the brownie to end all brownies...

In the days before these brownies entered my life, I thought, brownies, ho-hum: sugary, corn-syrup laden, american-style baking. But if you give these a go, I promise they'll change your mind, like they did mine. For good. Not just your own good, but the greater good.

200g dark chocolate (at least 65% cocoa solids, for preference) chopped into rough chunks
200g butter
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla essence
50g plain flour (1/2 cup)
25g almond meal (1/4 cup)
25g cocoa powder (1/4 cup) - use the good, if expensive, stuff - you'll taste the difference
200g (1 cup) caster sugar - if you can track it down, use golden caster sugar - again, it just tastes more fudgy and caramelly
200g white chocolate, chopped into rough chunks

1x 20cm square cake pan (or equivalent size) buttered and lined with baking paper. If you keep the paper a bit higher than the pan sides, it will be easier to lift out later.

Preheat your oven to 170 degrees celcius/340 degrees fahrenheit.

Put dark chocolate and butter into a medium microwave-proof bowl. Heat for about 10 seconds, then stir. Keep going in 5 second increments, stirring in between, until everything is melted and amalgamated. Be very careful not to burn the mixture - this will happen easily, so try not to get impatient!
Cool for a few minutes, then add the vanilla essence.
In a nice wide bowl, sift the flour, almond meal and cocoa. Mix in the sugar, eggs and dark chocolate mixture until just combined. Lastly add the white chocolate chunks, again, stirring as briefly as possible.

Pour the mixture into the prepared cake pan and bake for about 45 minutes, or until the house smells like brownie.

Cool (if you can bear to wait) before cutting into squares and devouring. The white chocolate will have taken on an almost caramelly richness and is a perfect foil for the crumbly, dark, fudgy slice.