These Jamaican hot cocoa brownies were provided by Kyle last night for after hours at the shop. They were so good and went so fast! As promised, here's the recipe: 

Ingredients

MAKES 16 SERVINGS

• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup Intrigue Chocolate Company Cocoa Mix
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325°. Line an 8x8x2 inches glass baking dish with foil, pressing firmly into pan and leaving a 2 inches overhang. Coat foil with nonstick spray; set baking dish aside.

Melt butter in a small sauce-pan over medium heat. Let cool slightly. Whisk sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium bowl to combine. Pour butter in a steady stream into dry ingredients, whisking constantly to blend. Whisk in vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating vigorously to blend after each addition. Add flour and stir until just combined (do not overmix). Scrape batter into prepared pan; smooth top.

Bake until top begins to crack and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 25-30 minutes.

Transfer pan to a wire rack; let cool completely in pan. Using foil overhang, lift brownie out of pan; transfer to a cutting board. Cut into 16 squares.

For this recipe I used organic unbleached sugar, organic butter, organic unbleached flour, homemade vanilla, and fresh (laid that day) eggs from my backyard chickens. You’re in for a treat!

Kyle made a batch of delicious cookies using some of our cocoa mixes last night. There aren't enough to share (well, there were, but we ate them all) so we thought we'd at least share the recipe if you wanted to make these at home.

Ingredients

2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup intrigue hot cocoa mix
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and cocoa in a small bowl.
3. Whisk together granulated sugar, eggs, and melted butter in a medium bowl. Gradually whisk in melted chocolate and vanilla extract until smooth. Stir in flour mixture.
4. Refrigerate until firm, at least 3 hours.
5. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Roll tablespoons of dough into balls using your palms, then roll in confectioners' sugar to coat. Transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing each 1 inch apart. Bake until slightly firm in the center, about 15 minutes.
6. Let cool slightly on sheets set on wire racks. Transfer cookies to racks, and let cool completely.

• You can use ANY of the 6 hot cocoa mix flavors to do these cookies
• Experiment and have fun. I've used the cocoa mixes to make brownies, cakes, even no bake chocolate peanut butter cookies!
• Our cocoas are less sweet than other cocoa mixes so you don't need to worry about altering the sugar in your recipe. Just replace cocoa powder in your recipe with any of the flavored cocoa mixes

We’re hosting a bean counting contest! Intrigue has teamed up with Huami, makers of the Amazfit Equator activity tracking device, to host a bean counting contest at the shop. Huami generously donated 10 of these really cool (and fashionable) activity trackers as prizes, each valued at $80. So the idea of the contest is: count the beans, then count your steps!

Aaron’s worn the equator now for 5 months. Although he’s not mastering the art of kickboxing while wearing a suit as shown in the promotional video, he has found a few very useful features that are now a part of his day-to-day. Specifically, he enjoys seeing how many steps he’s taken in the kitchen on production days as a positive reinforcement of accomplishment. At night it tracks sleep patterns which has helped him plan better. And there is a subtle, vibrating alarm feature that Aaron takes full advantage of (whereas the phone can be noisy).

Here’s how the contest works:

1. Go to the retail store and enjoy a complimentary chocolate tasting.
2. Fill out a newsletter signup slip with your name and email, and write your guess on the back of the slip.
3. We will email winners after the contest ends on May 28th. (Shipping not included)

We have 10 of these to give away, so yes you do have a good chance of winning!