Skip the store—this recipe is so much better.

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Pastry Chef Mame Sow draws her inspiration from seasonal ingredients, spices, colours and the juxtaposition of the sweet and the savoury.

Spending her first eleven years in Dakar, Senegal, she is a graduate of New York’s own Park West High School where she studied under CCAP and ultimately garnered a scholarship to the celebrated French Culinary Institute. She has since worked at David Burke at Bloomingdales, Hotel Rivington and the Spot Dessert bar in New York City.

Here she shares with us her delicious Congo bar brownie recipe, which reminds her of the great souvenirs she had when growing up in Senegal. 

Yields 1/2 sheet tray

Ingredients: 

•  1 pound butter
•  1/2 dark brown sugar
•  8 ounces granulated sugar
•  1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•  4 eggs
•  2 teaspoons baking soda 
•  1 teaspoon salt
•  1 pound chopped walnuts
•  8 ounces Nyangbo chocolate or any chopped dark chocolate
•  8 ounces coconut flakes
•  8 ounces sliced blanched almonds 

Method:

Mix together butters, sugars, and vanilla extract until light and fluffy.

Mix in eggs one at a time until homogeneous.

Fold in dry ingredients, chocolate and nuts until combined, taking care not to over-mix.

Place on a half tray lined with baking paper.

Bake at 180Cfor 25-30 mins. 

Written by K. Stones