This brownie recipe, created by Sweet Things by Lizzie, creates moist and rich brownies with the salty balance of the peanut butter chips. Then she adds a dark chocolate frosting for a deeply intense chocolate flavor to put these brownies on a whole different level compared to other recipes.
Ingredients
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 room temperature eggs
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups white sugar
- 1 and 1/3 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup best quality cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon best quality vanilla
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 and 1/2 cups peanut butter chips
Dark chocolate frosting
- 3/4 cup best quality dark chocolate
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream or half and half
- 2 tablespoons softened butter
- 1 and 1/2 to 1 and 3/4 cups powdered sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon best quality vanilla
Preparation
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
- Lightly butter a 13×9 inch baking pan and line with parchment paper
- Melt butter and cocoa in a microwave safe bowl for about 45 seconds to one minute. Whisk together to combine until the lumps are gone. Let cool and transfer to a mixing bowl
- To the cocoa mixture, add eggs, sugar, vanilla and water and whisk by hand until combined
- Add the flour, baking soda and salt and blend until just combined without over mixing
- Add in peanut butter chips and stir until evenly distributed
- Spread into your prepared pan with an offset spatula
- Bake for 15 minutes then rotate the pan in the oven. Bake another 10 to 15 minutes or until the center of the brownie seems set but not over baked
- Let cool completely while you prepare the frosting
- To make the frosting, melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave until just combined
- Transfer to a mixing bowl with a whisk attachment. Slowly add the cream, vanilla and powdered sugar until you have a smooth spreadable consistency. Add a pinch of salt if you prefer to offset the sweetness. You can add more or less cream depending on how thick or creamy you like your frosting
- Spread the icing over the completely cooled brownies
- Chill the brownies in the fridge for about 30 minutes before cutting
- Lift the brownies out of the pan holding onto the parchment. This makes for less clean up and no brownies sticking to the pan too!!
Makes 30 brownies. Prep time: 30 minutes Bake time: 25-30 minutes
Recipe and photo reprinted with the permission of Sweet Things by Lizzie