peanut butter brownies

Hi all,

I know its been a ridiculously long time since I've posted here, and I'm so sorry! But to make up for it, I've got a great and super easy recipe for when you want to dress up something without doing any extra effort. Let's be honest--effort is overrated and often unnoticed...and a little panache goes a long way.

So here we are. Peanut butter brownies plus swirling.

Recipe--your standard brownie recipe OR extra dark espresso brownies:

4 oz unsweetened chocolate
one stick butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
espresso powder to taste
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup flour

I also use raw cacao as a thickener, but its hard to come by unless you have a health-conscious and all-too-generous mommy supplier. So we'll call that one a draw.

MELT the butter in a big saucepan.
ADD the chocolate and, once the chocolate is melted, the sugar.
TRANSFER to a big mixing bowl.
ADD two eggs and mix well.
ADD espresso powder and vanilla
ADD 1/4 cup flour OR raw cacao, until mixture is somewhat thicker, but still quite syrupy.

In another saucepan heat 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter on low heat until melted slightly.

POUR chocolate mixture into a baking pan (8x8 is the standard, but I used a circular pie pan.)
POUR peanut butter over it in drops.

Now here's the fun part. Take a knife, and skim it over the surface of the brownie to swirl the peanut butter with the chocolate. Note: This takes practice, unless you are my amazingly gifted roomate Sarah who got it on her first go. One thing to avoid--don't swirl the chocolate over the peanut butter or mix the two if possible...this just leaves you with weird tan streaks in your brownie and not the beautiful peanut butter swirl you see below.

When you're done swirling, put it in the oven at 350 for about 15 minutes--give it more time if it needs longer (up to 30 minutes.)

ENJOY!