That's hard to get away with when you've got little kids around, but my boys were both asleep before 6:30 last night so I decided to just go for it.
We had warm-out-of-the-oven brownies topped with delicious, creamy ice cream and I have to say it was one of the best dinners I've had in a long time!
Of course I couldn't make just plain old everyday chocolate brownies. Since I was splurging anyways, I really wanted to try something new and fun.
Well, actually - I am always looking for fun, new ways to spice up my brownies, but this time I decided to very literally spice them up!
I took the flavors of a Mexican hot chocolate: Rich, dark chocolate... warm, comforting cinnamon... with a little spice hiding in the background... and mixed them into my favorite fudgey, gooey brownies.
If you can get your hands on some Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Coconut Palm Sugar, it adds an amazing depth of flavor to these brownies... But if you can't, regular brown sugar will work just fine.
Mexican Hot Chocolate Brownies Recipe
Ingredients:
3/4 cup dutch-processed unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup butter, melted & divided (1/3 cup + 1/3 cup)
1/2 cup boiling water
1 cup sugar
1 cup coconut sugar (or firmly packed brown sugar)
2 large eggs
1 1/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 2/3 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350ºF. Line a 9x13" glass baking dish with foil and generously grease the foil.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the cocoa and baking soda. Stir in 1/3 cup of the melted butter until smooth. Stir in the boiling water until the mixture is smooth and thick.
Stir in the sugar and eggs with the remaining 1/3 cup melted butter.
Place the chocolate chips in a small bowl and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of the flour, tossing to coat.
Into the chocolate mixture, stir in the remaining flour, extract, salt & spices until just smooth. Stir in the flour-coated chocolate chips and spread the mixture evenly into your prepared baking dish.
Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until the edges start to pull away from the pan. (It's always better to under-bake brownies than to over-bake them!)
Cool completely in the pan before cutting for the prettiest results... or dig right in to the warm gooey brownies if you don't care! :o)
