My cousin Leo asked me a few months ago if I could do a spicy chocolate recipe and I found just the thing recently in studying chocolate. Chocolate and spicy peppers are actually the original ingredients used together in cacao’s history. Ancient Olmecs, Mayans, and Aztecs would prepare a drink called xocolatl (pronounced “sho-ko-lat-ul” …sound familiar?) that contained fermented, dried, and ground cacao nibs with water and dried chilis. Only the elite class, warriors, royalty, and priests were allowed to consume it. The Aztec Emperor Montezuma was known to drink gallons of it daily.
Now a small tangent. My friend Maddie is very health-conscious and shared with me a book called Sweet Laurel. It’s a recipe book that makes use of more whole foods and includes the chocolate cake that “changed everything” according to Laurel, the book’s co-author. Laurel Gallucci has Hashimoto’s disease and had to completely change her diet–a very dramatic life event for someone who loves baking! Maddie lent me her copy, and the next time she came over (for a cheeseburger night–the night she gave me the idea to make croissants) I attempt the chocolate cake that was supposedly life altering.
FYI, I am very wary of “healthy” recipes, especially for desserts. You could call me a snob in this regard. Coconut oil, apple sauce, and quinoa are hard for me to put in a dessert. Ironically, they don’t seem natural. I’m afraid it’ll taste too healthy. But Maddie was quite excited about the book and I wanted to do something nice for her so I gave this chocolate cake a look. The recipe didn’t make a lot of sense to me, and I made quite a few modifications. I’m so snobby! Sorry!
Up to the point that I was cutting into the cake, I was skeptical. I thought, “This is gonna be a wreck.” And then…I was surprised. It was really delicious. And my next thought was, “this would go great with some cayenne pepper.”
For this recipe, I’ve retained the changes I made to Laurel’s original recipe–hers was obviously more cakey and this is definitely more brownie-y. Plus she doesn’t have sugar on the ingredients list and I just couldn’t not have sugar! What’s my problem??!
Now that we’re even more close to Valentine’s Day and I haven’t bombarded you enough with recipes for it, I thought I’d add another into the mix. I also decorated it with a little bit of espresso salt I had on hand from a previous recipe. This is basically equal parts espresso powder and flaky salt, such as Maldon. Totally optional. I find it neutralizes the spiciness a bit!
Cowgirl chocolate is just another word for spicy chocolate, and these cowgirl brownies bring a little sweet and a little heat! Perfect for impressing a fair maiden or Adonis this Valentine’s Day!
One last (unrelated) note about Valentine’s Day. I just have to say I have the best husband in the world. It was -13F this morning and he told me he had to “run an errand,” and he couldn’t tell me where. He came home with a beautiful bouquet of red roses for me. Such a cutie! And a romantic. I am one lucky girl!
I like to use Dutch processed cocoa for this recipe. If you use regular cocoa, add 1 tsp of baking soda to the batter! Dutch processed cocoa is different from regular cocoa in that Dutch processed cocoa has been alkalized. Remember high school chemistry and pH? Low pH = acid, high pH = base (or alkaline). Cocoa is naturally acidic. Baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate, or NaOH, is basic. Alkalizing it neutralizes its pH. Baking with Dutch cocoa usually yields a darker, almost black pastry. Pretty cool! Fun fact: Dutch processed cocoa was invented in the mid-19th century to reduce the cost of cocoa. It’s actually the cheaper version of regular cocoa!
Cowgirl Brownies
Ingredients
- 2½ cups Almond flour
- ⅓ cup Cocoa powder Dutch processed
- ¼ cup Sugar
- ¼ tsp Cayenne pepper heaping
- 1 tsp Instant espresso powder
- ½ tsp Sea salt
- ½ cup Semi-sweet chocolate chunks
- ½ cup Water
- ⅓ cup Extra virgin olive oil
- 2 Eggs
- ¾ cup Maple Syrup can sub equal amount of brown sugar
- 2 oz Dark chocolate melted
For topping
- 5 oz Dark chocolate melted
- 1 tsp Espresso salt (optional) Equal parts instant coffee powder and flakey salt such as Maldon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F / 175°C
- Grease an 8" x 8" pan and line it with parchment paper with an overhang. The overhang will allow you to pull the brownies out to frost them.
- In a large bowl combine almond flour, cocoa powder, sugar, cayenne pepper, espresso powder, sea salt, and chocolate chips.
- Add the olive oil, water, eggs, maple syrup, and melted chocolate. Combine well, ensuring there are no dried bits of powder.
- Pour brownie batter into the prepared pan and bake on the top rack of your oven for 40-45 minutes. It should be just past the "jiggly" phase.
- Allow brownies to cool completely in the pan. Once cooled, Lift the brownies out of the pan using the parchment paper and place on a cutting board. Cut into 16 equal squares, cleaning the knife between each cut.
- For topping, melt the dark chocolate in the microwave, about 1 minute. Place a Ziploc bag inside a cup and invert the top edge of the bag over the cup's rim. This allows you to pour melted chocolate into the bag easily. Scrape the melted chocolate into the Ziploc bag and seal. Snip a small part of the corner off, about 3 mm. Pipe chocolate on each brownie square in a fun pattern. I have done zig zags, hearts, Xs and Os. Then sprinkle with the espresso salt and serve.