I wasn’t planning on making brownies last weekend.

If I had been, I probably would have made one of the many recipes I have bookmarked with all kinds of exciting additions – coffee, peanut butter, cream cheese, mint, raspberries – the list goes on.

But as it happened, I decided that I needed brownies to make the battlements for my Rapunzel Castle, and laziness dictated that I would make them with ingredients I already had.

Without any chocolate on hand, I adapted the recipe I used for cinnamon blondies, which produced a nice fudgy result without any melted chocolate.

The results, without wanting to brag, were pretty much awesome.

The brownies were lovely and fudgy, with a crisp top, exactly how I like them. They were ever so slightly on the thin side, but perfect for the castle, and the extras went down very well with the pony.

I don’t know how soon I’ll make them again, as I do have such a huge list of brownie recipes to work through, but it’s defintely a useful recipe to have for no-chocolate emergencies!

Cocoa-only brownies

Makes 16 squares

• 115g butter
• 200g caster sugar
• 50g cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 120g plain flour

Put the butter, sugar and cocoa powder in a mixing bowl and microwave in short bursts, stirring until all the butter has melted. Beat in the vanilla and egg – the mixture should be nice and glossy. Finally, stir in the flour, then spread into a greased and lined 8×8″ square tin. Bake at 180 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until crisp on top but not overcooked. Leave to cool, then cut into squares and serve.