i have a reputation to uphold, afterall...

oh my god, the pressure...

what will my first post be? something old? something that i just hadnt had time to cover before now? something 'borrowed'? something original?

all those questions went out the window when i saw rk's brownies...

originally, i was just going to copy hers and embrace my role as a direction-follower instead of an innovator... but then i realized that i had no dark brown sugar. no bittersweet chocolate. and that i dont like walnuts in my brownies.






so i started looking through the apartment, looking at other recipes and then, most importantly, looking at my liquor cabinet...
(ignore the triscuits, zucchini and febreeze. none of them made the final cut...)









the part of this that i'm most proud of??? not the kahlua, not the frangelico... but the sugar...

(that would be white sugar mixed with frangelico and kahlua and then swirled in with some brown sugar... how good does that look? ok... fine... so i guess it sorta was the liquor that i liked best ;) )



but it gets better...




i took them into work, as 20 rich, chocolately brownies in my apartment would be highly dangerous... (fine, fine, i only took 11 of them to work...)

---

the commentary by my cubemate?





to another cubemate:
"you should eat one of these brownies. It will make you smile even more than you already are"






and, upon recognizing that there was only one brownie left as another coworker approached and wondering if we should offer it up (ultimately, the other coworker left sans brownie):

"i'm just going to eat it cause i got really nervous when he came in here..."











i'd say thats a pretty good review, right?

---

Boozy Brownies

1 stick unsalted butter
2 oz unsweetened chocolate
2 oz semisweet chocolate

1/2 c white sugar
1/4 c kahlua
1/8 c frangelico
1/2 c light brown sugar

2 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

1/2 c + 1 1/2 tbsp pastry flour


heat oven to 350°. Line a square baking dish with parchment paper & spray with the cooking spray for baking.

cut butter into cubes. if not using chips, break up chocolate. put all into a microwave safe container & microwave on 50% for 2 minutes. remove and stir. if you are using chips, it may all be melty. if there are still some lumps after some stirring, put it back in the microwave (still at 50%) in 30 second intervals, stirring in between until all lumps are gone.

while the chocolate is melting, grab another bowl and mix the white sugar with the kahlua and frangelico. when those are well blended, mix in the brown sugar.

in your main mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, salt and vanilla until they are fairly light and airy. add the sugar and whisk some more. add the buttery chocolate mess and whisk some more.

put the whisk in the sink and grab a wooden spoon and then mix in the flour until fairly well blended.

pour into the parchment paper-lined pan and throw it in the oven for about 40 minutes. you know its done when the top is a little shiny and you can stick your fancy cake tester in it (or a fork) and it comes out crummy or clean, but not wet.

cool and cut in the pan, then transfer out of the pan (using the parchment paper as a handle) to a flat surface. this will make it super easy to get nice, square brownies instead of having to spoon out the first one ;)

makes 20 mini brownies or 4 really really big ones.