Peanut Butter Swirled Brownies

The weather has been unseasonably warm here to the point it is mid-March and we have had the furnace off for three days now.  These temperatures this time of year are virtually unheard of here!  So yesterday, I decided to tackle a few boxes in the garage.  It is an attached garage but unheated so this heat wave was perfect timing.  I came across a box of various recipes I had kept dating back to the mid-1990's.  As I sorted through the box I pulled a couple of recipes to try out.

The peanut butter swirled brownies recipe was on a 1996 promo offer by Baker's.  I had to do a substitution for some of the chocolate as I only had four squares of Baker's unsweetened chocolate and my ankle still isn't strong enough to do a lot of walking and I didn't feel like starting up the truck to drive a couple of blocks and back.  Both the batter and icing are marbled.   I used a knife to marble the thicker batter and a toothpick to marble the icing.   Once the icing set up it was time to cut the brownies.   It almost seemed a shame to cut the brownies as the icing looked lovely! 

Chocolate and peanut butter is a very popular flavour combination so I'm not surprised the brownies tasted every bit as good as they looked.  I will warn you they are on the rich side but oh so yummy!  These brownies are sure to a hit with your family and they would go over well for parties or get-togethers.  It definitely is a keeper recipe. 

Peanut Butter Swirled Brownies
source: Baker's special offer pamphlet (circa 1996) 

Brownies
2 squares Baker's unsweetened chocolate*
⅓ c butter
⅔ c unbleached flour
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp sea salt
2 eggs
1 c organic sugar
1 tsp vanilla

½ c smooth peanut butter
 c organic sugar
¼ c 2% milk

Icing
4 squares Baker's semi-sweet chocolate
¾ c smooth peanut butter, divided

Brownies: Heat oven to 350ºF (180ºC).  Heat chocolate (or * substitute below) in microwave on high for 1 minute until butter is melted.  Stir until the chocolate is completely melted and mixture is smooth.  Cool completely.  Combine flour, baking powder and salt together in small mixing bowl.   In a separate mixing bowl, beat eggs.  Gradually beat in the sugar.  Beat until well blended.  Blend in the chocolate mixture and vanilla.  Stir in the flour mixture.  Spread into a greased and floured 8 - inch square baking pan.  Blend the peanut butter, sugar and milk together.  Top the brownie mixture in the baking pan with spoonfuls of the peanut butter mixture.  Draw knife through the batter to marble it.  Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until the brownies begin to pull away from the sides of pan.  Cool in pan on a rack.

Icing:
Melt the chocolate with ½ cup of peanut butter in microwave on medium power for 3 minutes.  Stir until well blended.  Spread over the top of the cooled brownies.  Melt the remaining peanut butter and drop by spoonfuls onto the icing.  Swirl with a toothpick to marble.  Chill until icing is set.

* I substituted the squares with 6 tbsp powdered cocoa stirred into 2 tbsp melted butter.

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