Mocha Brownies
As I was trying to figure out what to make this week, I realized I’ve never made brownies with frosting. I guess that’s not completely true. I’ve made brownies with peanut butter frosting and chocolate ganache and I’ve also made Texas sheet cake. But never just brownies with just some sort of frosting. I decided to do that this week. Hubby requested mocha brownies, so I upped the amount of coffee in the brownie batter and made some coffee flavored frosting.
I used my go-to brownie recipe. It never fails me. It already calls for instant coffee, so I just bumped it up to 1 Tbsp. I used 1 Tbsp in the frosting as well. These brownies had a great jolt from the caffeine and everyone seemed to enjoy them. I couldn’t wait to try these, so I frosted and cut them while they weren’t completely cool. I love that these brownies have chocolate chips in them. So when you eat them still warm, the chocolate chips are all gooey and delicious!
Check out my entire week of bars and brownies here.
Mocha Brownies
Yield: ~36
Ingredients:
For the Brownies
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cups cocoa
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp espresso powder, optional
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups chocolate chips
For the Frosting
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp instant coffee
Directions:
For the Brownies
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan
In a saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat briefly, just until it's hot, but not bubbling; it'll become shiny looking as you stir it. Heating this mixture a second time will dissolve more of the sugar, which will yield a shiny top crust on your brownies.
Transfer the sugar mixture to a medium-sized mixing bowl, if you've heated it in a saucepan. Stir in the cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder, and vanilla.
Whisk in the eggs, stirring until smooth.
Add the flour and chips, again stirring until smooth.
Spoon the batter into a lightly greased 9" x 13" pan.
Bake the brownies for about 30 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it. The brownies should feel set on the edges, and the center should look very moist, but not uncooked.
Remove them from the oven and cool completely on a rack.
For the Frosting
In a bowl cream butter and vanilla. Add powdered sugar and beat on medium speed. Dissolve instant coffee in milk and add to the mixture. Beat until lightly and fluffy.
Spread the frosting over the cooled brownies.
Brownies adapted from King Arthur
Frosting Recipe from Blog Chef
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Oh my god… these look amazing! They combine two of my favorite things: cookie dough, and mint-chocolate!
I’ve been trying to find something unique to make for my coworkers (I bake something every weekend for them on Monday) and was sick of making cookies. I’ve been trying to find a yummy mint-chocolate non-cookie to make, and I think this will do the trick!
Jecka – These don’t actually have mint in them. But you could definitely add mint to the brownie layer and use mint chips in the cookie dough. It would be quite tasty!
Those look AMAZING!!! All of my favorite things, rolled into one. So creative 🙂
I did the same thing Jecka did – I totally read “mini” as “mint”! That’s what you call a yummy mistake! 🙂
These sound awesome! I was thinking of making cookie dough cupcakes for Bake for Hope, but I might make these instead.
mmmm… My boyfriend would go crazy over those! He and I love cookie dough. I just got a new KitchenAid mixer that I’m looking for recipes to make in. I think your’s will be the first. Thanks for all the great ideas
Wow, these sound amazing and are right up my alley with that edible cookie dough – yum!!
What a great idea!! Wow. I would drizzle some hot chocolate sauce on top to make it even more intense haha. Overkill!
Wow, now those look killer, I love cookie dough and am a sucker for any recipe with those words.
Oh my gosh these look amazing. LOVE cookie dough, must definitely save this recipe for an empty rainy day 🙂
I love mini cupcakes. These are super cute!
Don’t those look yummy! I think if I open my mouth wide enough I can get it all in one bite, haha. I’ll have to give these a try soon.