Spicy Brownies (High altitude)

When I made the move from Wisconsin to Colorado it was a big change. Well, some things were the same. When comparing Madison, Wisconsin to Boulder, Colorado, someone once told me that “the only difference is swapping out lakes for mountains.” Madison and Boulder both have the same college town feel, the same hippies and each their own pedestrian –only streets downtown. If you took Boulder and plopped it down in the middle of some lakes and fields, you would have Madison.



The big difference between the two cities however, is altitude. An avid baker, this difference affected me to a great extent. Why were all my cookies paper thin? How come my muffins were concave? Why are my cakes falling? Cooking at altitude (as we’ve discussed before), is lame. While most of my baking forays were edible, they were dense and made me sad. Sad baking.

This is how the first few months at altitude went, until I discovered Pie in the Sky by Susan G. Purdy. This cookbook is just what I was looking for. Susan spent an enormous amount of time testing and re-testing her recipes at sea level, 3,000, 5,000, 7,000 and 10,000 feet. I was even more encouraged knowing that she did her 5,000 ft cooking in Denver. Not only was she at the same altitude, but she was testing these recipes in the dry Denver air, perfect.



Sad baking soon turned to happy baking. Pie in the Sky also taught me how to adjust other recipes (like in our Franken-cupcake journey). So for my high-altitude friends, go buy this book. Your kitchen will soon be a happy one!

When you want brownies don’t go out and buy a mix, homemade brownies are so much more fantastic. They require so few ingredients and take mere minutes to whip up. Making brownies this weekend, I was in the mood for something a little different. While spinning thru my spice rack I settled on adding some cayenne pepper to my regular brownie recipe. The pepper adds a very subtle kick to the chocolate, while the chocolate chips send you on chocolate overload.

Spicy Brownies
Adapted from Pie in the Sky by Susan G. Purdy

(High-altitude adaptations in red)

½ cup Cocoa powder
½ cup All-purpose flour (plus 1 tbsp)
1 cup sugar (minus 1 tbsp)
1/8 tsp salt (1/4 tsp)
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
2 eggs (3 eggs)
1 tsp Vanilla extract
6 tbsp butter (8 tbsp) – melted and cooled
1 cup chocolate chips

- Mix cocoa powder, flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl
- Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add eggs, vanilla and butter
- Mix ingredients until blended and add chocolate chips, maybe add some nuts too!
- Scoop batter into an 8x8 pan
- Cook at 325 for 30-35 minutes (375 for 20-27 minutes at altitude)