Ladies and gents, I bring you one of the last recipes of 2012. Today, we have peanut butter and chocolate. Would you expect anything less? We went to a holiday party the other week and I wanted to bring something along with my homemade funfetti cupcakes. A simple dessert that I knew everyone would love. I bookmarked a mouthwatering homemade brownie recipe a few months ago and instantly knew this was the time to test them out. To the simple gooey brownie recipe, I added peanut butter chips. Obviously. I can never precisely follow a recipe. I have to “Sally” it. 😉 Homemade brownies may be made with unsweetened cocoa powder or melted solid chocolate. If using cocoa powder, you typically will need more fat in the batter because cocoa powder does not contain the cocoa butter that solid chocolate does. I’ve made brownies both ways. For years and years, I’ve been making one killer homemade brownie recipe—it’s a large batch brownie recipe using flour, eggs, vanilla extract, butter, and sugar. My original homemade brownies call for melted chocolate. Several of you have made this particular brownie, telling me how chewy, fudgy, and intensely chocolatey they are. I completely agree. I LOVE my homemade brownie recipe! Today’s brownie recipe makes a smaller batch. It uses the same ingredients: flour, eggs, vanilla extract, butter, and sugar. It calls for cocoa powder. And they’re really, really, really fudgy. To be honest, I truly do not have a preference over cocoa powder or solid chocolate in a brownie recipe—I mean, it’s chocolate (either in powder form or solid form) mixed with butter. And it tastes GOOD. Today’s recipe, using cocoa powder, calls for more butter than my homemade brownie recipe AND it makes a smaller batch. You can imagine how dense they are! Besides the cocoa powder & melted solid chocolate difference, both brownie recipes calls for the same things but in different amounts. Let’s dissect today’s recipe a bit further, shall we? Today’s brownies are dark, rich, moist, and will leave you screaming for a tall glass of milk. They’ll stick to the roof of your mouth, fill you with an urge for another square, and make you think you’re eating chocolate frosting in solid form. Fact. The recipe is fairly simple. Begin by melting the butter, sugar, unsweetened cocoa, and salt together. Today’s recipe uses the same amount of sugar that my homemade brownie recipe uses—but today’s recipe makes a smaller batch. Are they too sweet? Not at all. Since my original brownie recipe calls for semi-sweet melted chocolate, you’re getting an extra dose of sugar. Today’s smaller brownie recipe, using the unsweetened cocoa powder, needs the extra sugar. Get it? Got it. Good. I melted those four ingredients together in the microwave. I was feeling particularly lazy, so feel free to use your stovetop instead. Next, add some more usual brownie suspects—vanilla extract and 2 eggs. Whisk whisk whisk with a wooden spoon. Absolutely NO mixer is required for this recipe! And you can mix it all up in 1 bowl. No extra dishes to dirty, no extra time to waste. Hallelujah! Slowly stir in the flour. The recipe only calls for 1/2 cup of flour. A brownie’s fudginess directly relates to the amount of flour in the recipe. And with only 1/2 cup of flour in the entire recipe, you can imagine why these babies are so darn rich. They’re like biting into a soft and thick dark chocolate bar. It’s the ultimate chocolate experience. What on earth could make this insanely rich, thick, and dense brownies even better? Peanut butter. Isn’t that the answer to most of life’s problems? Peanut butter and chocolate to the rescue. 1 cup of peanut butter chips mixed into this brownie batter is the best decision I’ve ever made. I don’t think I have to convince you anymore on that front. Bake the brownies for 25-30 minutes. Mine took about 28 minutes. Bake them the least amount of time as possible. If you want a soft, fudgy, gooey brownie texture, be sure NOT to overbake them. At 25 minutes, test their doneness. Insert a toothpick into the center of the brownies. Some crumbs may stick to the toothpick when you take it out. If it’s still liquidy, bake for another 3-5 minutes. Do not (not not not!!) go over 30 minutes. Allowing brownies to cool before cutting into squares is a true test to my patience. I stuck them in the refrigerator to cool quicker—let’s be honest, I have NO patience. I had a party to bring them to and little time to spare. One quick taste test before boxing them up to bring along, I knew I had one brownie winner. It was love at first bite. I can’t believe how easy these are to make! Easier than any boxed brownie mix I’ve ever tried. I would say that I think these are the best brownies I’ve ever had, but I cannot pick favorites. My original homemade version using pure melted chocolate is stellar—the brownies are rich, decadent, dense, and the perfect base for things like peanut butter frosting or crunchy peanuts. Today’s brownies are… shocker… also rich, decadent, and dense. It’s a smaller batch recipe and each square could easily be mistaken for actual fudge. They’re for the true chocolate lover. I’m happy to say they completely disappeared before my eyes at the holiday party. Even with so many Christmas cookies around! And I’m even happier to say that I made them again the next day. For obvious reasons…
