Mexican Chocolate Brownies

A couple of weekends ago, I made all the sweets for a robotics fundraising dinner. I was inspired by my boys' favorite hot chocolate drink: Mexican hot chocolate. It's nothing too difficult, but when you add some ground cinnamon and ground ancho chile to chocolate, it's almost magical! And this recipe is super simple. It's one mixing bowl and one pan. Can't beat that.

Ingredients 

makes one 10" square pan of brownies or just over 2 dozen 2" squares

• 1/2 C flour 
• 2/3 C 100% cocoa powder (I used a Dutch-process cocoa from Ghirardelli)
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1 t ground cinnamon
• 1/2 t ground ancho chile powder
• 2/3 C olive oil (I prefer the stronger olive oils for this)
• 10 ounces bittersweet chocolate (I used a 60% in chip form from Ghirardelli)
• 1-1/2 C organic light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 4 large eggs
• 1 t pure vanilla extract
• 1 t chocolate extract (or you can use 2 t vanilla if you don't have chocolate extract)

Procedure

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or butter an 10" square baking pan.

Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and ground ancho chile powder. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together olive oil, sugar, eggs, and extracts. Fold in the flour mixture and stir until just moistened. Stir in the chocolate chips. Spread into prepared pan, smoothing the top of the batter with a spatula. 

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until top is shiny and crackly. A toothpick inserted near the center should come out mostly clean. Cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before slicing and serving.