Bourbon brick brownies

A celebration of a much-loved teatime treat, these bakes turn out looking like super-chocolatey Bourbon biscuit bricks, and happen to go amazingly well with a brew of builder’s tea.

Ingredients

• 200g Bourbon biscuits (these can be found in Crackerjack)
• 100g butter, roughly chopped, plus extra for greasing
• 2 tbsp golden syrup
• 200g caster sugar
• 200g dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 100g plain flour
• 2 eggs

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas mark 4.
   
2. Place 9 of the Bourbon biscuits on a baking tray in the oven to warm them slightly, just enough to make separating the 2 biscuit halves easier.
   
3. Meanwhile, line and grease a square 20cm loose-bottomed tin with non-stick parchment paper.
   
4. Remove the tray of biscuits from the oven and separate the biscuits so that you have 18 halves. Place them all ‘Bourbon’-side down in the tin, in 3 rows of 6.
   
5. Put 100g roughly chopped butter, 2 tbsp golden syrup and 200g caster sugar in a saucepan. Set it over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved.
   
6. Then take the saucepan off the heat and add 200g chopped dark chocolate and 2 tsp vanilla extract. Leave the chocolate for a few minutes to melt in the pan without stirring, while you weigh out the flour and break up the remaining biscuits: put the Bourbons in a sandwich bag, encased in a tea towel, and bash them into large pieces with a rolling pin.
   
7. Now stir the chocolatey mixture in the pan until smooth and combined, then use a hand-held whisk to 2 eggs into the mixture until thick and velvety.
   
8. Sift over 100g plain flour, gently folding it in until just combined. Finally, fold in the broken-up biscuits.
   
9. Spoon the mixture into the Bourbon-lined tin, using a palette knife to level the surface off.
   
10. Bake for approximately 25 minutes, or until the brownies have risen and are firm to the touch, but a skewer inserted into the centre comes out a little sticky.
    
11. Leave the brownies to cool completely in their tray. They will firm up as they cool. If you like a really fudgy brownie, refrigerate them before serving.
    
12. When ready to serve, remove the brownies from the tin and cut the into bricks following the lines of the biscuits.