Mexican Chocolate Brownies
This will be your new favorite brownie recipe. At this point it feels wrong for me to make brownies any other way. Once you’ve tried them, you’ll get why.
Okay, so, what is Mexican chocolate?
Mexican chocolate refers to a blend of a more coarsely ground cacao, sugar, cinnamon, and oftentimes chiles.
The addition of cinnamon and heat is what makes the flavor so much warmer and more well rounded.
I absolutely love these as the base for a brownies sundae. You get the spicy warmth of the brownie, offset by the cool ice cream and maybe a little crunch from a chopped nut on top.
Y’all I’m ready to jump up and make these just thinking about it.
If spice isn’t your thing, I would still give these a try. You can always use less cayenne pepper, but I wouldn’t recommend omitting it. The brownies don’t need to be super spicy to be amazing. Even just a teeny bit of pepper will contribute to the warmth and overall balance of the flavor.
This recipe puts the brownies at a nice mild-medium spice level. If I were making these for just myself, I would add as much as 1 tsp. Ground cayenne pepper is already very concentrated, so you want to be careful to not get too heavy-handed with it. Feel free to play around and see what works best for your palate.
Keep in mind that if you taste the batter before cooking it (at your own risk y’all, it’s got raw egg), the spice level will intensify with the cooking process as the cayenne pepper heats up and releases more capsaicin (the chemical in peppers that makes them spicy).
Part of what makes these special is the combination of different chocolates. Whenever I make anything that calls for chocolate chips or chunks, I like to use a combination of milk, semi-sweet, and sometimes dark chocolate as well. This adds an extra layer of flavor and complexity that makes every bite more exciting than the last. I typically prefer to find a high quality bar and chop it fairly roughly, however, in a pinch, chocolate chips or store-bought chunks are a perfectly fine substitute.
Mexican Chocolate Brownies
Time: 20-30min active, 2 hrs 30 min total
Yield: 9-12 servings
¾ cup butter (melted and cooled)
1 1/3 cup sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup cocoa powder
¾ tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 cup all purpose flour
½ cup semi sweet chocolate chunks
½ cup milk chocolate chunks
Preheat your oven to 325 farenheit and line a 9x9 pan with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together your butter, sugars, vanilla, and eggs. Whisk until smooth. Next, add in your cocoa powder, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper and mix until combined. Add in your flour and chocolate chips and stir until fully incorporated.
Transfer the batter to your parchment-lined baking dish and smooth it out until you have an even layer.
Bake for 50-60 min.
You’re looking for a slightly crackly top and for the brownies to no longer have any movement when you wiggle the pan. If you insert a toothpick, it should be well coated in crumbs and appear to need another minute or two. Do not given them another minute or two! Take them out and let them finish their cooking in the pan.
Let your brownies cool for at least 1 hour before removing them from the pan. Let them rest another 30 min before cutting into them.
I know it will be tempting, but you’ll want to give them time to set up, or you’ll have a fudgy mess of deliciousness on your cutting board. Which is honestly fine if you’re in the mood to eat the brownies with a spoon.
To ensure a clean, photo-ready, slice, clean your knife between cuts. Dipping your knife in hot water helps too!
Once you’ve let the brownies cool, slice them up, cover them in ice cream and hot fudge or have them straight up with a glass of (almond) milk.
