REALLY ROCKY Rocky Road Brownies with Chipotle Chile Pepper Spice

Extra Fudgie, Extra Gooey, toasted pecans and beautiful slightly toasted marshmallows and the colored rock chocolate chips make a fun presentation and an amazing tasty brownie.


How about those fancy pretty colored rocks that are actually Chocolate Chips... OK, here's that fair use and warning the good folks of the US Gov't have asked (ordered) bloggers to do.  I got the nuts FREE!!!  BWAHAHAHA FREE I SAY!  Yeap, the truly very good folks at the OH NUTS company contacted me and offered a few pounds of their nuts.  And Oh Boy, did OH NUTS ever come through for me.  I spent a few minutes navigating around their mail order site.  It was very easy to follow and amazing in the amount of products they carry.  Not just nuts (including the very rare unsalted cashews that didn't last long enough in my pantry to make it to any recipes.  Talk about good eats!), anyway, not just nuts, but dried fruits, chocolates, granola, candy and even specialty ice cream.  Take a minute and look over their site.  Very reasonable prices, easy to navigate site and a tremendous selection of bulk and gift items.


And the keep these little gems in stock!


Sure, you can get the taste by following the recipe with "normal" boring chocolate chips at the end instead of chocolate rocks...  But come on, how can you resist serving ROCKY Rocky Road Brownies???   Look at em!  They have real (looking) rocks in the rocky road!


I measure the success of a dessert two ways... First, would kids eat em.  Of course they would!


Second, from my youth and the competitive world of Baptist Church basement potluck dinners, who can bring a dish that goes home empty is always remembered.  Although, truth to be told, whoever takes a dish home that is barely touched is not only remembered, but discussed, not always in a Christian manor... but I digress.


If you pop a plate of these bad boys down in front of the congregation, along side the other 10 plates of brownies and these are gone first.  You can rule the church basement with these...


Here's what I did...


1 cup semi-sweet Chocolate chips
2 sticks Butter
1 cup light brown Sugar
1/2 cup granulated Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla
2 tsp instant Coffee crystals
3 large Eggs
1 1/4 cup unsweetned Cocoa Powder
1 tsp Baking Powder
Double Pinch of Salt
1/4 tsp (yes, only 1/4) Chipotle Chile Pepper Spice


1/2 cup Mini Marshmallows (or large MM cut into 8 pieces to make 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup Pecans
1/2 cup Rocky Chocolate Chips

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Melt 4 tablespoons Butter and all the Chocolate Chips in microwave using 15 second bursts, stir in between zaps
• In your Kitchenaid, mix, cream the remaining butter with the two sugars.  Add the Vanilla, coffee, eggs, chipotle powder and the cooled melted butter/chocolate mix.
• After all the wet ingredients are combined, slowly add the flour and cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
• Spread the batter in a 9X9 greased baking dish.
• Bake for 35 minutes, until a toothpick can be inserted and removed without anything sticking.
• Add the toppings
• Return to the oven for 5 minutes, until the marshmallows begin to toast!

Allow to cool completely before cutting.

First note, I always undercook my brownies.  I only cooked mine for 30 minutes, but I like eating mine with a fork. They come out more fudgie than cakey.

Second, two ingredients you might be surprised about... Coffee in your brownies is a WONDERFUL thing.  Just a bit, especially the instant, will make the chocolate more pronounced.  Really, it works!

But the surprise may be the chipotle powder in the mix.  Competitive chili cookers have known for years that to add a bit of chocolate to the chili gives it just enough of a hint of ... something to make yours stand out.  Same with chipotle powder spice in your chocolate.  Just a tiny amount, just enough to make yours stand out and that extra little tang at the end.  Trust me, NO ONE will think your brownies taste like peppers, but there will be that hint of something extra!

Holidays are coming.  Presentation desserts are coming.  Consider looking over the OH NUTS company website and seeing if there is anything fun that gives you an idea.

And the BSI "secret" ingredient this week is Chiles.  I am sure Biz meant for us to show off our stuffed pepper recipes, but I am turning in my brownies as an outside the box pepper entry.  If you want to get in on the BSI fun, click HERE.

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