In defense of Spices

Last night I was mad craving some dessert, however, since we only grocery shop once per month, sadly, we had not a morsel of sugary goodness in the house. Well, we did have someone's left over pumpkin pie from Christmas with the fam, but I don't really consider that dessert. Pumpkin Pie is really more like baby food for old folks. You know, because old folks like their baby food cut into pie charts.

Anyway, I tirelessly scoured Al Gore's internet to find the very bestest, ooooiest, gooooiest chocolate brownie recipe in the WORLD. And I think I did. It's fun, it's easy, it only takes like 10 minutes to prep, and WOW was it delicious. For those of you who know me best. You know I could not just leave this recipe in a state of mediocrity, but I must elevate it with the use of aromatic herbs and arousing spices. The Brits conquered half the world in search of spices. USE THEM people, USE THEM. The ones I used are marked with an *.
I must confess that I used a recipe in cups and tablespoons, and did not take the time to weigh each ingredient for accuracy. I apologize to my fellow Culinary alumi and to all those living outside the United States. We are an arrogant bunch, you'll just have to use our inaccurate system of measuring to make this one.

I should also note that I use organic ingredients whenever possible. I use Dairy products free of hormones and I purchase fair trade chocolate. I believe these things are important to the health and wellbeing of my body, my family, and my community. I hope you do too.

OK, so here's the recipe. I got it online and now can not find where. It is not mine. I take no credit for it. It came from some lady's grandma or something. I hope she can forgive me.

2 sticks butter (8 T or 8 oz or 226 g)
9 oz Dark Chocolate (I used a brick of 72% from Trader Joe's)

4 eggs beaten

2 cups sugar
1 T ground Cinnamon*
1 t ground Cayenne Pepper*
2 T Cocoa Powder (I used Dutched, but I don't think it matters in this case)*

1 cup All Purpose Flour
1 t vanilla extract
1 cup walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter a 9x9 cake pan or a 10" round.

Combine butter and chocolate in sauce pan or skillet on stove. Melt together on Low heat, stirring regularly. It should become a shiny, homogeneous chocolate soup. Remove from heat to cool a bit.

Combine spices and Cocoa with Sugar. Mix with hands to remove any lumps of cocoa. This helps the spices mix.

In mixer on low with a paddle attachment, or in a Fat bowl with a whisk, beat eggs. Add sugar/spice mixture a bit at at time so the spices don't end up all over your face.

Give the chocolate soup a stir to keep it together while it is cooling, and VERY SLOWLY add it to the batter. If you add the hot chocolate too fast, you will end up with chocolate scrambeled eggs. YUCK. So add slowly, like 1/2 cup at a time to combine with the mixer on Medium. This is why I chose to use my electric mixer. The one Jamie got me for my birthday. Anyway...

After all the chocolate is in the batter, switch the mixer (or your whisking arm) back to low and add the flour in 2 batches. Again, this is strictly to keep the ingredients in the bowl and not in your lungs. You wanna test fate, its up to you. Add the vanilla, then remove batter from mixer and stir in the nuts. Pour this beautifulness into that pan you prepped and jab it into the oven for 25 minutes at 350. Then, just for confusions sake, drop the temp to 325 and bake for another 10 minutes. The Brownies will be firm on the sides, but mostly set in the middle when it is done baking. DO NOT CUT THESE UNTIL COMPLETELY COOLED; unless you are looking more for a lava cake effect. Which can also be quite nice with some ice cream.

Jamie and I had them still warm and gooey. We had to eat them with a fork. YUM. I also had one for breakfast, and now I must go to the gym.