Cocoa Hazelnut Brownies

So I was up one Friday morning at 5:00 a.m. and thought what could I possibly do with the extra 1.5 hours that I could spent sleeping. I tried to go back to sleep but it was a struggle to stay in bed (something I never thought I would say, but old age has its own charms). A little sugar plum fairy then descended upon my shoulder and told me to use my time wisely and bake some brownies. And so I did. And I made the most moist-est brownies ever! I do not apologize for my use of the word "moist," but there is no better word to describe how soft and gooey these brownies were (I guess I could have used the word "gooey," but "moist" is better).

Here is the recipe courtesy of The Sugar Hit:

Ingredients

• 1 + ¼ sticks butter

• 1 + ¼ cups sugar

• ¾ cup cocoa

• 2 tsp vanilla essence

• 1 tsp sea salt flakes (1/2 tsp fine salt)

• 2 eggs

• ⅓ cup plain flour

• ½ cup chopped hazelnuts (No, I did not have these fancy nuts lying around my kitchen. My coworker brought me a ziploc bag full of these because she felt that she was eating too many of them and it was not healthy to munch on handfuls of these at a time. So I used the hazelnuts she gave me to make brownies and then gave her those brownies to munch on. Problem solved!)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325F and line a 8 inch square baking pan with baking paper.

• Place the butter into a large saucepan and melt over a medium heat.

• When the butter is melted, add the sugar, cocoa, vanilla, and salt and stir until combined and free of lumps. Leave to cool for about five minutes.

• Add both of the eggs and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth and combined.

• Add the flour and most of the hazelnuts, reserving a few for the top. Beat the mixture for a good thirty seconds until smooth and shiny.

• Scrape the batter into the lined baking pan, and scatter the reserved hazelnuts on top.

• Bake for 20-25 minutes. If you like them gooey and a little underbaked, pull them out at 20 minutes, or if you want them just cooked through, give them the full 25.

• Leave to cool in the pan and then slice and enjoy!