These super-gooey, fantastically rich brownies are the perfect naughty treat, and surprisingly easy to make.This is a recipe I perfected as a student so it's both cheap and simple.

Step 1: The Ingredients

I've made these too many times and now resort to measuring by eye (if you ever ask anyone from Lancashire for a recipe I can guarantee it will be 'some x', 'lots of y'...) but here's a fairly reasonable guess at the quantities...

150g butter
200g dark chocolate (even own-brand plain chocolate at ~30p/100g turns out really rich in the end)
a double shot of espresso (or 40ml of really strong instant coffee)
3 large eggs
120g sugar (caster sugar works best)
100g white chocolate cut into large chips (small ones just melt into the mix)
80g flour
40g cocoa powder (this is one ingredient that's worth buying quality)
a generous pinch of salt

Step 2: The Chocolate Mix

First things first, pre-heat your oven. You'll be cooking these for 30mins at 160°C.

Now you need to melt your chocolate and butter, in my experience it's fine to use the microwave for 1 minute, then give it a good stir and another 30 seconds. If you prefer you can melt it on the hob over hot water.

When your mix is melted just pour the coffee in and give it a quick stir, then set this bowl to one side for now.

Step 3: Whisking

Throw your eggs and sugar into a large mixing bowl and get whisking. The mixture is ready when it turns almost white and doubles in volume. I strongly recommend an electric whisk if available and even then it'll take 5-10 minutes. In the student days this was done with a fork as a stamina exercise.

Step 4: Folding

Next step is to sieve your flour, cocoa powder and salt onto the egg/sugar mixture. Not going to lie, I have never actually sieved these ingredients - slowly shaking them in from a height is an acceptable alternative.

Gently fold in the flour/cocoa.

Now throw in your chocolate chips and give it a quick stir.

Step 5: More Folding

Your chocolate mix should have cooled a little but will still flow nicely, if there are a few chunks in the bottom don't worry, this just adds a few choc-chips to the final brownies.

Pour the chocolate mix into the mixing bowl and fold it in.

I tend to leave the surface slightly marbled as the more you fold, the more air you're losing and the heavier the finished brownies become. That, and the marbling is pretty.

Step 6: Baking

Pour the brownie mixture into a baking tray lined with baking paper.

A tip here - the mixture should be 1-1.5 cm deep, if your baking tray is too large (mine is), most baking paper will support your brownies if you fold it in the middle of your tray.

Bake at 160°C for 30 minutes,checking at the 25 minute mark.

Step 7: Finishing Off

When your brownies have been baking for 25-30 minutes do the knife-test, ie does a knife come out clean when poked into the centre? If so, they're baked.

Leave the brownies to cool for around 15 mins then cut into squares. A batch will usually make 24-30 brownies at a size where most adults would consider 1-2 brownies a good serving.

Don't worry if the mix seems too squidgy when you cut it, they do solidify when they cool, just don't remove them from the tray until they harden (or eat them with a spoon straight from the tray instead).

I hope you like them as much as we do!