Sophie Grigson's chocolate and pecan brownies

Preheat the oven to 170ºC (325ºF, gas mark 3) and base-line a 20cm (8") square shallow baking tin.

Put the chocolate and the butter into a bowl and melt gently over a pan of barely simmering water.

Next, stir in the two sugars and the vanilla extract. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and then mix in the flour, salt and the pecans. Don't overdo the mixing - a brownie batter is better if it's a little unevenly mixed. Remember, you don't want to get too much air into the mixture - think fudgy all the way.

Scrape into the prepared tin and bake in the centre of the oven for about 25-35 mins until set but not solid. Cool in the tin, then cut into squares. If there are any squares that are not gobbled up within the next hour, store those in an airtight tin.