Raisin and pecan brownies with raspberry sauce

Method

1. Soak the raisins in the orange liqueur for at least 2 hours. If you have the time, leave for 1-2 days, stirring occasionally.

2. Preheat the oven to 170C/ gas 3. Grease and line a 20cm shallow square baking tin with greaseproof paper.

3. Put the chocolate and butter into a heatproof bowl and melt gently over a pan of barely simmering water. Stir in the two sugars and add the vanilla extract. Take the bowl off the heat - the chocolate shouldn't be hot to the touch.

4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and mix in the flour, pecans and raisins with their soaking liquid. It's best not to overdo the mixing - for best results, stir to combine, without resorting to any beating. If you stir too vigorously, air will be incorporated into the batter and the baked result might have a cake-like texture, rather then the fudgy texture required.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake in the centre of the oven for about 30-45 minutes until set, but not solid. Cool in the tin, and cut into squares for serving.

6. For the raspberry sauce, rub the raspberries through a sieve to make a purée. Discard any seeds left in the sieve. Stir in a few squeezes of lemon juice - as well as improving the flavour, the lemon juice also helps in fixing the colour. Add enough icing sugar to taste. Serve the brownies drizzled with a little raspberry sauce.