Espresso Brownies

A confession: I have never been good at making brownies.  They just never turn out right for me...until yesterday!

I made espresso brownies, and they were delicious!  If you have a hard time making brownies, you've got to try this one.  It's from a book called Hometown Potluck Favorites, put out by Better Homes and Garden.  I altered the recipe a little, and here's how you make them:



Ingredients:

1 cup of butter (2 sticks)
6 ounces of semi-sweet baking chocolate, chopped finely
1 and 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
2 and 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup instant espresso powder
2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 13 x 9 pan with cooking spray.

You combine the ingredients in three parts:

Butter and chocolate

Melt the butter over low heat and add the chopped chocolate.  Stir until the chocolate is melted. Set aside to cool.

       

                     (chopped chocolate)                                                 (melted with butter)

Flour mixture

Stir together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

Everything else

[Wait to start this step until your butter and chocolate mixture is cool.]  Then, with your mixer on low, beat together the eggs, sugar, espresso powder and vanilla until combined.  My friends, trust me when I tell you not to taste this mixture.  Seriously, I'm speaking from experience here!

Add in the cooled butter/chocolate mixture and mix until combined.

Add all of the flour mixture at once and mix on low or medium JUST until it's combined.  You don't want to over beat the flour or else your brownies will be tough.

Pour your batter into your greased pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.  The top should look firm and set.

I'm going to give you two options for topping these brownies.  The first is to microwave a bag of milk chocolate chips in 30 second intervals until melted, and spread that over your pan.  It will harden over the top and is SO good.  The second is a chocolate glaze made by cooking 6 ounces of chopped semi-sweet bakers chocolate, 1/4 cup butter and 2 tablespoons of milk until melted...and pour over your brownies.  The glaze will stay soft and gooey.

All my friends went crazy for these rich chocolate treats, and I'm sure yours will too.  I'm not a coffee drinker, but the espresso powder added a nice flavor to the brownies.  If you are strongly opposed to coffee or can't have caffeine, you can just omit the powder.

I really encourage you to make these ASAP...your family and friends will thank you!

- Sugar Baby