So, these are like, totally in the top 5 bakes to ever emerge from the BBH testing kitchen. They are just the right amount of sweet and chocolatey (aka the classic red velvet tang) with a healthy dose of the old fudgy brownie texture. There’s something very magical about them if eaten still slightly warm from the oven. They took an hour start to finish and they are soooo easy. No mixer, one bowl, easy clean up. Just great😍. Red velvet on Valentine’s has become a bit of a theme on BBH, with last years Red Velvet Cookies, but in my honest opinion, these are a little easier & quicker and taste SOOOOOO GOOOOOOOD. Don’t just take my word for it, make them yourself!

Makes 9 squares (double for thicker brownies, or more!):

115g salted butter 

200g caster sugar

1 large egg

1 tbsp vanilla extract

a bit of gel food colour (go as red as you want but make sure you use proper gel food colour, NOT supermarket gel food colour like dr oetker)

1 tsp vinegar (I used cider vinegar, but white wine and white vinegar all work the same)

115g plain flour

20g cocoa powder

pinch of salt

Optional: white chocolate and freeze dried raspberries to decorate

1. Heat an oven to 160FAN, and line an 8″ square tin with butter and parchment paper. Larger tins will give you much flatter brownies, but feel free to use a smaller tin.

2. Melt the butter in the microwave in 20 second increments until melted fully. Stir through the sugar until combined.

4. Add the egg and vanilla and mix.

5. Add the food colour and the vinegar and mix until quite significantly red.

6. Fold through the flour, cocoa powder and salt. The mixture will be quite thick but spread it in the tin and bake for about 20 minutes.

7. Allow to cool and then decorate with white chocolate and sprinkles!

These didn’t last very long in my house, but if you need them to, they’ll be good for a few days in a tin.

 

Happy Valentine’s Day to the most loyal readers of all time! ❤️