Chili-lime brownies

I like spicy brownies, and often make them with cayenne, ginger, salt, and other spices. This time I decided to experiment with chili-lime, since it’s one of the world’s great flavor combinations and I thought it would work with chocolate. Final result is pretty good; I think I ended up with a little too much lime and not enough of the balancing salt and chili, though I wouldn’t want to add much more. Next time maybe something else to balance the lime a little, like a hint of ginger.

Ingredients

4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
2 c sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter
3 eggs
1 c flour
juice of 1 lime
zest of 1 lime
1 tsp kosher salt or sea salt
1/2 tsp flaky sea salt, for garnish
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions

Heat oven to 350 and grease a 9×13 baking pan. Melt the chocolate and butter in a large glass bowl in a microwave for 2 minutes. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Mix in sugar. Mix in eggs. Gradually mix in flour. Add salt, cayenne, lime juice, and lime zest to taste (flavors will be slightly stronger in brownies after cooking and cooling than they are in batter). Pour into the baking pan and sprinkle with a little flaky sea salt. Bake for about 30 min, until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs; err on the side of underbaking.