Firecracker Brownies

My brother graduated early from high school and to celebrate I decided to make him firecracker brownies. The recipe is largely inspired from Chuao Chocolatier who makes a bar named “Spicy Maya” which is essentially the yummiest dark chocolate you’ve ever had coupled with cayenne pepper. To make it even more confusing, Chuao actually makes a bar named “Firecracker” but it’s more of a milk chocolate with pop rocks embedded in it- it’s quite an eating experience, but I prefer complex flavor over bizarre tactile-tongue sensation.

My brother is essentially my taste preference twin. We both slather our burritos in hot sauce, drown pizza in tapatio, spruce up soups with chili garlic sauce, and love the ridiculous in just about everything both food-tastic and beyond. Plus, I’ve made these brownies for him before and he likes them, so I felt fairly comfortable and confident about making brownies with a bang.

I got the stamp of approval from Profe also, because of the following three things:

1. The name
• Firecrackers, fireworks and gunpowder were invented in China approximately 2,000 years ago. And, because of the Professor’s not-so-distant heritage, we find a modicum of spice to be quite efficacious.
  
2. The spice
• Probably, my favorite thing about Asian cuisine is you can always crank up the heat. Think: wasabi, chili paste, & curry
• Actually, scratch that. It's tied …sushi is just about the greatest invention ever.
  
3. The color
• Profe’s spots are a rich chocolately brown. Especially his heart-shaped one.
  

Special thanks to Epicurious for the baseline for a great recipe!

Happy Monday! Here's the Recipe:

Ingredients:

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces, plus more for greasing pan

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

6 tablespoons crushed red pepper

(I used some incredibly hot Bhutanese pepper that I bought at a farmers market in Bumthang, Bhutan last July)

6 tablespoons instant coffee

3 tablespoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons nutmeg

2 large eggs, chilled

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon unbleached all purpose flour

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Position rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 325°F. Line 8 x 8 x 2-inch metal baking pan with foil, pressing foil firmly against pan sides and leaving 2-inch overhang. Coat foil with butter. Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Continue cooking until butter stops foaming and browned bits form at bottom of pan, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; immediately add sugar, cocoa, 2 teaspoons water, vanilla, chili pepper, instant coffee, cinnamon, nutmeg, and 1⁄4 teaspoon (generous) salt. Stir to blend. Let cool 5 minutes (mixture will still be hot). Add eggs to hot mixture 1 at a time, beating vigorously to blend after each addition. Add chocolate chips. When mixture looks thick and shiny, add flour and stir until blended. Beat vigorously 60 strokes. Stir in nuts. Transfer batter to prepared pan.

Bake brownies until toothpick inserted into center comes out almost clean (with a few moist crumbs attached), about 25 minutes. Cool in pan on rack. Using foil overhang, lift brownies from pan. Cut into 4 strips. Cut each strip crosswise into 4 brownies.

Cookie Monster

Generally, I am not a huge fan of cookies. On top of that, I absolutely abhor nuts in desserts, but these cookies completely changed my mind.

The backstory: I am at my boyfriend's Aunt's house talking about baking during the holidays when Aunt K. mentions that during the holidays she wasn't up to making a fancy dessert, she runs to the other room and retrieves a giant aqua colored tome enscribed with "Zov" in thin green lettering. The word "simply" sits nonchalantly in the "O". Aunt K. opens the book to page 341 to the much raved about recipe entitled "jumble cookies". The titles are all lowercase reminiscent of an e.e. cummings poem. I'm skeptical. There's several kinds of nuts, chocolate, and dried fruit. The combination sounds overwhelming, but Aunt K.'s sister, daughter, and husband all assure me that these are the most delicious cookies they've ever had. She photocopies the recipe and sends me graciously on my way.

About Zov: She's a proprietress of a bistro not so far from my home in California. Her middle-eastern inspired recipes have been called "brilliant"by the Zagat Guide according to the review of another cook book on amazon.com.

So, this evening, I set myself to the task of recreating Zov's recipe as best I could.

Here it is:

Makes 20 cookies

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups whole almonds
[I used Trader Joe's Dry Roasted and Unsalted Almonds]
1 1/2 cups pecan halves
[I used Trader Joe's Raw Pecan Halves]
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 ounces (2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature)
1 cup grandulated sugar
2/3 cup (packed) brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
[I used at least twice as much as this recipe recommended]
1 12-ounce package Hershey's dark chocolate chips
[I used Trader Joe's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips]
2 cups raisins
[I used organic raisins from a local health food store]
Parchment paper or nonstick vegetable-oil cooking spray
[I used salted butter- yum!]

Directions:

Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the almonds and pecans on a heavy, large baking sheet and bake until golden brown and fragrant, about 11 minutes, stirring halfway through the baking time to ensure the almonds brown evenly. [note: unless you have a gargantuan baking sheet, you'll probably have to toast your nuts in waves.] Transfer the nuts to a cutting board to cool completely. Coarsely chop the almodns and pecans, then set the nuts aside. Maintain the oven temperature

Stire the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl to blend. Set the flour mixture aside. Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (or a hand-held mixer), beat the butter sugar and brown sugar in the mixing bowl until well blended, about 3 minutes [it really helps if you can get someone to pour slowly as you beat your ingredients together]. Add the eggs one at at ime, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. With the machien on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture, beating just until incorporated (do not overmix or the cookies willb e tough). Mix in the chocolate chips, raisins, and then lastly, the chopped nuts [note: I was short on nuts so I supplemented the last cup or so with raw walnuts, first baked in the cookies, from Trader Joe's.

Line 4 heavy, large baking sheets with parchment [again, I used butter between batches] or spray the baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray. Using 1/2 cup of dough for each cookie, mound the dough atop the prepared baking sheets, spacing evenly and forming 5 mounds on each baking sheet. With the palm of your hand lightly press down the cookie dough to flatten. Working in batches bake the cookies until they are golden brown all over and the very center is still pale golden, about 15 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a rack and cool completely.

I hope these cookies are as much of a hit in your household as they were in mine!