Warm chocolate and peanut butter skillet brownie

It’s torture waiting for brownies to cool enough to be able to dig in. Luckily, this recipe is all the better served warm, making it ideal for cooler weather, too. As for the crunchy-versus-smooth peanut butter debate, we’ll leave that up to you (for the record, we’re all about crunchy). Serve this straight from the skillet with scoops of ice-cream or clouds of thick cream.

Prep time 15 mins, cook 20 mins

Serves 4-6 (pictured p92)

200 gm butter, coarsely chopped

200 gm dark chocolate (56%-60% cocoa solids), coarsely chopped

200 gm brown sugar

3 eggs

110 gm plain flour

40 gm Dutch-process cocoa

¼ tsp baking powder

100 gm milk chocolate, coarsely chopped

100 gm unsalted roasted peanuts

80 gm salted peanut butter

Ice-cream or whipped cream, to serve

1 Preheat oven to 180C and butter a 23cm-25cm ovenproof skillet. Melt butter and dark chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until smooth (2-3 minutes).

2 Remove from heat, add sugar, then add eggs one at a time, mixing well between additions. Sieve in flour, cocoa and baking powder, add a pinch of salt and stir to just combine (don’t overwork the dough or the brownie will become cakey). Stir in milk chocolate and peanuts, reserving a little of both to garnish. Spoon into skillet and smooth top. Dollop with peanut butter and swirl with the tip of a knife, scatter with reserved peanuts and milk chocolate and bake until set around the edges but still fudgy in the centre (15-20 minutes; a skewer inserted should withdraw with some wet mixture on it). Cool briefly so it’s not too hot (5 minutes), then serve warm with ice-cream or cream.