Blackberry and Apple Brownies

Take one child's request to make brownies, open the 'fridge and pantry and realise you are somewhat low on ingredients.

Cast about a little, digging deep into the recesses of your mind, and remember that applesauce can substitute for certain necessary ingredients.

Tweak the remaining ingredients to avoid batter being overly sweet (I'd say low sugar but honestly? Hardly! LowER sugar and fat then. And delicious.

Write recipe down so you don't forget it, it having been really rather yummy.

Melt 3 oz butter with 4 oz minus a good bite plain chocolate.

Meanwhile, mix two tiny eggs with 7oz sugar (6 would have been fine I think), 1 teaspoon vanilla essence and 5 tablespoons apple purée. For added smug points, make sure this is unsweetened apple purée from your own windfalls.

Stir in 2 oz flour then add another 1 oz because the batter looks very runny. Self raising flour.

Add the melted butter and chocolate, then stir in 8 oz frozen blackberries. Fresh ones would be fine too, you'd just end up with a squashier mix - frozen, they stayed whole as they were stirred in.

Bake. They started at 180c, went up to 220 in the vain hope the pork crackling might crisper up, then came back down to 180 again. I'm not sure the higher temp was necessary. Can't give you a time - done when they look fishy squidgy brownily delicious. 30 minutes? 40? Half way through a plate of roast pork when they went in ten minutes before you turn the oven up for the last 15 minutes cooking time, and you've then had time to serve up, blend one portion down, assemble necessary children and read the riot act about just for once staying put at the table for the whole meal, only to find you need to leap up and take them out of the oven, anyway. It's a Mum thing.

Yum though. Would be good hot with icecream. We had no icecream. Still good.