Pumpkin Rocky Road Brownies – #JustDessertsChallenge

Yup. You heard me. Pumpkin Rocky Road Brownies. I love Rocky Road ice cream and I love the fall flavors of pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom. So why not combine them into a brownie?

Kelly of Evil Shenanigans (and she is evil, people, make no mistake!) issued a challenge: In honor of the new show, Top Chef: Just Desserts, let’s see if we can duplicate the elimination challenge. We, of course, would have the whole following week and post on Wednesday. Last week’s elimination challenge was “Bake Sale”. The cheftestants had to create items that would sell big at a high school bake sale, so that became our challenge, too.

That was my inspiration for these – and I’m betting they’d sell big-time!

Pumpkin Rocky Road Brownies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup pumpkin purée
1 cup natural cane sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1/2 tsp. table salt

1 cup California Walnuts, chopped or crushed coarsely
1 cup chocolate chips
2 cups mini-marshmallows

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 325º F. Prepare a 9″ x 9″ pan by spraying with cooking spray, or by lining with non-stick aluminum foil.

Melt the stick of butter over medium-low heat and allow to brown (yes! brown butter!). Remove from heat and stir in the cocoa powder until completely blended. Transfer mixture into a medium bowl.

Add the pumpkin puree to the cocoa mixture and mix on low speed with an electric mixer. Add the sugar, then add the egg and vanilla extract, and mix well after each addition.

Sift together all the dry ingredients, except the chocolate chips,nuts, and marshmallows, and add to the wet mixture in thirds, and mix thoroughly after each third. Fold in the nuts, chocolate chips, and mini-marshmallows by hand. This is a fairly thick batter.

Pour batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.

Bake on the bottom rack of the oven for 30 – 35 minutes, or until the top appears dry. Allow to cool completely in the pan, on a rack, before cutting.

Notes:

* Again, allow the brownies to cool completely before cutting, or you’ll wind up with a sloppy (albeit delicious) mess. Patience, Grasshopper.

* For all my brownies, rather than greasing the pan, I like to line it with non-stick aluminum foil. Not only does this eliminate the need to grease and clean a pan, but after a few minutes, you can remove the brownie cake from the pan, in the foil, allowing it to cool faster. When it’s completely cool, you can peel back the foil and never worry about digging out that first piece – every piece you cut can be perfect!