Scotch Brownies for National Scotch Day

You can never have too many Brownie recipes. Being that today is Scotch Day, I thought I'd repost this recipe for Brownies with 'Scotch' as the 'secret' ingredient,  recipe adapted from DrinkoftheWeek.com's Whiskey Brownies. This recipe, of course, can be made without the Scotch — but why would you want to do that? As always, use the very best ingredients--great Scotch, great chocolate!

Scotch Brownies

Ingredients
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter
2 Tbsp water
2 eggs
6 ounces dark chocolate, chopped (60-75% cacao)
1 tsp Madagascar vanilla
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
1/2 cup Scotch (yeah, these are pretty boozy!)

Directions
Heat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9" square pan.
In bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
In saucepan combine sugar, butter, and water; cook over low heat to light boil.
Take off heat and add chocolate and vanilla; stir until smooth. Add in egg (one at time), beating well after each addition.
Add flour mixture and nuts (optional); stir well.
Pour mixture into prepared baking pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
Cool in pan on rack. After cooled, sprinkle with Scotch. Really let it soak in.
When cooled completely remove from pan and top with Chocolate Glaze.

The recipe at Drink of the Week has an excellent rich chocolate glaze, but I think you might as well go all the way with the "Scotch" Brownie theme, so here's a chocolate frosting for these brownies that is made with Scotch.

Scotch Infused Frosting

Ingredients
1-1/2 ounces unsweetened or very dark (85%-up) chocolate
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbsp half-and-half
1 Tbsp good Scotch
1/2 tsp Madagascar vanilla extract

Directions
In top of double boiler, melt chocolate with butter. Combine rest of ingredients in bowl and with electric mixer, beat in melted chocolate and butter. Beat until smooth. Mixture is runny, but stiffens as it cools. Frost cooled brownies.

or... have a glass of Scotch to celebrate the holiday!