My Favorite Time of the Year!!

I LOVE the Fall. Love. Love. Love. The weather gets colder, the leaves start to change color, and it's absolutely beautiful outside. It's my most favorite time of the year! I also love all the yummy foods, and especially the tasty desserts that are inspired by the fall.

In honor of Halloween, and because we were really getting into the spirit of things in my house this weekend, I made Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Brownies...and they were delicious!!!

They have cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin (duh!) and of all things a pinch of cayenne pepper to give them just the right amount of bite. They're loaded down with chocolate chips, because who doesn't love chocolate, right? The original recipe comes from Martha Stewart, but it calls for you to melt the chocolate with the butter and make these more of a swirl brownie...I chose to keep the chocolate chips whole and mix them in, so you'd get to bite into a big chunk of chocolate. To each their own, right?!?!

They are the perfect fall dessert and just the right thing to get you into the mood to carve pumpkins! Which is what we did this weekend :) Take a look...

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Brownies
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for pan
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups pumpkin
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter square baking pan or dish. Cut a length of parchment that will cover the bottom and two sides (makes it much easier to remove), and line the pan with it.

Melt butter in a heatproof bowl.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, cayenne, and salt in a large bowl; set aside. Put sugar, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat until fluffy and well combined, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in flour mixture.

Combine pumpkin, vegetable oil, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl and add it to the mixture. Add chocolate chips and mix well.

Bake until set, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut into 16 squares.