Bad Ass Brownies

These brownies kick all my other brownies asses.

I was really uninspired today and when I was looking through some of the brownie recipes I had, I decided to play. I love adding cayenne pepper to cookies, brownies, cakes, etc. That combined with the cinnamon gives it a nice kick and keeps it from being that same old been-there-done-that brownie.

These are really good….spicy, fudgy and thick. They might not be for the kids, but would be perfect for the holidays or Superbowl parties or sneaking into a closet and eating by yourself.

Do yourself a favor and make these now.

Caliente Cayenne Brownie

3/4 cup cocoa

2 cups sugar

1 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp sea salt

4 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs, slightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla

1 bag semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all dry ingredients together and then add the oil, eggs and vanilla. Stir in the chocolate chips. I made mine in a 8×8 because I wanted them to be thick, but they took about 50 minutes to bake and the edges are a bit dark. This would probably work with a 13×9…..start off at 30 minutes and check. Brownies are done when whatever you stick in them comes clean:) I love the thickness of my brownies so I may try cooking them at 325 for longer.

I do not fuss with sifting dry ingredients or adding them in bowl separate….and you don’t need a mixer of any kind for these. Just stir them by hand until they are well blended.

UPDATE: We went through the first batch so fast, I had to make them again. This time I baked them at 325 in my 8×8 pan for about 50 minutes and they came out perfect! I put tin foil around the edges for the last 15 minutes to avoid burning. My family is going crazy for these brownies. My teenage daughter took a bite and called them beautiful. My husband keeps telling me how great these are and sneaking back for more. I really need to stop eating these! But how good would they taste with a cup of hot coffee in the morning……I may have to put Jenny Craig on my speed dial.

Ok update to the update……the younger kids really wanted to try these so I gave them one today. I figured they would taste too different or too spicy, but I got raving reviews on them. These are officially my go-to brownies and will definitely make it to the cookbook.

I chose this post to be featured on One Good Thing By Jillee

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My accidental phallic basket….

So my son (7) brought home his papers from school and in it was a flyer for the school carnival with a request for bakers to send in cookies, cakes, etc. I tried to ignore it – I really did. Its not that I don’t like to help, I do, but I know myself. I go overboard and something thats supposed to be simple ends up driving me crazy. I could just bake cookies and send them in. That’s perfectly acceptable and it would only take me about an hour. But there is something wrong with me…..I absolutely have to make everything harder than it is (stop shaking your head yes Tim).

I got this great idea that I was going to send in  a cookie basket….simple right? It would have been had I not got the idea to add candy. Its not that the melting and molding in itself is difficult, but when you start baking at 7:30pm with a messy kitchen, kids that need to get homework done, showers, bed time, blah blah blah its a recipe for disaster.

I ignored my better judgement and started baking chocolate chip cookies – this cookie recipe is awesome. It uses pudding and the cookies come out cake like and chewy. When the cookies were baking I decided to start the candy….I melted the chocolate wafers, poured it in the molds and let set.

Soon it was time to put the basket(bucket) together. I got a piece of floral foam and put it in the bottom and covered it with pink grass type stuff. I then stuck the candy popsicles into the foam and filled around them with cookies. I made  some candy flowers and placed them throughout. I also added a few brownies – I made them from a mix.

It was done, looked ok and I took a few pictures. My husband came in and told me how good it looked, but I just kept feeling like something wasn’t right. Then it hit me – it looked like penises on a stick! My husband saw it too and when I posted the pic on Facebook this morning so did everyone else. So I took the candy sticks out, rearranged the basket and stuck a bow on it. I’m so glad I noticed it before I sent it in.

This is obviously the before: (lighting was bad)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The after:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found this recipe on allrecipes and its one of my favorites:

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES:

• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 cups butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.