I’m a big chai latte drinker. I order it with soy milk, no water and extra hot. Before switching over to hot tea, I would drink one at least once a day and every now and then I will still get one as a treat.
I’ve actually never gotten a dirty chai – which is a chai latte with a shot of espresso. I actually get really bad migraines and caffeine can trigger them so I try to stear clear as much as possible, but I absolutely love baking with instant espresso. It really brings out the flavor of chocolate so I knew when I was making these brownies, that they must be dirty chai brownies!
But let’s not stop at just a dirty chai brownie – let’s also top it with an espresso whipped cream. Because we don’t do anything half-assed around here.
The dirty chai portion of these brownies come from seasonings and spices such a ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves and cardamon. These spices are some of the same spices that you’ll find in a chai latte and they really give the brownies a whole new level of flavor. They are spicy, smoky, sweet and very fragrant. Add in the strong taste of espresso and this is spot on!
The brownie recipe is a riff on my favorite brownie base which I’ve used for these dark chocolate and raspberry brownies and these dark chocolate and orange brownies. They are dense, moist, with a great crumb and a strong chocolate flavor. And the espresso whipped cream is the perfect creamy compliment to cut the deep dark chocolate.
These dirty chai brownies are the perfect Saturday morning and coffee treat or a perfect after dinner dessert. Basically, you can never go wrong grabbing a brownie!
dirty chai brownies
- ¾ cup dark chocolate chips
- ½ cup milk chocolate chips
- 3 tablespoons instant espresso
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ¾ teaspoon fresh ground cardamom
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons instant espresso
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter, flour and line a 9″ x 9″ baking dish with parchment and set aside.
- In a glass bowl, set over a pan of boiling water, mix together dark chocolate, milk chocolate, instant espresso and butter. Stir mixture until completely melted and then remove from boil water.
- Add salt and both sugars to mixture and beat well. Stir in vanilla.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Stir in flour, cocoa powder, ground ginger, cardamon, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves until just combine.
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan.
- Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted into the middle and comes out with moist crumbs. If the toothpick comes out dry, you’ve over baked your brownies.
- Allow to cool, then remove from pan and cut brownies into squares.
espresso whipped cream
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine heavy whipping cream, instant espresso and granulated sugar. Beat on medium speed, increasing to high speed, until soft peaks form.
- Top brownies with whipped cream and serve.
