My latest project - sewing, has been keeping me out of the kitchen. No longer am I flipping through the recipe book repeatedly day after day, no longer is my oven being turned on for hours day after day. And if any baking has been taking place, it's certainly not a new recipe that i can share; or the other possibility of my cooking not turning out well enough to share with others.

But every once and a while, my taste buds tingle for some sweet or savoury bakes- hence i hit the kitchen once again. this time, my tummy brings me to bake a batch of brownies. If you have every watched a show called 'Baking Made Easy' on BBC (i think), it gives good cooking tips, and this time, i found the tips on making brownies rather useful.

• good brownies should be crispy on the outside and goey chewy on the inside
• try to keep the egg whites as fluffy as possible by gently folding in choc mixture
• line tin with extras hanging over the side- makes removing the brownie from tin much easier

1. preheat oven to 180C/gas mark 4. grease and line the base of a 20cm/8inch square tin.
2. place the butter ans chocolate in a bowl and stir over a low heat until melted.
3. leave to cool slightly, then stir in coffee and vanilla. add the almonds and sugar and mi until combined.
4. place the egg yolk in a separate bowl and beat together lightly, then stir into the chocolate miture.
5. whisk the egg whites in a separate large owl until soft peaks form.
6. gently fold a large spoonful of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the remaining until fully incorporated (according to the show i mentioned earlier- you can pour the choc mixture slowly into the side of the egg white bowl to avoid pushing air out of the beaten egg whites.)- spoon into greased tin.
7. bake in the preheated oven for 35-40min. leave to cool in tin, then turn out, remove lining paper and cut into squares.
8. dust with sifted icing sugar before serving.