Dark Chocolate & Rhubarb Brownies

Deliciously moist and simple to make, our sumptuous Dark Chocolate & Rhubarb Brownies are a fantastic way to use up left-over rhubarb along with some store cupboard essentials. 

Well when you work in chocolate factory, it's only natural to have an on-going stash of chocolate in your cuboards, right? :) 

Anyway, for those of you who grow your own Rhubarb, I'm sure you've been in the situation where you have more Rhubarb than you know what to do with, and after sharing my bumper crop with the rest of the neighbours on the street, I settled down to do some research into Rhubarb flavour pairings.

After debating the pros and cons of adding sweet spices such as cinammon, ginger or nutmeg, I came across the idea of pairing it with dark chocolate and complementing it with some walnuts.

Now truth be told if I were to make this recipe again,  I would personally omit the walnuts as I don't think they brought anything to the table except an added crunch.

But for the purpose of this recipe I've left them in and will let you make your own minds up about them.

One thing is for sure though, this is a quick and easy recipe that is guaranteed to be a hit with the rest of the family and makes a great alternative to the usual Rhubarb crumble .

And, the best news of all was that I already had all of the ingredients in my cupboard so I didn't need to buy anything else to make them - does that make them free I wonder? Probably not...

Anyway, do let us know if you have a go at making these yummy Dark Chocolate & Rhubarb Brownies and don't forget to tag us into any social media pics of your delicious creations using #chocpizzaco!

Ingredients

200g Caster Sugar
120ml of Vegetable / Sunflower Oil
2 large Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
65g Plain Flour
45g Cocoa Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp salt
200g Rhubarb
65g Dark Chocolate Chips (I used our Dark Chocolate buttons)
65g Chopped Walnuts

Method

• Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5 or 190°C. Line an 8inch square baking tin with some baking parchment and lightly grease the top with butter / oil. 
  
  
• In a bowl whisk together the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla, then using a seperate bowl mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
  
  
• Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients' bowl and keep stirring until they are fully incorporated.
• Next, add in the Rhubarb, chocolate chips/buttons and walnuts (if using). and continue to stir until they are combined. Don't worry if the batter seems thick at this point - it's meant to be!
• Pour the batter into the prepared tin and spread the mixture out evenly.
  
  
• Tap it gently on the worktop to knock out any air bubbles, then place into the centre of the over for approx 30-35mins.
• I started to check on the brownies after 20 mins as I didn't want them to burn and then at 5 mins intervals after that until a skewer came out clean in the middle.
  
  
• Leave to cool in the tin for 10 mins before slicing into 16 equal squares.