Chef and author Sandra Gutierrez recipe for savory chocolate brownies is a perfect dessert for the fall season. A creamy coating of sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, coffee plus two different types of chile powder is sure to please. Beware, this concoction yields 20 brownies!
This recipe and tons more can be found in Gutierrez’s new work, “The New Southern Latino Cookbook”. It’s incredibly timely given the recent demographic changes to the ethnic makeup of the South. “The influx of Latinos into the South, particularly over the last decade, has been gargantuan. It has been huge,” said Gutierrez. “So what happens when two communities come together in such big numbers is that invariably, we start finding amalgamations at the table.”
Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
6 oz. unsweetened chocolate
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 tsps. vanilla
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsps. ancho chile powder
1/2 tsp. salt1 cup chopped and toasted pecans (optional)
For the Glaze
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp. coffee-flavored liqueur
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. chipotle chile powder
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Place butter and chocolate in top of double boiler and heat over simmering water over low heat, stirring occasionally, until melted and combined. Carefully lift from lower pot so no water droplets come in contact with chocolate mixture; let cool 5 minutes and transfer to large bowl. Stir in sugar; add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; stir in vanilla.
2. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, chile powder and salt; gradually add dry ingredients to chocolate mixture, beating well until fully combined. Add pecans, if using. Pour into prepared pan and bake 30-35 minutes, or until center is set and brownies begin to pull back from sides of pan. Cool 1 hour in pan.
3. In medium bowl, combine confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder, butter, liqueur, vanilla and chile powder; blend until smooth. Place glaze in pastry bag (or zipper-locking plastic bag with snipped corner), and drizzle back and forth over brownies. Cut into 20 bars.
