Mexican Hot Chocolate Brownies

I haven't actually baked anything in three weeks. While trying out every single pastry and dessert possible in Belgium has been a fun experience, I miss making my own treats. As I am definitely a novice baker, the baked goods I've been getting almost daily from the boulangeries are much more intricate and impressive than anything I've ever baked. However, there's just something about creating your own desserts that just isn't the same when you purchase them from a shop.

It always amazes me when I make things from scratch. You throw all these ingredients in a bowl or other baking apparatus, mix them up, shove them in an oven, and you end up with something delicious (hopefully). I like to see my treats go from start to finish and I like to know I had a hand in making something so good.

The last recipe I was able to make before I left my dorm for Belgium was Mexican hot chocolate brownies. My boyfriend and I had made Mexican hot chocolate cookies earlier in the year, and we never actually drank any of the Mexican hot chocolate we had left over. In need to get rid of the remaining baking products left in my kitchen before I left the country, I decided to use up most of the hot chocolate in some kind of recipe. After searching on Food Gawker, I found The Food Librarian's Mexican chocolate brownies made with Ibarra (I used Abuelita hot chocolate instead). While she was not crazy about the brownies, I really enjoyed them. I would recommend eating them fresh out of the oven or microwaving them before eating because the warmth made a huge difference in the experience.



Mexican Hot Chocolate Brownies
3 circles Mexican hot chocolate
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 1/8 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1. Melt both types of chocolate with the butter in a saucepan (or in the microwave, as I did, since I had no access to a saucepan in my half moved-out apartment). Let chocolate/butter mixture cool for ten minutes.

2. Beat in brown sugar. Then beat in the eggs, one at a time.

3. Fold in dry ingredients.

4. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees

5. Decorate however you choose.

I used some melted white chocolate baking bars I had left over to decorate and then topped them with some left over Marble Mix-Ins.