This is a recipe that works for me. I made it up, but take no responsibility for anything if it all goes wrong! Feel free to vary the quantities - I do. If you find something that works particularly well, please let me know :-)
Note on measurements: 1 'cup' is the size of a teacup found in our kitchen. I know, very American, but we don't have any scales or other useful measuring stuff. Sorry. Using mugs makes more of it. Yum.
Note on oven settings: it seems that our oven is a bit under enthusiastic so Gas Mark 7 may be too high. Just keep an eye on the brownies, and if you find a better setting, please let me know!
Ingredients:
1.5-2 cup flour (I use self-raising)
1.5-2 cup sugar
2 heaped tbsp cocoa (use Fair Trade!)
0.5 tsp salt
1 tbsp veg oil (not sure if it's needed but I use it)
2 (medium) eggs (1 will do but seems to make them more crumbly, 3 [recommended] is good for fudgy brownies)
About 1/2 cup butter (50g ish?)
About 3/4 packet milk choc chips to sprinkle on top.
Method:
Get the butter melting. I put it in a glass surrounded by v. hot water - by the time I need it it's melted. Or use the microwave for about 30s. Or stick it in a small saucepan.
Stick the oven on Gas Mark 7 (200-220 degrees) to preheat.
Grease the baking tin with some more butter. The tin size I use is about 25x18cm. [Actually, I skip this step now :-) ]
Throw all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Sieve them if you like, but I gave up doing that ages ago as it seems to make no difference whatsoever.
Add the oil, eggs and melted butter to the dry stuff. Mix the whole lot together, adding a bit of water (not too much) if necessary, until it attains a well mixed gloopy consistency (that is, not too runny and not too lumpy). Generally I find adding water makes them go cake-like, but sometimes it's needed for some reason...!
Pour the mixture into the tin, and spread it out evenly. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top.
Bung the tray in the oven for 20-25 mins, until a knife/skewer inserted into the brownies comes out clean. Remove from oven. Leave to cool, wash up, then eat.
And that's it. Simple, huh?
NB: I wouldn't add choc chips to the mix - I tried once and it makes it go a bit squidgy and eurgh :-)
Total price for making one batch - about £1.50 (I think), depending on how much you spend on your cocoa.
Possible variations: (untested)
Replace the cocoa with 1 tsp vanilla essence for ordinary brownies. (Sort of worked when I tried it)
Add 0.5 cup of walnuts to the mix? Use walnuts instead of the choc chips on top?
Use chocolate chunks instead of chips. That is, get a bar of chocolate and chop it up :-)