Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! So, did you all eat your body weight in chocolate? I think M did :-)

This week has been somewhat difficult, won't go into details here but let's just say that today wasn't quite the fun holiday that I had planned. All things considered, I amazed myself by not eating the last of the brownies left over from lunch!

Of course, this morning we were at church. A few weeks ago we were all given a small wooden cross, and were asked to carry it with us and think about what it means to us. We were then to express our thoughts in some way, for example by decorating the cross, writing a poem, painting a picture, etc., and to bring it to church today. This was my contribution (sadly, nobody else brought theirs along):



The brownies were for a treat after lunch. I chose this recipe because I just happened to have everything needed in the cupboard (I couldn't face shopping with all three kids in tow), it uses cocoa rather than melted chocolate. I'd never used this recipe before, but it's a keeper :-) Rich, fudgy, intensely chocolaty...



Fudgy Coconut Brownies

100g cocoa
250g butter
500g golden caster sugar
4 eggs , beaten
100g self-raising flour (which I can't get here, so I used plain flour and a teaspoon of baking powder)
100g desiccated coconut

Gently melt the cocoa, butter and sugar in a large saucepan, stirring so the mixture doesn't catch. Allow to cool slightly then stir in the eggs, little by little, followed by the flour and coconut. Pour into a 21cm square, non-stick (or lined) tin and bake at 180c for about 45 minutes (check after 30 minutes and cover with another piece of baking parchment if the crust is browning too much). DO NOT OVERCOOK (it is much better to slightly under cook them than to end up with dry, cakey brownies)! Leave to cool in the tin, then carefully lift out and cut into squares. If you can wait for them to cool completely, unlike me, then you will get better shaped brownies than the one you see here in the above photo ;-)