Fudge Cardamom Pistachio Brownies

I was inspired to make these after having some chocolate cardamom ice cream at work. The flavor combination just worked for me so I eagerly looked online to see what kind of dessert has been previously made with the two ingredients. Then these brownies just popped out at me - seeming easy and with relatively few ingredients. I figured I'd go back to my days of grade school when I would bring in oreo brownies for my classmates on my birthday. Now - a few years later - it was a slightly more grown up brownie, brought to my co-workers...

Fudge Cardamom Pistachio Brownies

10 Tbs. butter
8 oz. quality dark chocolate
10 cardamom pods, deseeded
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract)
5 Tbs and 1 tsp. all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsalted pistachio nuts
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat the oven to 350 Degree F. In a large microwaveable bowl, break the chocolate pieces and cube the butter. Stick it in on medium heat for three minutes until lumpy but melted. Stir until the chocolate is fully melted and smooth.

Grind the cardamom seends with a pestle and mortar until powder-like. Add this to and the vanilla to the chocolate and mix thoroughly until smooth.

Now, lightly beat the eggs and stir them into the chocolate along with the sugar. Then fold in the flour and the peeled pistachio nuts gently.

Pour batter into a greased square baking dish, and bake for 30 minutes (I recommend about 10 minutes more).

I was very pleased with the flavor of the brownies. Cardamom and chocolate are a killer combination, meant for the slightly adventurous palate. There are two main changes that I would make to the recipe:

1. Cook for a little longer. The brownies turned out precisely how they looked in the original blog that I pulled this recipe from. They are fudgy, almost underbaked. I personally like it a bit gooey and this wasn't to the point where it was oozing or anything - but it is definitely all about a taste preference and in my opinion, they could have used a few more minutes.

2. Use salted or roasted pistachios. They seemed to get a little lost since they have a subtle flavor. Roasted or salted nut would have added another dimension to the brownies.

It is key to use too chocolate - I think I spent about $6 on my chocolate - maybe even more...so these are a bit more pricey than the boxed store-bought brownies but they are (almost) as easy to make and quite delicious.