Chocolate Brownies with Fresh Ginger

My sweetie is a big fan of ginger treats and so I couldn't resist making these chocolate ginger brownies for him. These are super easy to whip up and very moist and flavourful. The recipe is adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies. I will confess that I am not a huge fan of Ms. Stewart as she is rather fussy for my taste and I don't like to fiddle around with decorations and such. That said, she does have quite an array of tempting recipes and this volume is beautifully presented. The content section at the beginning of the book is stunning. There are small pictures of each recipe, along with page numbers, presented. If you enjoy cookbooks with mouth-watering food images, you will want to check this out. Most of the recipes are accompanied by gorgeous and inspired sizeable photos. If you are a cookie lover, you will want this book. Everything from light and delicate, soft and chewy, crumbly and sandy, chunky and nutty, cakey and tender, crisp and crunchy and rich and dense are showcased.

Chocolate Brownies with Fresh Ginger

1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter + another few teaspoons for buttering the pan
2/3 cup of chocolate (I used a combination of carob and dark chocolate)
1 cup of sugar
2/3 cup of unbleached white flour or spelt flour
1/4 cup of cocoa
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon of fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
2/3 teaspoon of vanilla
1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
1/8 teaspoon of ground cloves

Butter an 8 inch square baking dish. Line the bottom with parchment paper, with some overlap on the sides. Butter the bottom of the parchment paper.

In a medium saucepan, over medium - low heat, melt together the chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove from the heat and beat in the sugar, flour, cocoa, eggs, fresh ginger, vanilla, nutmeg, ground ginger, sea salt and ground cloves.

Transfer to the prepared pan and bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 30- 35 minutes. Let the brownies cool for 10 minutes, lift out with the parchment paper and cool for another 15 minutes on a wire rack. Cut into squares and serve.

More brownie recipes from Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen:
Gooey Peanut Butter Brownies with Carob Chips
Chocolate Cocoa Brownies with Dried Cranberries and Chickpea Flour
Peanut Butter Brownies
Brownies with Dried Fruit

On the top of the reading stack: Penguin Classics Three Tales by Flaubert

Audio Accompaniment: Anger Do Not Enter by Beef Terminal