SHF Falling in Love with Coffee

When I was a child my parents drank Postum. It's a beverage, supposedly a coffee substitute, made from chicory and roasted grains, and so I took a pass on the early morning hot beverage habit. Then I met my future husband during my first week of college. He was a senior and his coffee-guzzling habit was one of the things that added to his aura of maturity. We were friends first, would go with a big group to the local coffee shop to argue about the kinds of things you argue about in college. Then we moved on to just the two of us, at Perkins late at night, where they set a big pot of coffee right on the table (saving the waitstaff all that time dispensing refills). Those nights I'd lay in bed, my heart racing -- was it love or the pints of coffee coursing through my veins?

So coffee has always been more about relationships than beverages to me. Now it's my relationship with my son, who from the moment his presence was known in my womb has had me drinking decaf (and still he doesn't sleep at night). Decaf can make you an outcast, though. The guests with the coffee habit who have to have regular in the morning. The restaurant that doesn't have decaf or, even worse, only has instant. The sacrifices in taste and price. Being one of those people who "can't have" something, the bane of their hosts.

So lately it's an ambivalent relationship. But I'm still in love. That's why I'm making these brownies, which like my husband get their maturity from coffee, for about the 400th time. So I can share them with a new friend (a new-mommy friend) who's husband is doing me a favor. And so I can share them, again, with you.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Then beat 1 cup sugar and 2 eggs with a mixer on high until it's pale and thick (about 5 minutes). Add 2 teaspoons espresso powder dissolved into a tablespoon of water, 1/4 cup melted butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla and mix.

Next mix 1 cup flour, 2/3 cup cocoa powder and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Add to sugar mixture and spread it in a 9-inch square baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake for about 25 minutes, checking at 20 minutes to see if it's cooked through. They're fudgy, so moist crumbs should be attached when they're done.