A few days prior to Katherine’s visit, I spent an hour or so drinking coffee in one of the better cafés in Aberystwyth. When ordering my beverage, a rather delicious looking ‘gluten-free’ brownie caught my eye. Since the café is a rather economical establishment, there seemed little harm in purchasing the said morsel. Little did I know, this ‘gluten-free’ brownie would be one of the best that had ever passed my lips. The label ‘gluten-free’ has always seemed a little beneath me, yet this brownie was delicious, moist and dense – the three requirements of a perfect brownie. It then struck me, the reason why it was all of these things was because it contained no gluten, the lack of flour meant that the brownies would be less cakey; this could only be a good thing. So, do not be put off by the dietary provisions of this recipe and enjoy it for what it is. These brownies shall, I assure you, take rather good care of all four of your bodily humours.

A little time off and the presence of my wonderful woman, in addition to a fully functioning kitchen has, I believe, restored my culinary mojo. Of course, my labelling of her as a nameless ‘woman’ is the result of my rather jocular personality and not of the presence of a 1950s-style tendency towards male chauvinism. This culinary rejuvenation will surely see a number of jolly good recipes grace the scene of food bloggery. However, I must apologise for the lack of bara brith, a Welsh recipe promised a few days ago – it was a somewhat delicious failure. All shall be explained in due course and a recipe will, I promise, find itself gracing the e-pages of this blog before Christmas. In the meantime, please enjoy these exceedingly delicious and rich brownies.

Gluten-Free Chocolate and Raisin Brownies

Makes 18

Ingredients:

• 200g dark chocolate

• 75g butter

• 130g caster sugar

• 2 eggs

• 1 tbsp cocoa powder

• 2 tbsp ground almonds

• 1-2 handfuls of raisins, depending on preference

• A pinch of salt

Method:

1. Begin by lining the sides of a suitably sized square cake tin. The one we used was roughly 10”x7”, though this produced comparatively thin brownies. Pre-heat the oven to 180C.

2. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a saucepan, make sure to use a fairly low heat and stir constantly. Transfer the chocolate mixture to a mixing bowl and stir in the sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time, until smooth. Tip in the cocoa powder and the ground almonds and beat until as smooth as possible. They will appear a little grainy, but this will fade during the cooking process. Add the raisins and tip into the prepared cake tin.

3. Bake for 15-25 minutes, depending on size of tin. The centre of the brownies should be just set. Try not to over-bake, as this will make them a little cakey. Eave to cool completely before slicing and eating.

Cost: The entire batch of brownies should come to no more than £1.30. They were even cheaper for me, roughly 90p-£1, since I keep my own hens. What a fantastic price – very thrifty indeed.