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You are here: Home / Recipes / Baking (sweet) / Chocolate peanut butter chip brownies

Chocolate peanut butter chip brownies

by Jeanne Horak on September 5, 2011 24 Comments in Baking (sweet), Dessert, Recipes

Chocolate peanut butter chip brownies © J Horak-Druiff 2011

 

I always wonder how people like emergency medical personnel or bomb disposal experts manage to do their jobs properly.  I mean, can you imagine trying to concentrate on the specific and difficult job you were trained to do, while all around you there is chaos, noise, and people calling out and generally distracting you?  I wonder how they find that small piece of quiet space somewhere within themselves and inhabit that to filter out all other distractions to deliver the service they are trained to do. I also think that if the army or emergency services ever need trainers to design a training task and then recreate the kind of distracting circumstances described above as a dress rehearsal, I should volunteer.

Picture the scene.  A suburban house in London.  A summery braai/BBQ in progress in the garden.  A slab of brownies baking in the oven for dessert.  21 guests finding excuses to come into the kitchen on the pretext of fetching a glass of water, a napkin, some salt, or a fork; when all the time the only thing they are doing is checking whether the brownies are out of the oven yet.  Finally, I could wait no longer and had to open the oven door, releasing the irresistable aroma of warm, chocolatey goodness and luring the guests to the kitchen as surely as a mermaid lures a sailor onto rocks.

 

BrowniesCollage

 

Clutching my tray of brownies protectively as close to my chest as the hot baking dish allowed, I managed to get it to the conservatory unscathed where I had hoped for a couple of minutes of peace to set up a shot and get some photos taken before the devouring hordes descended.  Alas: no such luck!  Guests circled like vultures, watching my every move, waiting impatiently for me to be distracted by an f-stop so that they could pounce.  I kept trying to concentrate and pretend they were not there but it is hard to pretend a marauding hand has not really appeared in the bottom corner of your picture!!  In the end I had to concede defeat and invite everybody to serve themselves (cue sonic boom as some guests practically broke the sound barrier sprinting for the brownies!).  And unlike bomb disposal experts, at least I get a second chance to get it right, plus I get to eat my work afterwards 😉

Until the mid 2000s, my experience of cookie chips was confined to dark chocolate or milk chocolate.  But a trip to the US in 2005 changed all that.  In the baking aisle, I found something astonishing:  a mind-boggling array of baking chips from dark to milk to white chocolate, via butterscotch, cinnamon, peanut butter, mint, cherry and rainbow-coloured. Phew. My fancy was immediately taken by the peanut butter chips which I carried home with me in my suitcase and used in these awesome double peanut butter chip cookies.  Every time I visited the US or had friends coming over, I would always ask for a bag of peanut butter chips for baking – but recently I discovered a far easier way to get hold of them:  simply order from American Soda who deliver all over the UK. Easy!  The hard part, of course, is to keep your guests off the baked goods 😉

These brownies could not be simpler to make and pack a huge punch in terms of deep chocolatey flavour and peanut buttery goodness.  Try to underbake them slightly rather than overbake them – you want the centre still to be a little gooey.  To me, there are few things better that the combination of sweet and salty flavours that the cocoa and the peanut butter chips provide – try them and I am sure you’ll agree!

 

BrowniesFinal

 

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CHIP BROWNIES (makes about sixteen 5cm square brownies)

Ingredients:

230g butter (softened) plus a little extra for greasing
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup soft brown sugar
90g cream cheese
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup plain flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 2/3 cups (1x283g package) peanut butter chips (I used Reese’s, available in the UK from American Soda)

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 170C. Grease a 5cm deep baking tin or oven proof dish about 30cmx20cm.

Using a mixer, cream together the butter, sugar and cream cheese.  Add the eggs and vanilla a beat well to mix.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt.  Stir into the wet ingredients until everything is moist and well-mixed, then stir in the peanut butter chips.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 45 mins or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out almost clean (a little bit of gooeyness is desirable, as I said!).  Allow to cool for 10 mins or so, then cut into squares and serve warm with ice cream.  They will also keep well for a couple of days in an airtight container.

 

Don’t forget to enter the draw to win a copy of Vanessa Kimbell’s book Prepped – competition closes at midnight on Thursday 8 September! 

And while you are here… please don’t forget to send me your favourite braai or BBQ recipes by 23 September for Braai the Beloved Country, my annual event celebrating summery outdoor cooking.  Click here to read the submission guidelines!

 

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  1. andrew says

    September 5, 2011 at 8:05 pm

    I am sad to report that I wont be trying these… me and peanut butter just do not meet in harmony … evil bitty slime that it is 🙂

    Reply
  2. Kanga_Rue says

    September 5, 2011 at 8:32 pm

    Oh my word, I want some. Now. Please? Pretty please?Oh my word, I want some. Now. Please? Pretty please?

    Reply
  3. Kit says

    September 5, 2011 at 8:35 pm

    Such a tough assignment to have to bake them all over again! They look wonderful. I love salt/ sweet combinations like the Lindt sea salt dark chocolate…Yoummmmm and I’m a peanut butter fan too.

    Reply
  4. Mike says

    September 6, 2011 at 2:45 am

    “CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CHIP BROWNIES” sounds a bit pedestrian compared to the “Muffins of Evil”, which I believe these surpass.

    Reply
  5. GiveThanks09 says

    September 6, 2011 at 4:16 am

    love all the ingred!
    Sinful but worh it! haha ha! 😉

    Reply
  6. Rosa says

    September 6, 2011 at 7:56 am

    Those look amazing and so irresistible! I wish those PB chips would not cost a fortune. Here, stores exagerate with their prices… :-/
    Cheers,
    Rosa

    Reply
  7. Firefly says

    September 6, 2011 at 8:39 am

    I can just smell those coming out the oven right now.

    Reply
  8. TheGirlWhoBlogs says

    September 6, 2011 at 8:44 am

    These look delicious! Thanks for tweeting about them, will bookmark your website!
    Becky – The Girl Who Blogs

    Reply
  9. Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen says

    September 6, 2011 at 8:54 am

    LOL, funny how brownies have that effect on people isn’t it? I have to admit I get like that around them myself and probably would have gotten impatient too!

    Reply
  10. Sanjeeta kk says

    September 6, 2011 at 10:22 am

    The brownies look absolutely delicious..and with PB chips in them..Hmmm…well, they need to be baked ASP!

    Reply
  11. Jayasri says

    September 6, 2011 at 10:50 am

    wow, those look amazing, when kids love brownies and H loves peanuts, this is a must bake :), lovely clicks

    Reply
  12. Baker Street says

    September 6, 2011 at 12:10 pm

    I love using PB chips. found a combination of PB and chocolate and they were divine. Your brownies look divine!

    Reply
  13. Lee aka Kaptainkosh says

    September 6, 2011 at 4:43 pm

    Hi Jeanne,
    Hi Carolyn,
    I love your blog! These brownies look so good!
    I live in NYC and recently started cooking. I decided to start a blog called “Cookin’ with the Kaptain” and was wondering if you would let me know what you think. Here is the link:
    http://bit.ly/rc9zoR
    Thanks – KK

    Reply
  14. arthi says

    September 6, 2011 at 9:04 pm

    Ah I so agree gr8 minds think alike…nothing feels better than a warm chunk of brownie and if it has peanut butter chips…double the fun..Thanks so much for letting me know where to buy..ive always wanted them 😉

    Reply
  15. meeta says

    September 7, 2011 at 7:22 am

    Oh yeah I so miss those chips of all sorts – especially these Reese peanut butter ones. The brownies look divine and moist and totally what I need right now! I also can relate to taking pictures under pressure and under the eyes of many. It’s a difficult job but like you said with such treats the great thing is you have a good excuse to bake them again!

    Reply
  16. Sukaina says

    September 7, 2011 at 9:27 am

    I always love a good fudgy brownie recipe. I always feel jealous of my US friends as they can get hold of so many wonderful bakign items that are impossible to find here- such as the peanut butter chips!

    Reply
  17. thelittleloaf says

    September 7, 2011 at 9:29 am

    Peanut butter chips sound like the best idea ever 🙂 I’m addicted to peanut butter M&Ms which you can only get in the US or specialist stores – peanut butter and chocolate is a match made in heaven!

    Reply
  18. vincent says

    September 7, 2011 at 10:46 pm

    Hello,
    We bumped into your blog and we really liked it – great recipes YUM YUM.
    We would like to add it to the Petitchef.com.
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    Petitchef is a french based Cooking recipes Portal. Several hundred Blogs are already members
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    Best regards,
    Vincent
    petitchef.com

    Reply
  19. [email protected] Pao Chicken says

    September 8, 2011 at 1:48 pm

    Wow!I saw the delicious food.I want to eat it immediately.

    Reply
  20. Simone says

    September 8, 2011 at 9:35 pm

    O lol Jeanne.. I can so picture you fending of the hordes of eager guests trying to steal your brownies.. Didn’t they tell you that you should attempt to shoot brownies only when there is no one in the house to even so much as smell them…? They do look gorgeous so I can see how they would be tempted to try and grab some. You did manage some good shots though!

    Reply
  21. Johanna GGG says

    September 11, 2011 at 8:36 am

    those brownies sound great – I often photograph food with my two year old around me so I am used to photographing in chaos and I often let a hand or two feature on the blog – so I know exactly how you felt – though we ate out today and she was so good at waiting for me to take a pic before she ate her cake – true blogger kid! wish I could discover all the varieties of choc chips – have tried the butterscotch which were dangerously amazing – keep meaning to visit the USA food shop in Melbourne

    Reply
  22. Marisa says

    September 12, 2011 at 9:58 am

    Completely in a huff about our lack of choc-chip variety over here. *sulk*

    Reply
  23. Jamie says

    September 27, 2011 at 11:35 am

    Man, Jeanne, I leave the country and you slip these by me… well, I am pouncing on them. Wow! I have always loved the peanut butter-chocolate combo and what better than brownies? Yours look perfect! Mmmmm…. I want. You please make these next time I visit? And I promise not to grab before they are done baking or before you have snapped as many pics as you want.

    Reply
  24. kinh thoi trang says

    March 5, 2012 at 6:50 am

    I just made these and they came out great! I did adjust the recipe a bit since I didn’t have enough cocoa (I put 1/2 cup), but it didn’t seem to matter too much. I really liked that there wasn’t a crazy amount of sugar and butter since I’ve seen recipes where they ask for 2 cups of each and then a cup of chips. This recipe is a good combo of cocoa brownie taste with sweet peanut butter taste. Delicious!

    Reply
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Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

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