Margarita Brownies

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Do you remember when you first learned that there was a holiday devoted to drinking margaritas? I'm not sure how old I was when I learned this fact, but I know that I was at least old enough to look like I was 21. A bunch of friends were going to a local restaurant called Los dos Amigos for dinner. Then I learned it was to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, suddenly I felt like someone had forgotten to tell me about Santa Claus. Since then I have tried to make up for it. Homemade Guacamole and Margaritas are a staple of the day.
This year I also wanted to celebrate the day here on the blog. I was trying to come up with a fun dessert idea. Margarita Cupcakes have already been done 100 times over on the internet. I was thinking about Margarita sorbet, a nice cooling way to end a dinner. Then I found a recipe on The Kitchn for Extra Dark brownies with Sea Salt and Lime. I was torn, which do I make? In the end it was our rock solid limes at Fred Meyer that made the final call. I juiced the first one and netted about 2 teaspoons of juice. At that rate I was looking at at least 20 limes at .78 cents a piece to make sorbet. Brownies it is. I switched up a few ingredients to make them more Margarita like. I loved the smell floating through my kitchen when I put them in the oven, first it smelled like I was having a Margarita party and then slowly the chocolate smell of fresh baked brownies took over. Because I was bringing these to work I took it easy on the salt on top. Next time I would be a little more generous with it. In the end I couldn't really taste a strong citrus presence, just a full bodied chocolate flavor. It reminded me a lot of a chocolate bar I recently had from Rogue Chocolatier. The lime gave the brownies a really rich flavor. I don't think they will replace regular chocolate brownies, but I could definitely see them becoming a Cinco de Mayo tradition.

Margarita Brownies
adapted from The Kitchn
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped coarsely
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon Tequila
1/2 teaspoon Cointreau or other orange liquor such as triple sec.
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 lime, juiced and zested
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
3/4 teaspoon flaky sea salt

Preheat oven to 325°F and line an 8x8-inch baking pan with parchment paper, leaving the paper extra-long and hanging over two sides.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and bittersweet chocolate over medium-low heat. Stir until smooth.

Remove pan from the heat and add the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, eggs, tequila, cointreau and kosher salt. Mix until combined. Then add lime juice and zest, as well as the finely chopped unsweetened chocolate. Stir to combine and pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle the sea salt on the top.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a tester comes out moist. It will not be perfectly clean, but it shouldn't be sticky either. Allow pan to cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes before removing brownies from pan. To remove the brownies, run a knife around the sides of the pan to help release the brownies, then lift out the parchment paper. Place the brownies on the paper back on the wire rack. Cool completely and cut into squares.