I have a strange thing about peanut butter. I can’t eat it as is, unlike many peanut butter lovers I know. I need to eat it in a PB&J sandwich, in scones, in these cookies, in these cupcakes, or……..in these SERIOUSLY UNBELIEVABLE BROWNIES.
I took this very popular recipe, threw in some peanut butter, some (ok, a lot) of peanut butter chips and ta da! Total and complete PB Awesomeness.
I think ‘PB Awesomeness’ should be an officially recognized phrase 🙂
The PB chips came from Dubai, with a very close friend who’s now brought me my half-yearly stock of chocolate chips for the second time. Does anyone have any idea where Hershey’s chips are available in Mumbai? It’ll allow my friend to pack in an extra pair of shoes the next time!
The great thing about PB chips is that they don’t melt down like regular chocolate chips. They remain whole, so that you bite into them and they make the brownies pretty 🙂 The PB itself gives just enough flavour without overpowering the chocolate and surprisingly, in spite of there being regular butter too, the brownies weren’t greasy.
Anyway, these brownies. They are soft, fudgy, moist, peanut butter-y, chocolate-y and generally too good to be true. They take a little longer to bake than the plain chocolate ones, which I realised only once the PB chips on top had gotten a bit too brown. So remember to cover the baking dish with foil once you’ve crossed the 30 minute mark.
I shall now proceed to dazzle you with pictures.
(Recipe below).
What you’ll need:
6 tbsps unsalted butter (or salted but omit the pinch of salt that comes later)
170 gms roughly chopped dark chocolate
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3 heaped tsps creamy peanut butter (or chunky if you prefer)
3/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup powdered sugar (you could add up to 1/4 cup more because PB is salty, but I didn’t feel the need)
2 eggs
1 and 1/2 tsps vanilla essence
1/2 cup PB chips plus a handful to decorate the top just before baking.
What to do:
1. Preheat the oven to 175 C. Grease a square/rectangular baking pan and set aside.
2. Sieve the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside.
3. In a bowl placed over a pot of simmering water, melt the butter, peanut butter, chocolate and cocoa until you have a smooth mixture. Let this cool a bit.
4. Beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl till pale, about 4 minutes. This is where you’re ensuring a crust forms, so beat away! An electric mixer will get the best results.
5. Add the cooled chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat again till combined.
6. Finally add the flour mixture and blend the whole batter well. Fold in the PB chips now. The batter will be thick, thick, thick. Almost like frosting!
7. Pour into the prepared dish, even the top with a rubber spatula, sprinkle some more chips on it, and bake for about 40 minutes. At the 30 minute mark, check to see if a toothpick comes out clean. If not, cover the top with foil and bake for another 10 minutes. You might still get some moist crumbs, that’s ok.
Allow to cool (I didn’t have the time and had a few messy pieces!), and welcome yourself to PB Awesomeness 🙂
Do you think I can increase the quantity of peanut butter and turn these into swirled PB brownies?
Also, you say the batter is seriously thick–will these dry out quickly?
To the best of my memory, these remained nice and moist. Brownie batter is typically thick, and you can always reheat them if they firm up in the fridge (room temperature storage isn’t a good idea in India temperatures). I’m sure the swirling will be just fine!