Ayesha Curry's Horchata Brownies Are The Best Way to Dress Up a Classic Dessert
Ayesha Curry's Horchata Brownies
Being a long-time resident of Central Florida and embracing our rich influence of Spanish culture, I am no stranger to milk-based beverages, such as coquito and horchata. Actually, it's become my regular practice to ask my friends for a bottle of coquito every Christmas and a glasses of horchata every summer. Its an annual tradition, and for the right price, I’m willing to stick with it.
So when I realized cookbook author, Food Network star and ultimate homemaker Ayesha Curry had a recipe for Horchata Brownies, it caught all of my attention. Now, I’ve never made my own horchata and I don’t think I could bake anything that could hold a candle to what Mrs. Curry puts out, but was ready, willing and able to give this recipe my best shot.
Get the recipe: Ayesha Curry's Horchata Brownies
Courtesy of Dante Parker
Ingredients for Ayesha Curry’s Horchata Brownies
So we can approach this the easy way or the hard way, and since I’m always up for a challenge, I opted for the hard way. In this case, the hard way was making my own brownies instead of starting with a brownie mix, which Curry mentions is a good way to streamline the recipe. If you're feeling the holiday crunch, you might want to go with that option.
But if you, like me, want to do it all from scratch, here's what you'll need for the brownies: semisweet chocolate chips, unsalted butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, large eggs, vanilla extract, almond extract, all-purpose flour, ground cinnamon, salt and slivered almonds.
The ingredients for the glaze remain the same regardless if your brownies are from scratch or out of the box. You’ll need unsweetened rice milk, ground cinnamon, rum and confectioners’ sugar.
Related: Meet NBA Star Steph Curry's Favorite Teammate—His Wife, Ayesha Curry!
Courtesy of Dante Parker
How to Make Ayesha Curry’s Horchata Brownies
To be quite honest, I didn’t even know that a person could make brownies from scratch. I suppose I never gave it much thought and brownies from a box just always got the job done for me. But the more you know right…
First, interlock your fingers, stretch your arms far from your chest, and crack your knuckles in true keyboard warrior fashion. Second, preheat your oven to 325°. Now it’s time for the fun part.
Add your chocolate chips and butter to a large bowl, set it over a saucepan of simmering water and allow to melt. Stir the chocolate chips and butter together until smooth.
Next, remove the bowl from the saucepan and whisk in the brown and granulated sugars. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla and almond extracts. Then, stir in the flour, cinnamon, and salt, before finally folding in the slivered almond.
Spread the batter in a prepared baking pan and bake for about 40 to 45 minutes, or until the brownies pass the toothpick test. Remove the brownies from the oven and allow them to rest on a cooling rack.
While the brownies are cooling, get going on the glaze. To start, bring the rice milk to a boil in a small skillet. Let it boil until it's reduced to about two tablespoons, which should take 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in your cinnamon and rum until and let the mixture cool.
Once cooled, transfer the rice milk mixture to a medium bowl and whisk in the confectioners’ sugar a quarter cup at a time, until it's a smooth, pourable glaze. Spread the glaze over the cooked brownies and set aside until hardened, about 30 minutes. Now, wipe the beads of sweat dripping down your forehead and relax until it’s time to enjoy your creation—or maybe start to clean up the major mess you’ve left behind in the kitchen.
Related: These Impressive Double Chocolate Brownie Cookies Are As Easy as Opening a Box
Courtesy of Dante Parker
What I Thought of Ayesha Curry’s Horchata Brownies
These brownies beat any boxed brownie I’ve ever had before in my life. Horchata aside, I don’t think that I could ever go back to boxed brownies again. For me, the horchata flavor was the standout for this batch, but regardless, the brownies were still very sweet and decadent. I’m also typically not a fan of nuts in my brownies, but the slivers of almond are thin and flavorful enough to add texture and bring out the personality of the horchata icing.
In the future, I can picture myself using her base recipe—minus the almonds, extract and icing—to make some good old made-from-scratch brownies.
Tips for Making Ayesha Curry’s Horchata Brownies
1. Use the box mix if you're crunched for time. Although making my own brownies was fun, I think I would have stuck to using the box mix for the base if I choose to go the horchata route again. Making these from scratch was definitely time consuming, so don't be afraid to use the box mix if you're low on time.
