If you have been concerned with the term “beach body” lately, this post is not for you. Feel free to browse through the Fruits, Vegetables and Power Foods categories or kindly return to where you came from. Thank you and come again!

Still here?

Good…

So, as some of you may know, one of my culinary goals is [was] to achieve the perfect cakey, chewy, voluminous, orgasmic brownie. Thanks to Mary, from One Perfect Bite, this goal has been achieved. Well, it’s more of a dream come true. That’s right. Suck on that, Fat Witches! In case you don’t believe me or Mary, these heavenly treats got huge stamps of approval from my girlfriends as well.

I altered Mary’s recipe slightly, and decided to add espresso (to intensify bitterness) and cayenne pepper (to ignite the palate). Everything about the preparation of these brownies went perfectly, until I decided to cut them before they cooled completely (I was impatient!), so they didn’t look so neat.

Enough words! Here’s the recipe (adapted from Mary’s):

(Yield: 16 pieces)

Ingredients:

4 oz dark chocolate, chips or chopped bar

4 oz milk chocolate

6 tbsp butter

3 eggs

1 c sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup + 1 tbsp all-purpose flour

1 heaping tsp espresso powder

1/3 tsp cayenne pepper

Adjust oven rack to lower third of oven. Preheat to 350F. Melt butter and chocolate in a bain marie,

stirring occasionally, until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, salt, espresso and pepper, until mixture forms a ribbon. Add 2 tbsp of chocolate mixture to eggs and whisk (as to not shock eggs with heat and inadvertently scramble them), then whisk in remaining chocolate and gently fold in flour. DO NOT OVER-MIX. Pour batter into greased 8″ square pan. Bake for about 30 min, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven. Cool completely. Cut into 16 squares.