Chocolate and peanut butter is one of the ultimate flavour combinations. Whoever invented Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups is amazing and will have my love forever.
But I was never really into peanut butter (crazy, I know) until I went to visit some relatives in the States a few years ago. It was fall and the trees were amazing shades of red and orange and Halloween was around the corner. My relatives live in Connecticut, so they took me apple picking and we came home and baked dozens of the delicious apples into huge apple pies.
My cousin took me to Stew Leonard’s and we picked out the biggest, fattest pumpkins we could find. He bought those mini electric saws and printed out stencils and the whole family sat around the kitchen drinking red wine and carving Jack-O-Lanterns. I loved it! And my aunt stocked up on bags and bags of those little assorted candies (from Costco, I think?!) and I had to go through and try each of them (of course!).
Well Reece’s were my favourite. And my love for peanut butter began.
So here I’ve made some homemade peanut butter cup filling. And put it inside these brownies. Along with some chocolate chips. And pretzel chunks. They are sweet and salty and the chocolate peanut butter combination is like peanut butter cups. But in a brownie.
- FOR THE HOMEMADE PEANUT BUTTER CUP TRUFFLES
- ½ cup peanut butter (140g, 5 oz)
- 30g unsalted butter (1 oz)
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- pinch salt
- ½ cup + 2 tbsp icing sugar, sifted
- FOR THE BROWNIES
- 225g unsalted butter (1 cup)
- 1¾ cups sugar
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp cocoa
- 100g dark chocolate chips (1/2 cup)
- 1 tsp salt, plus extra for sprinkling
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- ¾ cup plain flour
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips
- 1 cup pretzels
- To make he peanut butter truffles, combine the peanut butter, unsalted butter and brown sugar in a small saucepan. Stir until bubbles begin to appear. Remove from the heat.
- Add the icing sugar a couple of tablespoons at a time, stirring well between each addition.
- Drop small teaspoons of the peanut butter filling onto a tray lined with baking paper. Put in the freezer while you make the brownies.
- To make the brownies, preheat the oven to 170 C (325 F) and grease and line a 9 x 13 inch pan with baking paper.
- Put the unsalted butter, sugar, cocoa, dark chocolate chips, salt and vanilla in a heatproof bowl and place it over a pot of simmering water. Do not let the bowl touch the water.
- Stir every so often, until the butter is melted and the mixture combined.
- Remove the bowl from the heat. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well with a wooden spoon or spatula between each addition.
- Add the flour and mix it in until it clears, then beat the mixture vigorously for 40 strokes.
- Mix in the pretzels, milk chocolate chips and peanut butter truffles until everything is evenly dispersed.
- Press the mixture into the baking tray and smooth out the top. Sprinkle lightly with coarse sea salt.
- Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, until the center is set and a toothpick inserted has moist crumbs. Makes 24 brownies.
- Happy baking!