Cinnamon Brownies

There are pictures of apples and sweaters all over the internet, but it is hard for me to get excited about fall just yet. All the coffee shops are advertising pumpkin lattes. My son's Halloween costume sits in a box, ready to go. I even have out my fall cocktail napkins, courtesy of my mom. It is 88 degrees in the lowcountry today. The mosquitoes are still out.

Nonetheless, I've been getting ideas for fall and winter and a little excitement is stirring. I can't wait to have a house to decorate. I plan to make this advent calendar with my preschooler this year. And today I made some very wintry tasting brownies.

Let me say that I've never jumped at brownie recipes that call for using unsweetened cocoa powder. That doesn't seem like real chocolate to me, and it seems too easy to use something I always keep on hand. But that was before I learned that the taste of cocoa really stands out when all it shares the pan with is butter, sugar, flour, and a little cinnamon. The only fat comes straight from the butter instead of from the fat and binding agents used to make a chocolate bar. The only sugar is real sugar. The taste of these brownies is amazing, gooey, rich, delicious. The cinnamon cuts through it all just perfectly. They are just what I needed on this late summer day, when I am happy to be soon saying goodbye to September. It may not be fall yet in Charleston, but at least it is fall in my kitchen.

Cinnamon Brownies

10 tablespoons butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons  unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

1 teaspoon mexican vanilla

2 large eggs, cold

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. Line the bottom and sides of an 8×8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or foil, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides.

Combine the butter, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt in a medium heatproof bowl and place in the microwave, cooking in 30 second increments as not to over cook. Stir after each 30 seconds. Cook until butter is melted, and ingredients are well combined--it looks fairly gritty at this point, but it smooths out once the eggs and flour are added. If you don't have a microwave, a double boiler will work just the same.

Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one. When the batter looks thick, shiny, and well blended, add the flour and stir until you cannot see it any longer, then beat vigorously for 40 strokes with the wooden spoon or a rubber spatula. Spread evenly in the lined pan.

Bake until a toothpick plunged into the center emerges slightly moist with batter. The recipe says 20 to 25 minutes, but I found I had to bake them for about 30. Let cool completely on a rack and then lift up the ends of the parchment or foil liner and transfer to a cutting board. Cut into squares.

This recipe comes from this gorgeous blog.