Espresso brownies

Tuesday was National Coffee Day.  I don't know who comes up with these national food holidays, but I would like to thank the person who came up with this one.  I am obsessed with coffee!  I used to spend many of my waking non-work moments studying in Starbucks when I was a grad student (both times, all three of you count that second bachelors...), and I still frequent the chain, but lately I've been seriously crushing on the iced americanos from this little coffee shop in my neighborhood, Laughing Man (and in case you don't live in my neighborhood -- if you do, stop by and say hi! -- and want to sample it, I just read the coffee is available for Keurig!!).

But I digress.  Enough about my favorite coffee (I could go on and on).  Back to what I had been saying: It was national coffee day, and I didn't have a coffee treat for you guys.  I could've let it go by unnoticed. I could've made the coffee syrup that I saw online that day (that'll be coming soon), but with nothing to put it on it would've been sad.  So I decided to wait and make something good.  Like these espresso brownies.  Which are really just a modification of these yummy brownies I made for Yom Kippur break fast (and on Valentine's Day last year).  Because they're so freaking good, and because when pumped up with espresso flavor, they can take the place of a brownie and a cup of coffee -- a two-for-one deal.

Wait!  Am I rambling?  I think I may be rambling.  I don't know why I'm so hopped up.  Oh, right, maybe it's because I licked the batter?  The batter with 3 tablespoons of espresso powder? Yeah, maybe that's it.  Why am I still rambling??

OK, meltdown aside, these brownies are awesome.  The espresso goes so nicely with the chocolate in the brownie, you might even be able to call them mocha, but I like the ring of espresso brownies better.  And they'll give you a little buzz, but in a good mellow I-just-had-a-shot-of-espresso way. Lip smacking good!  

P.S. I don't think anyone would fault you if you enjoyed one of these with a cup of coffee!

Espresso Brownies 
Adapted from these heavenly Fudge Brownies from Yammie's Noshery

Ingredients:

2 sticks of butter
2 1/4 cups of sugar
4 large eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups of cocoa powder (I used Dutch press)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups of flour
2 cups chocolate chips
3 Tbsp espresso powder

Directions:

Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together the butter and sugar in a microwave safe bowl.
Heat in the microwave, stirring about every 30 seconds, until the mixture is bubbly and smooth (mine was smooth, but not so bubbly).  You can also do this on the stove.

Add in the eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth.
Add the espresso powder and mix well to incorporate.
Mix together the cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and flour.  I just sifted it into the butter mixture, in about 3 additions.
Add to the butter mixture, mixing until smooth.
Stir in the chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for about 28 minutes.  I baked mine for 25 minutes.  They were delicious, but very gooey when they came out of the oven.  They did set up nicely when the cooled.