Recipe: Chocolate & Peanut Butter Brownies by Cardeno C.

Happy Monday! Today I have a sweet, yummy recipe to share. A couple of weeks ago, I was scrolling through Facebook when I saw Cherri H. post a link to a brownie recipe. Dinner was in the oven so I was really hungry and I clicked. When I shared my "after" pictures, Jayden Brooks suggested I blog the recipe so here we are. (Thanks, Jayden!)

The blogger called the brownies "Buckeye Brownies" and she probably explained the reason why in the blog, but I'll be honest here and tell you that I was not patient enough to read it so I scrolled all the way to the end for the recipe. Also, I've decided to rename the brownies "Chocolate & Peanut Butter Brownies" for three reasons. 

First, that name doesn't require an explanation so we have no recipe delay when using it. Second, the name very accurately describes the brownies and as someone who spends hours writing a blurb to accurately describe my books, I feel like the item description should match the item. Third, and possibly the most important reason, my high school geography teacher went to Ohio State and he was a huge fan so when we did our test on countries, states, and capitals, we got extra credit if we put "Buckeyes" after "Ohio". My memory of those horrible memorization tests is much clearer than my memory of where anything is but so help me to this day, when someone says "Ohio" I think "Buckeyes". It's Pavlov's fricken' dogs and associating anything with it will end in bad memories. These brownies deserve better.Now that I've written a too-long intro after commenting about too long intros, here's the recipe.
Ingredients
Brownies: 1 Box of Brownie MixPeanut Butter Cream:½ Cup Unsalted Butter, softened but not melted1 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter2½ cups Powdered Sugar1 tsp Vanilla Extract2 TBSP Milk1 pinch SaltGlaze:1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips¼ cup Creamy Peanut ButterInstructionsBrownies: Bake per box directions. Size Tip: I used a deep glass pan (square) for this because the metal one I normally use for brownies gets full with just the brownies and this recipe requires room at the top for more yummy goodness. (Bonus: The glass pan is a pyrex storage pan so there's a handy lid good for storing leftover brownies.) Next time I make these, I'm going to try a 9 by 12 glass pan (lasagna pan) in order to spread these out and make them thinner.No Patience Tip: These brownies are supposed to cool before the next step but I was rushing toward the finish line so I wanted to do expedited cooling. The freezer is an obvious way to make that happen but putting a hot pan in my freezer seemed fatal for my ice cream so I came up with an alternative. I filled a glass 9x12 pan with ice and put the brownie pan on top of the ice right out of the oven. I then walked my puppy and by the time I returned, the brownies were cool enough to go into the freezer (still in the ice/water filled 9x12 pan). About five minutes in the freezer and I was good to go.Peanut Butter Cream: (I made this while the brownies baked.)Beat butter and peanut butter with an electric mixer until fully integrated. Add powdered sugar a bit at a time so it doesn't poof all over your kitchen. (Note: I wasn't patient enough for that so there was some poofing in my kitchen.) Beat in vanilla, milk, and salt until creamy.Spread the PB cream evenly over the cooled brownies being careful not to get brownie crumbs mixed into it.Glaze: (I made these while the brownies were in the freezer.)Melt the chocolate chips & peanut butter together and stir until smooth. I used a double boiler but I suspect the microwave method would work if you were super duper careful.  Cool the chocolate/peanut butter mixture for a few minutes and then pour over the PB cream. Smooth the glaze evenly using a rubber spatula.Chill the brownies. (The recipe said an hour. I did about five to ten minutes in the freezer.)


Mmm, mmm, good!
Have a terrific week and happy baking!
CCwww.cardenoc.com