Pumpkin Swirl Brownies

This recipe was one of Martha Stewart's Cookie of the Day emails.  I'm always on the lookout for something a little different, and seasonal recipes are always fun to try.  Brownies are always a hit here at our house, and pumpkin, well, it's that time of year! 

How can you go wrong with anything pumpkin?!

So, I gathered up the ingredients, and went to work.

As you can see, all the normal ingredients for preparing a yummy pan of brownies, with the addition of the pumpkin.  But look . . . up there . . . there's also a few slightly different additions then are normally found in a brownie recipe.  Cinnamon, nutmeg, and cayenne pepper.  I have seen spicy flavors pared with chocolate in other recipes, but I've never experienced it.  

I was anxious to try!

First things first.  

Melt the chocolate {I mixed semi-sweet with unsweetened} and the 

butter together in a double boiler on the stove.

 Now, can you think of anything more lovely? 

 Mmmmm . . . glossy, rich, buttery melted chocolate . . .

Combining the eggs, sugar, vanilla.

It works into quite a thick, sticky batter.

At this point, you divide that batter up there into two bowls.  Add the melted chocolate to one, and the pumpkin along with remaining ingredients in another.

Then you spread half the chocolate batter in a pan, followed by half the pumpkin batter, repeating to create four layers of batter. 

Well, I was lazy and only did two layers.  Chocolate on the bottom, pumpkin on top.  I tried to swirl it, but with only the two layers I didn't really get swirl of combined batters.  Also, the recipe called for the brownies to be baked in a 9 inch square pan, but many of the comments I read about the recipe said the batter was too rich and thick for that size and the brownies weren't baking thoroughly.  Several commenters suggested a larger pan.  I used a 9x12 and it worked perfectly.

As you can see, I didn't quite get the swirliness like in Martha's brownies below.  Oh, and I didn't add the nuts.  The brownies were a success!  That very faint hint of spiciness paired well with the pumpkin flavor in these brownies.  I think if I would have taken the time to layer the batter as suggested, there would be a better mixture of flavors when bitting into the brownie.  With just the layer of pumpkin on top, it's more divided flavor/texture when you bite into the brownie, if that makes any sense.  I would definitely make these again. 

If you'd like the recipe, click here to go to Martha's site to print it out.

I can't go without mentioning my super-cute witchy cake stand.  Isn't it adorable!  It was a hostess gift one year from my good friend and bestest next-door neighbor in the world, Mary.

Thanks for visiting! 

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