Peanut Butter Filled Brownies

 

I am probably one of the clumsiest person in the world. I once told one of my teachers all the accidents I had involving me going to the hospital and getting stitches before I was even six years old and she was shocked. She joked to the class that if the B Team (the emergency team at school) was ever called look around to see if I was there, because if not, it’s probably me.

A few weeks ago I was straightening my hair, and I told control of the flatiron. My reflexes kicked in and I grabbed the hot metal plates, which caused me to drop the thing onto my foot. Then the next day I was on my way inside the airport (I was still in the parking lot area) and I did a total face plant onto the scratchiest rug ever. I skinned both hands so I couldn’t use them, I skinned my elbow so bad I couldn’t bend it, and I skinned my knee so bad I couldn’t walk properly. My dad said I looked like I had a wooden leg.

 

Not only was I just a mess, I couldn’t find Neosporin or bandaids ANYWHERE in the freaking airport, so I went for about four or five hours without anything to protect my new wounds. Then, when my dad and I finally found bandaids, we couldn’t find anything to disinfect them except for some hand sanitizer. Let me tell you this now, never ever in a million years put hand sanitizer on a wound larger than a nickel. You will buckle down and cry.

Anyways, I made these brownies the day before my little airport fiasco. And I’m so sad I did because that meant I only got to eat one of these marvelous creations. I know for a fact that as soon as I get back from my little vacation I will be making these ASAP.

Erin, over at Texanerin Baking, makes unhealthy treats a little more healthy, but you can’t taste the health. I have made quite a few of her recipes, and each one was a success. These are by far my absolute favorite though!

The brownie part is sooooo fudgy and chocolatey. It really is amazing. Although I don’t think it would be nearly as amazing without the peanut butter middle. The recipe calls for homemade peanut butter (just pulverizing peanuts in a food processor until it reaches peanut butter consistency) but I didn’t have that. Instead I bought some natural peanut butter at the store. The only brand I could find that had peanuts as the only ingredient was Krema. Dear god this stuff was so good and it even smelled like regular peanut butter. The only thing about it was its loose consistency, which probably caused the filling to be more of a batter than a thick filling. The brownies still baked up perfectly though. The peanut butter filling was not nearly as thick as Erin’s was, but since when does appearance affect awesome flavor?

 

Peanut Butter Filled Brownies

Slightly adapted from Texanerin Baking
Makes one 8x8 inch pan

Ingredients
Peanut Butter Filling
1 cup natural peanut butter (I used Krema)
1/3 cup honey
¼ cup coconut oil

Brownies
¾ cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
¾ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. salt
½ cup canola oil
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line an 8x8 inch baking pan with foil. Grease foil with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix together the peanut butter, honey, and oil. If your coconut oil isn’t soft, let it sit out at room temperature before mixing with the peanut butter and honey. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator while you make the brownie batter.

Sift together the cocoa powder, flour, and salt into a medium bowl. Whisk to combine. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding one as soon as the previous has disappeared into the mixture. Stir in the vanilla. Add all of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Fold to combine (the mixture will be thick and dark).

Spread half of the brownie batter into the prepared pan. Pour the peanut butter filling over the brownie batter. Spread the peanut butter filling towards the edges. A bit of brownie batter may get swirled in, that is totally fine, they will just become peanut butter swirl brownies! Cover the filling with the remaining brownie batter.

 

 

Place pan on the center rack and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out mostly clean with the exception of a few moist crumbs and a bit of peanut butter filling. Allow the brownies to cool in the pan for at least 30-45 minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely. Once cool, slice and serve.