Interesting flavors to add to brownies?

I’m baking brownies for a tree trimming party tonight and was curious what interesting/unusual flavors folks like to add to their brownies (no, I’m not
asking about herbal additives).

For example, I really like the instant espresso or coffee tweak, as it definitely seems to bring out the chocolate flavor. I’m experimenting with this batch by
adding just a little bit of orange extract as well to the mix.

Any other brilliant ideas?

Bruce

I make caramel brownies that are always a big hit.

My usual hot chocolate additions should work well for brownies too

Orange or tangerine Zest
5 spice powder
peanut butter
expresso powder

Outside of the ones already mentioned (esp. citrus and coffee)

Toasted pine nuts
Lavender (has to be a less sweet brownie)
Sea salt
Caramel (esp salted)
Cardamon
Coconut

Mint!

Ancho Chile powder, along with a little Cayenne Pepper.

I say put in everything everyone’s suggested, it sounds bomb.

Dried cherries instead of walnuts.

Thanks for all the ideas so far. As I say, this batch has the instant espresso and orange extract, so I’ll see how that turns out. I also added semi-sweet chocolate chips to up the chocolate/gooey factor.

Bruce

My older brother just celebrated his 41st birthday. His wife is a very accomplished cake maker. She baked a Brownie/Black Forest Cake for his celebration.

Sorry, I don’t have any pictures.

Probably too late, but I do brownies in muffin tins, just cook them for a shorter period of time. No cutting and everybody likes the brownie edges. Doing them in the muffin tin, you can make multiple batters or spice each individual batter in the tin. Lots of good ideas here on flavors.

P.S. If you cook brownies too long in a muffin tin, you have 8 hockey pucks. Useful for those of you who live in freezing states and enjoy hockey.

This batch came out very nicely. I used about half as much orange extract as vanilla extract, and it added an interesting floral/citrus quality that didn’t yell “ORANGES!” The underlying
basic recipe I use is the King Arthur flour brownie recipe, and then I like to experiment with flavors and spices.

I like Nowell’s suggestion of the ancho chili powder and a bit of cayenne, but one of my friends HATES anything even remotely spicy so I always have to keep that in mind when
cooking for her.

Bruce

Whatever happened to good old-fashioned brownies? I prefer cake-like brownies, rather than chewy/gooey. But unlike my charmingly sweet personality, I have little taste for sweets. A few times a year I have a dessert. Otherwise, it’s another serving of pasta or potatoes.

How good a time do you want to have with said brownies?

Mash a banana (or 2) and add, wonderful.

Pasta/potatoes and brownies aren’t mutually-exclusive.

Bruce

Spices that marry well with chocolate are allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, cumin, and black pepper.
Recently I was served a brownie full of goji berries, and it was quite good.
A friend told me he put Herbes de Provence in a batch of brownies. I find the idea quite interesting, but have not tried it.

I made one batch with (a better, less sweet version of) Nutella and one with licorice syrup and sea salt, both were very good.

Oh Merrill … I’m with you. Basic brownies - the Bakers Chocolate One Bowl recipe - with pecans rather than walnuts and no other changes … big glass well chilled whole milk … nothing is better.

Now I’m so hungry!

Fish sauce. No joke. Try it.