Eric Lanlard's deliciously gooey chocolate brownies

At Expresso we have big local and international celebs in our studio on a daily basis, just this morning PJ Powers was tasting my lime meringue pie, so I don't really get to phased about famous faces, but one guest had myself and the Expresso chefs putting on lipstick and heels for his arrival. 

Eric Lanlard swept into our studio looking bright and breezy for a 6.30 call time and after a quick tour of our studio kitchen, got stuck into baking a beautiful chocolate cake and decadent chocolate brownies from his new book Chocolat. And good grief were these brownies GOOD! I had some for breakfast.. and then again for lunch.. and again for tea time. They were so incredibly delicious and moist but since his book is not yet in South African book stores, here is the recipe: (you can't say I don't love you!)

Photo and recipe extracted from Chocolat by Eric Lanlard
with photography by Kate Whitaker

Devilish chocolate brownies
Recipe by Eric Lanlard 

200g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
150g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
2 tsp vanilla paste or extract
150g castor sugar
3 eggs, beaten
75g plain flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
100g dark chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 180C and grease a 20cm square baking tin and line the base with baking paper.
Melt the chopped chocolate, butter and vanilla together in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, making sure the surface of the water does not touch the bowl. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar, then leave to cool for a few minutes. Beat in the eggs, then sift in the flour, cocoa and salt and fold in until the mixture is smooth and glossy. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and level the top. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until the top starts to crack but the centre remains gooey. Turn off the oven and leave the brownies inside for a further 5 minutes before removing. Leave to cool completely in the tin. Cut into squares and serve.

And here's the clip if you missed his interview on Expresso Breakfast Show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=OQ4A5WpLjcs