Pumpkin pie chocolate brownies

It’s the day after Thanksgiving, and we’re all still hungover from the pumpkin pie and mashed potatoes and endless homemade rolls. Basking in the glory of the brief Thanksgiving vacation ahead of me (a whole three more days!), I’ve got a lot to be thankful for.

1) Adele’s new album. It’s everywhere. And it’s beautiful. It’s everything an Adele fan (read: me) could’ve hoped for as the third installment in her glorious, flawless discography. I’m in love with every song, but especially All I Ask, Love in the Dark, and When We Were Young. I’ve already cried multiple times thanks to this album. 

Truly a work of art.

2) The end of NaNoWriMo. I didn’t win—that’s the third time, goddammit!—but I have written about 30,000 words so far, which is a hell of a lot more than I write in an average month. And still about 1,000 words per day, which is a pretty good clip for me. Now that I’ve accepted that I won’t be able to churn out another 20,000 words in three days (is it physically possible? Yes. Is it realistic? No.), I can move on from trying to frantically produce novelage as fast as possible to actually doing some real, carefully-plotted work on my WIP. And editing. Oh lord do I have a lot of editing to do.

But the most important thing is that now, I actually have something to edit. Amazing, isn’t it?

3) The upcoming Christmas season. It’s Black Friday, bitches, and in America, that means it’s time to start consuming at a rapid, ill-advised rate, everything from oversized TV’s to seasonal baked goods to discounted iPhones and baking supplies.

In the spirit of the holiday season, I suggested to my mother that we hop over to the mall together last night once we’d finished our slices of pumpkin pie—“to witness the destructive force of capitalism firsthand.” For some reason, she declined.

4) All that sentimental bullcrap—you know, family and friends and health and shit. I’m infinitely thankful for all of those things, and not just on a holiday invented by genocidal pilgrims.*     

5) And of course, pumpkin pie chocolate brownies.

I am not thankful, however, for my shitty photography skills.

This is a recipe I made on a whim when I just felt like eating some kind of bar dessert, something rectangular and dense and chocolaty, but something more than an ordinary brownie. These pumpkin pie brownies fit the bill perfectly.

Notice the tiny pumpkins lurking in the background.

They’ve got a layer of rich, dense chocolate brownie on the bottom, topped by a creamy layer of custard-like, silky smooth pumpkin pie, embellished with a sprinkling of chocolate chips. The result is pure magic (depending on your definition of magic, of course).

Just look at those layers, man.

Oh, and I forgot to mention—they’re SUPER EASY too, so you have no excuse not to make them. You could head into the kitchen right now and start whipping these babies up. Really. As long as you have pumpkin, but you know. The ingredients are pretty basic if you’re an avid baker like me.

So that’s all I have to say about that. Here’s the recipe.

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Pumpkin pie chocolate brownies

Adapted from The Post Punk Kitchen

Ingredients

Brownie layer

112 grams • bittersweet chocolate, melted • 4 ounces

245 grams • pumpkin puree • 1 cup

150 grams • granulated sugar • ¾ cup

52 grams • vegetable oil • ¼ cup

4 grams • vanilla extract • 1 teaspoon

102 grams • all-purpose flour • ¾ cup

20 grams • Dutch-process cocoa powder • ¼ cup

7 grams • cornstarch • 1 tablespoon

1 gram • baking soda • ¼ teaspoon

2 grams • salt • ¼ teaspoon

Pumpkin pie layer

245 grams • pumpkin puree • 1 cup

14 grams • cornstarch • 2 tablespoons

122 grams • nondairy milk • ½ cup

68 grams • granulated sugar • 1/3 cup

4 grams • vanilla extract • 1 teaspoon

0.5 grams • ground ginger • ¼ teaspoon

1 gram • cinnamon • ½ teaspoon

Pinch nutmeg

Pinch allspice

Handful of chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Start by making the brownie layer. In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin, sugar, oil, and vanilla. Sift in flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt and stir to combine. Mix in melted chocolate.

For the pumpkin layer, simply mix together all ingredients (except chocolate chips).

Pour brownie layer into prepared baking pan and spread in an even layer with a spatula. Pour pumpkin layer on top, leaving a little room at the edges if possible. Bake for 30 minutes, until the pumpkin layer looks firm, with minimal jiggling, and has cracked at the edges slightly. Let cool for 20 minutes, then transfer to the fridge for at least an hour and a half, to set. Decorate with chocolate chips and slice.

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Slightly different angle.

* I apologize to any pilgrims that may be reading this.

For more pumpkin recipes, click these links! Don’t deny it—you totally want to.

Chocolate chip pumpkin bread. I kinda have a thing for chocolate and pumpkin.

Pumpkin s’mores bundt cake. A real stretch with this theme, but it works.

Chai sufganiyot with orange-pumpkin buttercream. These doughnuts are CRAZY good.