Espresso and Oreo chocolate brownies

Are you one of those people who buy stuff on a whim? Like, if you go into a supermarket or a grocery store, you pick up all the things that are on your list, then decide to take a look around to see if there's anything you've missed? Welcome to the club. Oh, I'm the queen of whim -cannot leave any store unless I've bought something that wasn't on the list. And then bring it home and spend hours pouring over recipes to justify the spend.

The latest was a jar of espresso coffee powder. Any sensible person would have just made cups of espresso coffee and be done with it. But not me, I had to incorporate it into some recipe. But then again, I've never claimed to be sensible.

Like anyone else, I like a good chocolate cake. Or a coffee flavoured cake. But not a mocha because the flavour is neither here nor there and it always looks anaemic. Don't you agree?

So there was this pack of Oreo biscuits sitting around (another whim) and I had this absolutely brilliant flash of genius that maybe I could mix them up in a brownie (easiest thing to make) so I googled to see if anyone else had come up with this awesomely brilliant combination. Of course, what was I thinking- there were several others who had had the same brilliant idea before me. And baked them years before me!!

So the next best thing was to work around the ingredients of a good fudgey brownie and justify both the espresso and the Oreo. In one fell swoop!!

What can I say about these lovelies? Deep brown bars of gorgeousness on a plate. Moist, ultra fudgey brownies, smooth mouth feel until you bite into a chocolate chip or the Oreo itself. The textures, the flavours, the perfect match of chocolate and coffee, and the colour... and the aroma...

Hold that thought while I rush to the store to pick up another jar of espresso.

But let me give you the recipe first.

Espresso and Oreo chocolate brownies

Ingredients
120 gm flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

200 gm butter
270 gm chocolate, chopped ( I used dark compound)

210 gm sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tablespoon espresso coffee powder
150 gm Oreo cookies, broken into 3 pieces
50 gm chocolate chips

Method
Line a 9" square baking pan.
Sieve together the flour, baking powder and salt, keep aside
Melt butter and chocolate over a gentle heat, leave to cool.
Place sugar, eggs and vanilla extract in a bowl and whisk till foamy. (Do use a balloon whisk and a roomy bowl.)
Fold in the melted butter and chocolate mix.
Also fold in the sieved flour, coffee powder, broken Oreos and chocolate chips.
Pour into the prepared pan, pop into a preheated 180°C oven. 
Bake for about 30 minutes. The centre will still be a little wet, but that's OK.
Take it out, cool, then slice into bars.

P.S. 
It's true- a little coffee powder does enhance the flavour of chocolate.