It’s almost St. Patrick’s Day. In honor of the holiday, I wanted to make foods featuring green ingredients. Whenever St. Patrick’s Day rolls around, I reminisce on my time living and working in Chicago. I did not grow up celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, but when I lived in Chicago, I started taking part in a lot of the St. Patrick’s Day festivities. St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago is especially exciting. People travel from around the world to take part in the festivities throughout the city. Restaurants feature Irish inspired food and drinks. Parades occur throughout the city. Families gather around the river to watch it get dyed green. Throughout the years I lived in Chicago, I always made my way towards Millennium Park, the loop, and the Riverwalk to partake in the festivities. Strolling down the Riverwalk is always my favorite activity to do. The Riverwalk is beautiful, scenic, and makes for a great way to destress after a long day of teaching high schoolers. With St. Patrick’s Day landing on the weekend this year, I was excited to make brownies featuring crunchy pistachios, three types of chocolate, and instant espresso powder. I’ve loved brownies since I was a child. Most of the homemade brownies I remember eating growing up were made from boxed brownie mixes. I actually love how easy it is to whip up a batch of brownies using boxed brownie mixes. In fact, it was so easy, I almost never made brownies from scratch. Even when there are potlucks at work, I often whip up a batch of brownies using boxed brownie mixes. Today though, I had an urge to make pistachio espresso brownies. Pistachios is one of my favorite green ingredients. It’s wonderful combined into pistachio chocolate truffles, makes for a great midday snack, and lends a great crunch in sweet desserts. My pistachio espresso brownies had the perfect balance of chewy and cakey texture. After starting my day with a honey avocado shake and a garden vegetable pizza, the pistachio espresso brownies were the perfect dessert to sweeten up the meal.
Pistachio Espresso Brownies:
· ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
· ½ cup light brown sugar
· ½ cup granulated sugar
· 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
· ¼ cup semisweet chocolate, melted
· ½ teaspoon espresso powder
· 2 large eggs, room temperature
· 1 cup all-purpose flour
· ½ teaspoon baking powder
· ½ teaspoon kosher salt
· ¼ cup chocolate syrup
· ¼ cup pistachios
· ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8 x 8 baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
2) In a large bowl, combine the unsalted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until smooth and fluffy. Fold in the melted bittersweet and semisweet chocolate. Sprinkle in the espresso powder. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition. Fold in the flour, baking powder, and salt until the ingredients are just combined. Add in the chocolate syrup. Stir until all ingredients are mixed together. Fold in the pistachios and semisweet chocolate chips.
3) Pour the batter into the parchment lined 8 x 8 baking pan. Use a spatula to smooth out the top. Place the baking pan in the oven for 35-40 minutes, until the brownies are baked through.
Takeaways: The brownies are fantastic on their own. If you want even more decadent brownies, you can make some vanilla frosting using butter, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla extract and combining until your desired frosting consistency. If you want to further enhance the green color, you can make a batch of matcha frosting using butter, confectioners’ sugar, and matcha powder and combining until your desired frosting consistency.
March 2015: Kevin and I walked along the streets adjacent to Chicago’s green river.
March 2015: I admired Chicago’s skyline from the Skydeck of the Willis Tower.
March 2019: I made some avocado shakes using a whole avocado, honey, milk, ice, and sprinkles in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.