pumpkin-chocolate brownies: no time to think, no time to stop

 

The days are getting shorter and all the more colder. It's tough getting out from underneath my super warm comforter to a cold room. It's even tougher doing that in the middle of the night in order to be at work at 4 am. Sigh....but that's the life of a baker!

My second stage will be ending in a couple of days and I have to admit that I'm kind of glad. Not only is it hard to wake up at an ungodly hour (which requires going to bed at an hour reserved only for babies and seniors) but it hasn't exactly been the best time. I mean, I've been learning a lot of new things, but I haven't really enjoyed it that much. It's a lot of production that requires repetitive work for most of the day. Not exactly my cup of tea. At least I'm discovering what I like and what I don't like to do.

I know the place just isn't for me. The atmosphere isn't  the most fun environment. But the people are really nice and couldn't be more welcoming. I'm really glad to have met a lot of them, so I guess it isn't so bad afterall. 

These brownies however, are better than " not so bad". The mix of chocolate, pumpkin, cinnamon and cayenne pepper really give an interesting flavour combination. I think I might prefer plain chocolate brownies, but my cow-workers and friends definitely thought otherwise considering there are none left!

 

Chocolate Pumpkin brownies 

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

Yields 16 big or 28 small bars

Ingredients

1 stick unsalted butter

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used chips)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1 3/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups pumpkin puree

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

  

Procedure

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan or dish (I don't have a 9" square pan so I used a 10" circle spring-form pan). Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water stirring occasionally. Sift the flour, baking powder, cayenne pepper and salt in a bowl and set aside. 

Beat the sugar, eggs, and vanilla in an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until fluffy and well combined, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in flour mixture slowly. Do not overmix.

Divide batter equally between two medium bowls. Stir in the chocolate into one bowl and stir in the pumpkin, vegetable oil, cinnamon, and nutmeg in the other bowl. Transfer half of the chocolate batter to the prepared pan smoothing top with a rubber spatula or offset spatula. Alternate with half of the pumpkin batter. Repeat with the last layer of each the chocolate batter and the pumpkin batter. Work quickly so batters don't set. With a small knife, gently swirl the two batters to create a marbled effect.

Bake until set, 40 to 45 minutes. Leave to cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut with a large hot knife into squares.