• Then add the eggs one at a time mixing thoroughly between each addition. Then mix in the vanilla extract.
• Add the salt, flour and baking powder and mix until just combined then mix in the chopped hazelnuts.
• Heat the Nutella in the microwave just to loosen it up a bit and make it a little more manageable (about 20 seconds).
• Place half the batter in the prepared baking pan and level it nicely with the back of your mixing spoon. Then add about half of the Nutella evenly to the batter without mixing anything in.
• Add the rest of the batter and then swirl the rest of the Nutella into the batter with a knife but be careful not to over-swirl it so that it incorporates with the brownie batter. There should be some streaks and blobs of unmixed Nutella on there.
• Then place in the oven to bake for 25-30min. Once done, leave to cool completely before removing the brownies from the pan.
• Store brownies in an airtight container at room temperature or freeze them if you want.

Notes:

• You can use any kind of chocolate you like. Milk chocolate. Dark chocolate. A mixture of both. Anything. I used dark chocolate. If you use milk chocolate, add an extra tablespoon of cocoa and minus one tablespoon of flour to have richer chocolate flavour.