To think that if you follow a recipe to the letter....

[namechangeafternamechange]

....it should bloody well come out right??!!

I have followed the recipe for choc/orange/hazelnut brownies correctly, used the correct sized tin, had oven at stated temp for specified times and it was NOWHERE near ready I've put it back in, keep checking but doesn't seem to have cooked any further......it's been in an extra 20 mins so far!!

What am I doing wrong??

Oh and thanks for the help with my cookie ingredient disaster the other day. Thanks to the advice, they were my best batch to date

I always cook brownies longer than the recipe states and usually turn off the oven & leave them in the residual heat. That way they get a crunchy crust and sticky middle which my DC love.

Is your oven a fan or normal oven. Where in the oven have you placed the tray?

I'm similarly aggrieved after giving a try to 'Betty Crocker's baking mix' : unusually for me, I followed the instructions to the letter, only to find that my scones rose 0.25 cms & were more suitable as patio slabs ... I'm back to my random, non-weighing, guesswork cookery, much easier & more successful !

Ovens vary greatly, I remember baking a cake at my mums once and it took half an hour just to preheat and took near 3 times as long to cook it than my electric fan oven! I near weeped watching it. Don't keep opening the door!

So how 'wet' does the middle need to be when you turn the oven off? I've never been so rubbish at anything in all my life!

Insufficient pre-heating?

Take them out of the oven!!!! They will cook more as they cool. Don't overcook brownies - they are SUPPOSED to be wet in the middle when ready.

But laloose they are sooooo wet that the knife comes out completely covered, it doesn't seem remotely cooked!

Not insufficient pre heating, I have some device that tells me what the temperature is.

Top tip from one of my customers. Halfway through cooking take the tin out the oven and bang it onto the kitchen counter a couple of times. It makes brownies even more gooey and squidgey...
It was her MILs tip and my customer must be in her 80's - her DH says she makes the best brownies in the world!

Ha ha I sound like a twat, it's a light!

it's a light!

Brownies are very gooey, I consider them done when the top is paler and has a slight crust.

Have you got one of those oven thermometers for inside the oven? Because some ovens really differ as to their temperature at different points.

But, then I have a cake recipe that I have to cook for twice as long as the original one. I know that now, and it's fine. But for some cakes its an absolute disaster if you take them out early.

Is it an electric oven? How old? Maybe the element is on its way out and it's really ineffective.

We can always tell when we will be needing a new element as everything starts taking ages to cook - and then it suddenly just dies.

Always take them out when they don't look ready- so if recipe says 25mins, take them out even if they still look liquid. They will set and be gooey! If you leave them longer they will become cakey.