Bacon Brownie Texture

Our answer

Nigella's Bacon Brownies are studded with nuggets of crisp bacon that have been caramelized with maple syrup. This gives a wonderful sweet/salty/savoury edge to the brownies. The texture of the brownies should be "squidgy", that is to say moist, sightly fudgy and dense. They should not be cake-like and if they have this texture then they have been baked too much.

The recipe suggests baking the brownies at 190°C/170°C fan/375°F. We are not sure why your oven was preheated to 220°C as this is very hot, especially if it is a fan oven. If the brownie batter went into a very hot oven then it will over bake even if the oven is turned down after, as it can take a while for the oven to adjust to the lower temperature. We suggest in future only preheating your fan oven to the suggested 170°C temperature and if you have been cooking something else beforehand then turn the oven down and leave it for 10 minutes at the lower temperature before using, to allow the internal temperature of the oven to adjust. The baking time should be 20-25 minutes and we would suggest that you start checking the brownies at 20 minutes. When ready, the brownies should be set on top and a cake tester inserted into the centre should come out with some damp crumbs attached, though not uncooked brownie batter. Don't leave the brownies until the cake tester comes out clean as the brownies continue to set as they cool and they will be over baked.