Mocha Brownies

Brownies as bribes. That's what this recipe boiled down to. I wanted to make something sweet to help cushion the blow of projects upon projects at work, and help celebrate some birthdays. I'm not much of a baker...I much prefer to make something salty as opposed to sweet. However, one thing that is pretty easy to make is a good batch of brownies. I decided to forego the box mix (because who are we kidding, I couldn't put that up here as something I made this week!) and make one from scratch. I decided to try this recipe that I originally found on my friend Nick's blog (www.macheesmo.com) that he made from the Pioneer Woman Cookbook a few years back. Nick's version called for twice as much icing as I used, but considering a half batch of icing contained 2 cups of powdered sugar and a stick of butter, I figured I would be doing my diet a great disservice by loading these with iciing. So call this a "lighter" version if you will.

I also argued that they could count as a breakfast food since they contained coffee. Don't judge.

Mocha Brownies

Ingredients:

• 4 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
• 1/2 lb (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 3 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Mocha Icing:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temp
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/8 cup cocoa powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup brewed dark coffee, cooled to room temp

Directions:

Add butter and sugar to a bowl and beat it on medium speed with a mixer. After a few minutes the mixture should be light and fluffy.

Carefully and slowly melt chocolate in the microwave on low in 30 second increments. It took me about 2 minutes to melt it.

Add eggs one at a time to the creamed butter and mix together. Then mix in chocolate and vanilla.

Mix in your flour in a few batches. Just mix enough so the flour is incorporated.

Bake the brownies in a 9x13 inch baking pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Let brownies cool completely to room temperature before frosting them.

For frosting, mix butter, salt, vanilla, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar in a mixing bowl until well combined. Then stir in brewed coffee and mix until it's light and fluffy.

Frost the brownies. Chilling them in the refrigerator will help firm up the brownies and make them cut more easily. Enjoy for breakfast. Or whenever you need a coffee/sugar kick.