Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownie

Dark chocolate gooey brownie combined with peanut crunch and peanut butter cups.

What do you do, when you have super simple (don’t tell anyone) brownie recipe and got some peanut butter cups. Yeah we don’t get peanut butter cups everywhere in India so it get a special stature. I have read quite a few peanut butter recipes in books and on internet. So I thought to give it a go, to combine chocolate and peanut butter flavor. I wanted to play with the textures too and I roasted the peanut in oven with some salt until golden brown. These brownies are special for one more reason that it achieves that salty, sweet, chocolaty and butter balance. I layered brownie, then roasted peanuts with chopped peanut butter cups followed by milk chocolate ganach. How good is that??? Heaven!! That’s the work.

Now we have a new favorite brownie and don’t mind baking them every now and then.

2 ½ Cup Plain Dark Chocolate Chopped

1 Cup unsalted butter

3 Eggs

1 ¼ Cup Light Brown Sugar

3/4 Cup  Flour

1/2 Tps Baking Powder

1/2 Tps baking Soda

1 Cup gm Peanut (Skin Removed)

1 Cup Chopped Peanut Butter Cup

½ Cup Chopped Milk chocolate

½ cup Heavy Cream                      

Preheat the oven at 190 ºC. Grease and line a square baking tin.

Spread 2 Tablespoon salt on the baking tray and spread the peanut on it. Roast for 10-12 min at 210 ºC or until golden brown. You don’t want them to get brown. Remove the salt and set aside.

Melt the plain chocolate and butter in microwave for 2 min but keep string it every 30 sec or you can melt them in heavy base saucepan.

Beat Together eggs and sugar then beat in the melted chocolate mixture.

Shift together flour and baking powder and add this is in wet mixture. Add walnuts and mix to bring everything together.

Pour the batter in the baking tin and spread the roasted peanuts and chopped peanut butter cups evenly. Press this layer with light hands in the batter.

Bake for 40 minute at 190 ºC until cake feels just firm on the crust but soft underneath. Please do not overcook or the brownies will be dry. Leave to cool in the tin

Warm the heavy cream in a heavy bottom pan and add chopped milk chocolate and tip a tablespoon butter and mix well. Remove from heat and let it thicken a bit

Spread the cooled ganach over the cooled brownie and cut into square.

Peanut Butter, Oats and Chocochip cookies

It’s true that love has no definition, no boundaries, no rule and not even remains the same forever. Look back in your life and you would know what I mean. As a child we loved our parents and thought there in nothing beyond their love, then came our siblings and friends. In our teens we make a picture of love of our life and how we would be when in love. When in love we evolve as well as let go a lot. We always want to be in love yet so much change around this emotion. From one dimension to other love is so dynamic. What is so amazing that I find its true for my love of baking as well (Burrrrrrhhhhhhh…..) Lol!!! I started with cakes, which lead to cupcakes and now I am more drawn to cookies now days. Every cookie I taste, see or read about just want to bake. So I came across this flourless peanut butter recipe and jumped on it.

 

Though I am not a Peanut Butter fan specially the store brought one, but started making it at home for my daughter after one of my friend told me about this super easy recipe she use to make at home. Believe me, I did not know one can make Peanut Butter at home and second it could taste far better than store brought.

 

 

As my Peanut butter was sorted it was so easy to get on to make cookies. What we are aiming is to get thick, soft and chew cookies, which will remain soft even after 3-4 days after baking but I can bet they will not last that long. The key to make chew and soft cookies is to use brown sugar. It not only give a good color but the nice chewy texture too. So please don’t compromise on it. I have used egg, if you don’t want to use leave and use a splash of milk instead.  Cooling the dough is the essential step of making this cookie so please doesn’t skip it and give at least 30 min of chilling in the fridge. 2 hours to overnight rest will be even better.

For Peanut Butter

2 Cups Peanut

1 Tbs Butter

½ Tsp Cinnamon Powder

2 Tbs Honey (Optional)

Heat a pan and melt the butter. Add peanuts and road them evenly. Add cinnamon when peanuts are light brown.

Add honey if desire. It will give nice sweetness to the peanuts and enhance the flavor of cookies. It’s important to keep stirring the mixture till it cools off completely otherwise the peanuts will get stick to the pan and will form big lumps.

So next step process the cooled peanuts in a processor till its smooth and creamy. That’s it, you have a fresh and super tasty peanut butter.

For Cookies

2/3 cup (58g) Rolled oats

1/2 tspn ground cinnamon

1 tspn baking soda

1 large egg

1 cup (250g) Peanut Butter at room temperature

6 Tbsp Brown sugar 

1/2 cup Dark chocolate chips

Mix the oats, cinnamon and baking soda together in a bowl.

 In another bowl beat the egg. Mix in the peanut butter and brown sugar with a spatula until combined. Pour in the dry ingredients and slowly mix until everything is combined. It will a thick mixture, if you use peanut butter at room temperature if will easier to combine everything.

 Fold in the chocolate chips.

Chill the cookie dough for 2 hours ideally and minimum 30 minutes. This step is a must.

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line large baking sheets with  parchment paper.

 Scoop the dough, about 1.5 Tablespoons each, onto prepared baking sheet. Place the dough in the form of mounds to get think cookie and do not press them down or spread at this point.

Bake in two to three batches depending upon your tin size, just making sure you are giving enough space for cookies.

Gently press down on the dough mounds with the back of a spoon to slightly flatten.

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes for soft yet crispy cookies.

Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Keep them in air tight container and they will be fresh for a week. Enjoy your flourless thick and chewy cookies with coffee. Kids will love them with a glass of milk.