It’s only fitting that for
Valentine’s Day, this post includes two of my long-time loves, peanut butter
and chocolate. The two are a perfect pair, like rainy days and a great
book,
Kate and William, and bagels and lox.
Both ingredients are heavy players
in my diet; peanut butter and bananas, peanut butter on toast, hot chocolate,
dark chocolate before bed; there typically isn’t a day that goes by where I
don’t have either chocolate or peanut butter.
I typically eat chocolate and
peanut butter separately, but admittedly Reese’s are my favorite drugstore
candy item, and I recently fell in love with
McConnell’s Double Peanut Butter Chip ice cream. Why not combine the two into brownies?
These peanut butter brownies are perfect
for sharing at work, sharing with your Valentine on a hike, and turning into a
hot fudge brownie sundae for eating by yourself (which admittedly is me this
year as Z is out of town skiing).
My Valentine’s Day will start with
laying
in bed all day a springboard Pilates class (I’m slowly but surely becoming stronger)
and hopefully a massage (thanks to the amazing company
Soothe). In the
afternoon, I’ll whip up a batch of these brownies again for post-dinner ice
cream sundaes.
The first time I made these
brownies, I checked to see if they were done, but I was more focused on
Downton Abbey multi-tasking and accidentally dropped a pan of
half-cooked brownies on the floor. Oops. So, don’t make the same mistake I did
and try to keep up with the Crawley Family while making peanut butter
brownies.
Peanut Butter Brownies
From
Cook’s Illustrated
Makes
about 16 brownies
Note: do not use a natural peanut butter (one where the oil separates from the butter itself). While I never eat Skip or Jiffy, this is the recipe to use it in.
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon table salt
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/4 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup peanut butter, room temperature
Adjust oven rack to middle position, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 8-inch baking dish with foil and coat foil with cooking spray.
Melt the chocolate and butter in small bowl in microwave, or in heatproof bowl set over pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally to combine. Cool mixture for several minutes.
Whisk sugar, baking powder, table salt, eggs, and vanilla together in medium bowl until combined, about 15 seconds. Whisk in chocolate mixture until smooth. Stir in flour until no streaks remain.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Drop peanut butter in 10 small dollops spread out evenly across the batter. Without touching the foil lining, run pairing knife through batter to create swirls.
Bake until toothpick inserted halfway between edge and center of pan comes out clean, 25 to 27 minutes. Cool brownies on wire rack for 1 hour.
Using foil, lift brownies from pan to cutting board. Slide foil out from underneath brownies, and cut brownies into 2-inch squares.
Andytown: I heard about this coffee roaster from colleagues at work. I particularly intrigued by the "Snowy Plover", an iced coffee drink named after a small bird. The drink is actually espresso, tonic water, and brown sugar over ice, topped with homemade whipped cream. It's delicious -- perfectly sweet and refreshing. They also have delicious scones and soda bread. Z and I shared the cheddar and scallion scone. Despite the line out the door, we would go again in a minute. Plus, one can't help but love their succulents.
