Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

It’s busy season at work. What does this mean? Constant food. Everywhere you look…There’s food! I decided I needed to contribute to this movement and searched for a new brownie recipe. Oh, and, um…I bought a new double boiler, so I HAD to use that. The Epicurious line sold at JC Penney is pretty great and CHEAP (but still great quality!). Martha Stewart had this recipe for peanut butter swirl brownies. I made a few changes here and there and they came out delicious!

• Batter Ingredients:
• 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 2 ounces good-quality unsweetened chocolate
• 4 ounces good-quality semisweet chocolate
• 2/3 cup AP flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3 whole eggs
• 2 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. Make the batter: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a buttered 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, allowing extra to hang over the sides. Butter lining (I used Pam Baking Spray) and set pan aside.
2. In a medium-size mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a double boiler, stir butter and chocolates together until melted. Let cool slightly.
4. Pour chocolate mixture into a different mixing bowl than that of the flour mixture. Whisk granulated sugar into the chocolate mixture. Add eggs and whisk until mixture is smooth. Stir in vanilla. Add flour mixture and stir until well-incorporated.

• Filling Ingredients:
• 4 tablespoons (half a stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. Make the filling: Stir together butter, confectioners’ sugar, peanut butter, salt, and vanilla until smooth.
2. Combine the batter and the filling: Pour one-third of batter into prepared pan and spread evenly with a rubber spatula. Place dollops of filling (about 1 tablespoon each) about 1 inch apart on top of batter. Drizzle remaining batter on top and gently spread to fill pan. Place dollops of remaining filling on top.
3. With a butter knife touching the bottom of the pan, gently swirl the filling into the batter, running knife lengthwise and crosswise through layers. Do NOT over swirl or the brownies will only look like peanut butter.
4. Bake 45 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean (the peanut butter might stay a bit wet but the chocolate should come out clean on the tester). Let cool slightly in pan (about 15 minutes) then lift out brownies and cool completely on a wire cooling rack before cutting into squares.

Beautiful swirl.

These came out REALLY good. While they’re still cooling, the peanut butter will separate from the chocolate a bit. Wait until they’re completely cool prior to cutting into them.