During Baking Week we talked about tsp spices - a clever line of spices packaged in individual servings. It's a good gift for an occasional or novice baker.

tsp spices asked if we would like to see a sweet and spicy recipe using their spices and we said, sure! Here then are Sweet Heat Brownies, full of chocolate and the tingling warmth of cinnamon and chile. There is also one secret ingredient that we really didn't expect in brownies...

Sesame seeds - have you ever seen those in a brownie? We're curious to try it now...

Sweet Heat Brownies
makes one 8x12 pan

1/4 cup sesame seeds, toasted
4 ounces good quality unsweetened chocolate
4 ounces butter
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 packets tsp spices Organic True Cinnamon (ground)
5 packets tsp spices Organic Ancho Chile (ground)
1/2 cup flour
1 cup slivered almonds
1/4 teaspoon salt

To toast sesame seeds, put them on a piece of foil in toaster oven or broiler on high heat until golden, about 1 minute. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x12 inch baking pan and set aside. Melt the chocolate and butter together in the top of a double boiler or carefully in the microwave. Let cool a bit.

With an electric mixer, beat together eggs, sugar, vanilla, true cinnamon and ancho chile. Stir the chocolate-butter mixture into the egg mixture, then stir in the flour, most of the sesame seeds and most of the almonds (reserve a handful of seeds and nuts to sprinkle on top before baking).

Spoon the mixture into the pan and spread evenly. Bake until the center is just set. About 25 minutes, checking to be sure edges are not burning brown. Do not bake too long, or the brownies with lose their chewy texture. Let cool in pan at least 30 minutes before cutting.

Makes about 24 2x2 inch brownies.