Brownies - Sweet Heat

I found a perfect brownie recipe that fits my taste, with caramel, its dense & chocolaty.  The brownies where excellent on their own but I wanted to add another level of flavor and complexity to the brownies.  

I remembered that once I had tried some spicy chocolate bark that had a bit of heat to it which appealed to me.  I started poking around in my pantry and found some Aleppo pepper which I had bought, but yet tried.  The Aleppo pepper has a moderate heat level of about 10,000 on the Scoville scale, with some fruitiness and mild, cumin-like undertones, cumin pares well with chocolate.  Cumin and chocolate are used together in some Mexican moles (pronounced moe-lays) It is fairly mild, with its heat building slowly, I like the way the heat creeps up in your mouth and lingers for a while after the treat is gone.

Ingredients

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup cocoa powder
2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon coarsely ground Aleppo chile pepper
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

Topping

14 oz. soft caramels
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon sea salt (coarsely ground)
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions

Brownies
 

Preheat oven to 350 In a glass bowl add butter and chocolate chips and microwave for about 90 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds until melted and smooth. Add cocoa, sugar, and Aleppo pepper and mix well. Stir in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and salt and mix together. Mix in the flour until well combined. Spread into a greased 9x13" pan and bake about 24 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a little crumbs. Let cool completely.

Topping

In a small saucepan stir the caramels and water over medium heat until melted and smooth. Pour evenly over cooled brownies. Sprinkle with sea salt, chocolate chips, and pecans. Once cooled, cover and store at room temperature.

Looks yummy no? 

Add another twist to this recipe.  Sub the Aleppo with the same amount of smokey chipotle chile powder.  Thats next on my list.