Brownies with espresso cream cheese frosting, crushed oreos, and sea salt

I die. Who's the culprit? 

exhibit A: the sea salt top. Could it be the ones so carefully sprinkled over the brownie? The saline biting my palate with saltiness? Or could it be.....

exhibit B: the crumbly oreos. They're definitely suspect. Come on, now. Cookies on top of a brownie? That's awfully dangerous. But perhaps it was.....

exhibit C: the cream cheese espresso frosting. And with the espresso powder perfectly accentuating the chocolate flavors above and below its creamy layer? It's killer. Or is it.....

exhibit D: the ooey brownie goodness. Now I turn to our last, and possibly most dangerous, of our suspects. You all know I'm a huge fan of brownies. This is, like, a top 5 favorite food type-of-deal. This recipe comes from Alton Brown and I've got to say, they're pretty rad. Definitely not as ooey as my plumb good brownies, but still great in all their moist cakeyness.

Who knows what put me 6 feet under. With such plausible subjects, maybe it was a group homicide.

Morbid, I know, but these brownies kill me. They're that good.

Makes 18 brownies

For the brownies:

1 cup sugar, sifted
1 cup brown sugar, sifted
11/4 cups cocoa, sifted
1/2 cup flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
4 large eggs
8 ounces melted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 teaspoon iodized salt
3/4 teaspoon instant coffee powder

For everything else:

6 oreo cookies, crushed
Espresso powder, for dusting
Sea salt, for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 300ºF. Grease a 9 1/2" x 11" pan.

In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs at medium speed until fluffy and light yellow. Add both sugars. Add remaining ingredients, and mix to combine.

Pour the batter into a greased and floured 8-inch square pan and bake for 45 minutes. Check for doneness with the tried-and-true toothpick method: a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan should come out clean. When it's done, remove to a rack to cool. Resist the temptation to cut into it until it's mostly cool.

While the brownies are cooking, prepare the frosting. In a medium bowl, use a spatula to combine all ingredients for the frosting together. Once roughly combined, use an electric mixer on medium speed to beat the frosting until smooth, about 2 minutes. Set aside.

Once the brownies are cool, remove them from their pan and place on a cutting board, face up. Cut the width into sixths and the length into thirds. Keep brownies together so it is easy to spread frosting. Spoon the frosting out onto the brownies and spread evenly, coating out to the edges.

Sprinkle crushed oreos over the frosting, again coating evenly. Then, dust more instant coffee powder over the top. Finally, sprinkle a good amount of sea salt over the entire thing. Carefully pull apart and enjoy!

Chocolate espresso puddles

I like sunny days like these. They make me hopeful that Boston winter is about to end. Although they also make me cry because I go out for a nice run in shorts and a T-shirt only to find that the snow that has so happily melted away is now all over my nice new running shoes. I run through puddle after puddle of melty snow shit, wishing the weather would just make up its mind already and either be freezing cold with ice puddles or warm with no puddles at all. Then I go home and make puddle cookies and everything is all better.

Makes 24 puddles

For the puddles:

6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
1/3 cup dark chocolate-covered espresso beans
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs, at room temperature
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

these are good puddles. if my shoes
got dirty in these, that would be dandy.

Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 300°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the chocolate and butter. Place the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and stir occasionally until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.

In the bowl of a food processor, finely chop the chocolate covered espresso beans. In a medium bowl, whisk together the chopped espresso beans, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.

In another medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, water, and vanilla extract. Gradually add the dry ingredients and stir until thick and smooth. Fold in the melted chocolate. Stir in the chocolate chips. Using a cookie or ice cream scoop, scoop level 1/4 cupfuls of the batter onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake until slightly puffed and the tops begin to crack, 18 to 20 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool completely on the baking sheets and serve.

Recipe from Giada at Home.