By October. Fall colors on the way. Made chili with the ancho pepper and the dark beer and the dark chocolate — the evolved chili, the chili that started as Betty's and has become mine through addition and experimentation and the willingness to let the recipe grow beyond its origins without losing its roots. That's the trick. That's the whole trick of cooking and living and being a family — growing beyond the origins without losing the roots.
Drove to Evarts. Betty at eighty-five, on the porch, in the cardigan. The mountains on fire. I brought Nadia this time — Amber and James drove to Lexington and Connie and I took Nadia to Evarts. Betty held her great-granddaughter on the porch in Harlan County and looked at this child who is half Nigerian and half Appalachian and wholly beautiful, and Betty said she has your mama's eyes. She said those are Hensley eyes in an Okonkwo face and that's the prettiest combination I ever saw. Betty is eighty-five and has never left Harlan County and has never been more than two hundred miles from the house she was born in, and she held a baby whose other grandmother lives in Houston, Texas, and whose father speaks Yoruba, and she said that's the prettiest combination I ever saw. My mother. My impossible, immovable, infinite mother.
When I got home from Evarts that evening, the chili was still warm on the stove and Nadia was asleep in Connie’s arms, and I needed to do something with my hands — something that honored the layering I’d witnessed on that porch, two things that shouldn’t work together on paper but do, completely. These Chocolate-Swirled Red Velvet Brownie Bars are exactly that: two batters, two traditions, swirled into something neither could be alone. Betty would say that’s the prettiest combination she ever saw, and I think she’d be right about this too.
Chocolate-Swirled Red Velvet Brownie Bars
Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 35 minutes | Total Time: 55 minutes | Servings: 16 bars
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon red food coloring
- 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder (for red velvet layer)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 4 oz dark chocolate (70% cacao), chopped
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter (for chocolate swirl layer)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar (for chocolate swirl layer)
- 1 large egg (for chocolate swirl layer)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (for chocolate swirl layer)
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (for chocolate swirl layer)
- Pinch of salt (for chocolate swirl layer)
Instructions
- Preheat & prep. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x9-inch baking pan and line with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides for easy lifting.
- Make the red velvet batter. In a large bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup melted butter and 1 cup sugar until combined. Add 2 eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla and whisk until smooth. Stir in the red food coloring and 1 tablespoon cocoa powder. Fold in 1 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Make the chocolate swirl batter. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the dark chocolate and 1/4 cup butter together, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in 1/2 cup sugar. Add 1 egg and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and stir to combine. Fold in 1/4 cup flour and a pinch of salt.
- Layer & swirl. Spread the red velvet batter evenly into the prepared pan. Drop spoonfuls of the chocolate batter across the top. Use a butter knife or skewer to gently swirl the two batters together in wide figure-eight motions — you want distinct ribbons, not a muddy mix.
- Bake. Bake for 32—36 minutes, until the center is just set and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs. Do not overbake — the bars will firm up as they cool.
- Cool & cut. Let the bars cool completely in the pan on a wire rack, at least 45 minutes. Lift out using the parchment overhang and cut into 16 squares.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 218 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 11g | Carbs: 29g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 95mg