How to Make Peanut Butter Brownies

My class produced obscene amounts of baked goods during the baking module of culinary school. Croissants, tarts, cookies, brownies, bread, frangipane, creme anglaise, custard, fleurons, paillettes, sacristains, palmiers, pretzels, bagels, brioche, truffles, pies, cakes. On and on it went, each day flowing into the next on a buzzing river of sugar, yeast, flour, eggs and butter. As we kneaded, pounded, rolled and tempered our way to pastry enlightenment, I became accustomed to the flecks of flour framing my brow line, my fingernails encrusted in dough and the comforting yeasty aroma of rising bread loaves. Certainly there were a few failures, my first attempt at laminate dough comes to mind, but for me, and I suspect a few others in my class, (who felt more confident around veal stock than a rolling pin), it was deeply satisfying to overcome my baking anxiety and leave class each day with a cake box of decadent goodies tucked under my arm. The only problem was there was never just one cake box to take home. Instead, each of us walked away with a dizzying tower of boxes overflowing with the results of our painstaking effort. And effort was the problem. We gathered at the end of each day to discuss our successes and failures around tables overflowing with golden brioche, cakes dressed in gleaming ganache and dozens of fruit tarts. The long road we traveled to produce a single successful croissant, knob of caramel or sheet of puff pastry was often littered with frustration and failure. Therefore, every success was heard-earned, making the pies, muffins and quarts of homemade ice cream too valuable to leave behind. After I graduated, I baked at home. While the volume was nowhere near the culinary school heyday, it was enough to appease his co-workers. One of their favorites was this simple peanut butter brownie recipe. I hadn't made it for several months when I received an email last week from his boss kindly requesting a batch. I imagined the poor guy holed up in his office, slumped over a computer, ten hours into his fourteen hour day thinking, if I just had a peanut butter brownie I could make it to the thirteenth hour. With that bit of motivation, I whipped up a batch in less than half an hour. Chewy, moist and satisfying, they're just the thing to get you through your own thirteenth hour.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• 1/3 cup (5 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon) butter, softened, plus additional butter for greasing the pan
• 2/3 cup crunchy peanut butter, softened
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup peanut butter chips (use chocolate chips if desired)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter a 9 inch square baking pan. Using an electric or a hand-held mixer, cream together at high speed the butter and peanut butter until it is light and fluffy, about four minutes. Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar and mix at medium high speed until the sugars are fully incorporated. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until each is combined.
2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt then add it in batches to the batter. Beat at low speed until it is fully incorporated then stir in the vanilla and peanut butter chips until well combined.
3. Spread the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake for thirty minutes until a toothpick inserted at the center of the brownies comes out with only a few crumbs sticking to it. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for at least thirty minutes before cutting into squares.
   Yield: 16 small brownies

Tips & Warnings

• The brownies are moist and chewy but if you would like them to be a little less moist, add 1/8 cup more flour. Here I used peanut butter chips but feel free to substitute chocolate chips. I've also made these with creamy peanut butter and added 1/2 cup of finely chopped peanuts. Other types of nut butters such as cashew or pecan are also very tasty.