Kicked Up Brownies

Some days you just need a thick, moist, intoxicatingly chocolaty rich brownie. And by some days I mean days that end in "y"! But normally these delicious delights are not conducive to a healthy lifestyle and keeping the pounds off. Enter the Kicked Up Brownie; a brownie with a little cape, come to save the day. No refined sugar, extra dark chocolate, whole wheat flour, and some strong coffee: what's not to like?! You might not be able to eat the whole pan safely, but you could enjoy a square after a long week and not feel guilty about it.

THE GOODS:

1 cup very strong coffee or espresso

1/2 cup real butter (unsalted preferably)

1 1/2 cups Sucant or raw sugar

*Sucant (or Rapadura or Moscovado) is essentially pure dried sugar cane juice. It retains its molasses flavor so just be aware that it will give your brownies that flavor note*

3/4 cups extra dark cocoa powder (the higher quality the better)

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour

1 cup dark chocolate chips (I used Guittard 60% dark)

1/2 cup chopped pecans, walnuts, or almonds

THE HOW-TO:

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9x9 inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder and the coffee until the cocoa is dissolved. Add this mixture to the melted butter. Slowly stir the sugar into the coffee and butter mixture, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Next add the eggs until just combined. Don't worry, they won't scramble on you, but it will get quite thick immediately. Remove the pan from the heat and fold the flour into the mixture until just combined. DO NOT OVERMIX. Fold the chocolate chips and nuts in. Again, do not over mix.

Spread the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until the top is no longer shiny. I baked mine for 35 minutes and the middle was still shiny but a toothpick came out clean so I took them out and they were extra moist in the middle and less so around the edges.

This makes 16 perfect little squares, which happen to be just the right size since they are so intensely flavored. With a cold glass of milk after dinner or cup of coffee at breakfast (yeah I said it), it's still hard to eat just one!


Life is better homemade-
L