Tasty Tuesday - Pumpkin Swirl Brownies

I'm currently on a "get it out of my house" kick. I am working on clearing out the clutter and getting rid of things, and the wee ones are helping me. We've gone through so many of their books and toys and games and decided that maybe we don't really need to keep them anymore - and boy does it feel good. When I had to bring a dessert to a potluck meeting at Mister Man's school, of course I opened the cabinets and hunted around for something I could use up and thus remove from the cabinet.

I realized I had four cans of pumpkin puree, so creating something with pumpkin became key. I wanted to make something unique and fun, but I wasn't feeling too inspired by recipes I was seeing. Finally I found something to inspire me. And then I tweaked it. The pumpkin swirl brownies I made were good. I did have to do a little moving around of batters and such, so it isn't the quickest recipe, but it's still fairly easy and oh so yummy. Mister Man already asked if I'll make it again! And my husband kept stealing "little" pieces from the pan. Did I mention that none of us like pumpkin pie?

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies

Ingredients:
3/4 c butter, melted
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c granulated sugar
2 t vanilla
3 eggs
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
3/4 c flour
1/2 c pumpkin puree
3/4 t cinnamon
1/2 t ground nutmeg
3/4 c chocolate chips
1/4 c cocoa powder

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350, and grease an 8x8 baking dish.

Mix together the melted butter, sugar and vanilla until well beaten. You want this whipped together well. Then add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Add the baking powder and salt and mix well again. Add the flour and mix until just combined.

Separate the batter into two bowls, one that has about 2/3 of the batter and the other with 1/3. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin puree to the bowl with 2/3 of the batter and mix until just combined. Take some of that batter and put it into the 1/3 batter bowl until the batters are about even again - this is all guesstimation, so don't worry about being exact here.

In the second bowl where you just added some of the pumpkin batter, add the cocoa and 1/2 of the chocolate chips and mix until just combined.

Place half the chocolate batter into your greased pan. Place half the pumpkin mixture atop it. Place the remaining chocolate atop that and then the final pumpkin on the very top. Using a spatula carefully swirl it up just a little bit. Place the remaining chocolate chips atop the batter, just for fun.

Place it in the oven and bake for 45 minutes - until your tester comes out clean. Let it cool fully in the pan, then cut into squares and serve. Yum.

You'll notice that my pan is a 9x13, if you're observant. I made just about double this posted recipe and baked it in a 9x13 pan. It took over an hour to bake, and the center was a little too thick to bake perfectly, so I had to take it out when the edges started getting crispy and hope it finished baking as it cooled. It worked out fine, but going forward I would bake it in an 8x8 pan (or 2 if I want more of this - which I certainly do because it was awesome) to make the baking easier.

The reason I start with 1/3 and 2/3 batters and move to 1/2 and 1/2 is that I want a real pumpkin flavor to come out, but if you start with half and half, the pumpkin batter is too thin and the cocoa batter is too thick. Putting some of the pumpkin batter in what would become the chocolate batter allowed me to put in more pumpkin puree while keeping the batters at a reasonable consistency.

Enjoy this and more with Blessed With Grace and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday. Also posting now with A Southern Fairytale and her Mouthwatering Monday.