What do you do after you download photos and see that every single one is out of focus? Noooooooo, we don’t scream at the top of our lungs, stomp our feet, flail our arms, and throw a tantrum like a 5 year old.

Ok, AFTER we do that – –

– – We simply chalk it up as an “oops”, move on, and hopefully see what the $#!*%!! is going on with our lens.

It seems that the motor is shot on my autofocus lens, the one that I RELY on because it has a built in stabilizer, and I’m now forced to switch to manual focus. Oh joy. I’m just going to have to get out my other lenses for awhile, because these just won’t do. Sorry that they’re out of focus, folks. I was so upset, and almost didn’t even post this. But, the ribs came out SO DELICIOUS, that I thought, you know, that’s the most important thing. Some recipes that you see on sites such as Pinterest have GORGEOUS photos, but are epic fails. This….is the opposite. FANTASTIC flavor….epic photo failure.

Sooooooo, moving on. Not gonna sweat the small stuff. 😉

Because, these ribs just plain ROCKED the whole house!! Including this one, I now have 8 rib recipes on this little blog I call my “home away from home”! And though you’ll find that they’re all truly damn good ribs, this one is definitely in the top 3! (*I even have another new one in the works, so stay tuned for that one, too!!) 😉

I really had a lot of fun making, tasting, and testing this sauce; and to me, it’s one of my better barbecue sauces! As you can already see by the title, there’s a little piece of heaven in every bite! The richness of dark chocolate, a little heat from chipotle pepper, and an earthy kick of espresso in the back!

Even the rub to start them with had us drooling while they were slow-baking in the oven! But that sauce….OH that sauce….simmering on the stove….PURE….HEAVEN!!!!

Rich, thick, velvety creamy smooth…..OH YEA.

So, if you’re looking for a new rib recipe to try out, something different that’ll WOW even the pickiest of guests….you just found it.

These don’t need anything fussy to go alongside, either. Let them be the shining star and keep the sides simple. I served ours with my standby coleslaw and some pretty darned awesome fries that reminded us of a particular popular restaurant’s fries! (Coming soon!!) And this combo worked really well and was plenty enough food to feed a small army!

Seriously, I can’t wait for you to give this a try! And the ingredients are all found at our local Walmart store, so nothing fancy-schmancy that you have to order!

So pick up the ingredients tonight at the store,
and enjoy these decadent ribs this weekend!!

Click here for my Sweet Creamy Southern Coleslaw recipe pictured above!

Yield: 4 servings

Dark Chocolate Chipotle Espresso Baby Back Ribs

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Ingredients

• 1 rack baby back pork ribs, sinew on back removed

For Rub:

• ¾ cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp. hickory smoked salt
• ½ tsp. seasoned salt such as Johnny's
• ½ Tbl. smoked sweet paprika
• ½ tsp. chipotle chili powder
• 1/4 tsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• ½ tsp. herbs de provence, crush between fingers when adding
• 1 tsp. instant espresso powder such as Madaglia D'Oro
• 1/2 tsp. unsweetened baking cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne powder

For Sauce:

• 1 cup Sweet Baby Ray's Original Barbecue Sauce
• 1/4 tsp. instant espresso powder
• 1 Tbl. dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp. sweet aged balsamic vinegar
• 3 squares Lindt Excellence Chili Dark Chocolate, broken up
• 1/16 tsp. garlic salt
• 1/8 tsp. chipotle chili powder
• 1 Tbl. real butter

Instructions

Remove sinew (silver skin) from back of ribs. Place rack of ribs, meaty side up onto a large sheet of heavy duty foil.

In small bowl, mix very well the dry run ingredients. Pat on a little over half onto the top side of the ribs. Turn ribs over, and pat on rest of rub. Bring up sides of foil and roll down. Roll up each end. *BE CAREFUL not to tear or make holes in foil. Place onto a foil-lined baking sheet.

Bake now, or let let marinate for several hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 300º F.

Pop ribs into oven and bake for 2½ hours. Remove from oven

Turn oven up to 350 degrees.

Carefully open foil, and move ribs to a new foil-lined baking sheet back/bone side-up.

While ribs are baking, in small saucepan over medium-low heat, stir together all sauce ingredients well, except butter, until chocolate has fully melted. Simmer, stirring for a few minutes over low heat. Remove from heat and stir in butter until melted and sauce is silky smooth. Set aside until needed.

When ribs are done and transferred to a clean, foil-lined and sprayed baking sheet, coat bone side with a little less than half of the sauce.

When oven has reached 350º, pop into oven and bake for 10-12 minutes.

Remove from oven, turn ribs over, coat with rest of sauce.

Pop back into oven and bake another 10-12 minutes.

Cut into serving-sized pieces.