We’re serving a new brownie at Kaldi’s Coffeehouse. It’s a big, thick classic brownie, with an even fudginess –to –cakiness ratio, studded with chocolate chips. Eating a good brownie makes you realize why this chocolaty square is such an American classic: It is unpretentious yet decadent. The Ralph Lauren of bars.

The brownie was created by American ingenuity. Folklore has it that a Boston baker forgot to put leavener in her brown molasses cake. It baked up denser and richer for the omission. The recipe was later altered to include chocolate instead of molasses. The Palmer House Hotel in Chicago sold brownies at the 1892 Columbian Exposition. A few years later, the first brownie recipe appeared in print in the The Boston Cooking School Cookbook. And by 1897, Americans could buy brownies from the Sears catalog. Dubbed “The Consumers’ Bible,” the Sears, Roebuck Catalog was the first nation-wide source for stuff of all kinds, from trousers to entire house kits, and is likely the reason that the brownie rose above its regional status to become an enduring all-American favorite.
The Chocolate Chip Brownie we’re now selling at Kaldi’s Coffeehouse is about the fifth brownie recipe we’ve served. We’ve made all kinds of brownies over the years. We’ve baked chewy brownies with marshmallows inside; rich chocolate syrup brownies; and chocolate cake-style brownies. We used Duncan Hines brownie mix for awhile, and embellished it with extra chocolate. “Premium brownie mixes make great brownies,” our baking supply rep reassured us. “Millions and millions of dollars of research and development are in those boxes.” In fact, according to culinary magazine tasting panels, brownies are one of the few pastries that are often as good, if not better, from a quality mix than they are from scratch.

Our penultimate brownie recipe was from scratch, in fact, and it flopped. For a limited time, from about March through mid-May of this year, we stocked our pastry cases with the Nice, Nutty and Naughty Brownies. Nice was a plain brownie dusted with powdered sugar. Nutty was frosted with chocolate buttercream and sprinkled with pecans. Naughty was laced with spice and topped with a chocolate cayenne glaze. But alas, they were too frou-frou and fussy for our purist-brownie customers. Good for you! we say. We shall gild the lily no more! Back to the straightforward American way. Let the French nibble petite fours; leave the Linzer Tortes to the Austrians. We’ve got brownies!

Naughty Brownies
Line an 8” pan with parchment paper. Grease and flour the parchment.

Ingredients
6 oz. 70% premium bittersweet chocolate
3/4 cups butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp finely ground espresso
1 cup flour
Melt chocolate and butter in microwave until completely melted but not bubbling, about 3 minutes, stirring after every minute. Pour into mixing bowl. Stir in vanilla, then sugar. Mix well. Beat eggs in a separate bowl until fluffy. Add eggs to chocolate mixture. Combine flour and espresso well, then stir it into the chocolate mixture just until blended. Bake at 350 until edges are just set, about 35 minutes. Center will still be soft. Cool completely before glazing.
Naughty Glaze
3 oz premium semisweet chocolate, chopped
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (ground, not flakes)
Combine all ingredients in the top pan of a double boiler set over simmering water. Stir very well until melted and smooth. Chill until set and spreadable, about 15 minutes, stirring often. Spread on cooled brownies.