A cross between cake and brownies, these mocha pecan brownies are full of toasted pecans, melted chocolate, chocolate chips and a delicious espresso icing.
If you’re in the mood to bake and can’t decide between cake and brownies then this is your recipe. With a deep chocolate flavor enhanced by soy sauce (believe it or not!), these brownies also have a subtle espresso flavor from the espresso powder melted into the batter and from the icing, which uses a little liquid espresso. A whole cup full of chopped toasted pecans gives these brownies a great little crunch. Another great thing? They can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for several days!
Mocha Pecan Brownies: Key Components
- Soy sauce: this helps enhance the espresso and chocolate flavors in the cake. I must give credit to Janusz, a contestant on this year’s Great British Bake-Off who used it in his chocolate cake!
- Bourbon: I like adding some sort of alcohol to my bakes as it serves to subtly enhance flavors, especially chocolate ones.
- Espresso powder: this recipe requires the powder or finely ground form of coffee for the batter and cooled liquid coffee or espresso for the icing.
- Toasted Pecans: I like adding toasted nuts to my bakes, but you can add any type of nut you like to this recipe.
- Chocolate: This recipe requires both chocolate chips and cocoa powder. Make sure you have some high quality chocolate in this recipe as it really makes a difference. I like using Ghirardelli or Guittard.
- Process: To streamline the batter preparation, I like to melt the butter and chocolate chips together, then add the brown sugar and espresso powder to the pan so it all mets together. Once cool or slightly warm, I add the other liquid ingredients and the eggs. I then add this mixture to a medium or large bowl with the dry ingredients.
Mocha Pecan Brownies
A cross between cake and brownies, these squares are full of toasted pecans, melted chocolate, chocolate chips and a delicious espresso icing.
Equipment
- 1 9×9 square pan
- 1 medium sauce pan
- 1 sheet tray for toasting pecans
Ingredients
Mocha Brownies
- 8 tbsp butter
- 1 cup chocolate chips, divided
- ⅔ cup dark brown sugar
- 1 tbsp espresso powder
- 3 eggs
- 1 tbsp bourbon optional
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup flour
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 1 cup toasted pecans chopped
Espresso Icing
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp milk
- 3-4 tbsp coffee or cold brew must be room temp or cold
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°. Grease a 9×9 baking pan and place a piece of parchment along the bottom.
- On a small baking sheet or tray, spread pecans and toast in oven for 4-6 minutes. Remove and set aside to cool.
- Place butter in a medium saucepan and heat to medium-low. Butter should melt in 4-5 minutes (keep an eye on it). Once melted, add in ½ cup of the chocolate chips and stir until melted into the butter. Take the pan off the heat, add in the brown sugar and espresso powder and stir until combined. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and cocoa powder. Set aside.
- To the sauce pan, whisk in the the bourbon, eggs, vanilla extract and soy sauce. Make sure the mixture is cool or warm and not hot so that the eggs do not scramble.
- Add chocolate mixture to dry ingredients and whisk until combined.
- Chop the the pecans and fold them in to the batter along with the remaining chocolate chips.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted inside comes out clean.
- Remove and let cool.
Espresso Icing
- In a medium bowl, combine the powdered sugar, milk and coffee. Whisk until an icing-like mixture comes together. If too thick, add in a little coffee and whisk. If too runny, add in a little powdered sugar.
- Use a spoon or a ziplock bag with a small part of the bottom corner snipped off to distribute the icing on the cake in any pattern you like. Serve or store in an airtight container in the fridge.