Peanut butter + chocolate brownies

Peanut butter and chocolate is a combination that has been about for awhile, and well loved by many. Some of my colleagues are the biggest peanut butter and chocolate fiends, and have happily hoovered all of my blog creations over the past year or so - all in the name of supporting my baking adventures of course... such selflessness! It was the birthday of a huge peanut butter and chocolate fan at work, and so I thought it would be good to bake her something as a treat, and so these brownies were born!

Using my fail proof brownie recipe from my Candied Bacon Brownies, I heated some peanut butter in the microwave and swirled it through the brownie batter to create the marbled effect. It smelt delicious baking in the oven, and I barely waited for it to cool enough before I cut myself a piece to savour! Verdict? YUM!!!

Ingredients

4 eggs, at room temperature, whisked lightly
150g butter, cubed
250g brown sugar
1 teaspoon bicarb
1 cup plain flour
75g cocoa
100g dark choc chips
150g peanut butter

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease a square cake tin or brownie tray.
2. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter.
3. Add the brown sugar and stir until combined and then remove from the heat.
4. Add the bicarb, flour, cocoa and eggs into the saucepan and stir until combined.
5. Fold through the choc chips and then pour into the prepared tin.
6. Zap the peanut butter in the microwave for 30 seconds, and then pour into the tin on top of the brownie batter. Be sure to move the peanut butter around so that it is all over the top.
7. Using a butter knife, swirl the peanut butter through the brownie batter to create a marbled effect.

8. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes and then leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes.

9. Cut up the brownies into 16 squares while the brownies are still a tiny bit warm, and leave to cool completely if not eating straight away.  If eating straight away, have the warm brownie with some ice-cream!

I loved the saltiness of the peanut butter as it balanced out the sweetness of the brownie. Next time, I think I'll make it with crunchy peanut butter to get extra bits of goodness in each bite!

The birthday girl enjoyed them greatly, and I got a blog post out of it... so it's a win win!

thesuzchef x