Brownie-makers in the know please give me the benefit of your experience

[worriermum]

I've never made brownies before, and I want to make the Vbacqueen brownie recipe in the MN recipe section.

BUT - I only have Cadbury's dairy milk, not 70% choccie, and I don't have caster sugar, only icing sugar and regular white sugar. TRouble is we are having guests tomorrow for what is a solemn public holiday here: all the shops will soon be closed,so there is no possiblity of nipping out for more chocolate if the brownies are rubbish. Should I risk my chocolate store on the brownies, with my not-quite-right ingredients or should I make a safe but humble chocolate sauce to go with the tub of ice-cream in the freezer?

ps if you vote to make the brownies,please tell me whether I should substitue icing sugar or regular sugar for castor sugar

I would def substitute regular sugar for caster sugar, but not sure how they will turn out with milk choc instead of dark choc.

Could always try - they should still be chocolatey but probably not as strong as normal.

Another tip - in the recipe I use, when mixing the eggs and sugar, really whisk them to a very pale consistency before adding the other ingredients. It gives them a lovely texture!

have you any cocoa powder ?
you could make a cup of strong espresso to add -

Sorry, I posted to say thanks for the tips but my post seems to have gone AWOL. Anyway, thank you both for the advice. Whisk up eggs and sugar, subsitute some cocoa for flour...presumably the espresso is for a bit of punchy flavour? (sorry,absolute novice brownie badger here)

yes, it might give a bit of gravitas to the milk choc ! I add a drop of vanilla extract to mine too