I love peanut butter. It's a particularly indulgent treat here at Bakercourt. Mostly because when I do indulge in a piece of buttery toast with 'peanutter', it's a rare Saturday morning when the sun is shining outside and I just felt like a bit of a pick-me-up of the culinary variety. Otherwise, it is likely to be encased in a tell-tale orange wrapper with the brand 'Reese's' blazoned across the front. Oh, I do like me some Reese's Cups when I've had a bad week and I feel like a nutty treat.

So, when I spied a recipe for Peanut Butter Brownies in the Australian Women's Weekly biscuits, brownies & biscotti, well, the next step was logical.

















I got baking. This is a slightly unusual brownie recipe because you do it over the stove, rather than in a mixer. But, the end result was delicious.

















I changed the recipe slightly because I didn't have enough chocolate to whip through the mix after the initial 150g that you melt in with the butter. To compensate, I added a very generous helping of chopped hazelnuts to the top. I also baked my brownies in a larger pan which made them thinner, but still delicious.

















And here you go. Peanut butter brownies swirled with extra salted peanut butter and served with a side of crunchy peanut butter ice-cream. Because, really, you can't get better than that.

















Here's a look at the underside of the brownie. I took the peanut butter straight out of the fridge before dolloping it in to the mix so it stayed together really well for little peanut butter bite-sized surprises in each brownie.

And, because I know you can't possibly wait to try this yourself, here's a copy of the recipe from The Australian Women's Weekly website. You can thank me later.


Ingredients:

180g unsalted butter, chopped
150g dark chocolate, chopped
1¾ cups (385g) caster sugar
4 eggs, beaten lightly
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
¾ cup (110g) plain flour
2 tablespoons self-raising flour
1/3 cup (35g) cocoa powder
50g dark chocolate, chopped, extra
1/3 cup (95g) crunchy peanut butter

NOTE: This recipe can be made a week ahead; store in an airtight container.

Method: 

Preheat the oven to moderately slow (160°C). Grease a 20cm x 30cm lamington pan, line the base and two opposite sides with baking paper.

Combine butter and chocolate in medium saucepan, stir over a low heat until smooth; transfer to a large bowl. Stir in sugar, eggs and essence, then sifted flours, cocoa and extra chocolate.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Drop small spoons of peanut butter into the chocolate mixture and swirl through the chocolate with a knife.

Bake in a moderately slow oven for about 50 minutes or until firm; cool in pan.

Cooked brownies suitable to freeze. Butter mixture and chocolate suitable to microwave.