Peanut Butter Brownies
Peanut butter chocolate brownies was something I always wanted to try baking, but most off-the-shelves peanut butter brands like Skippy or Peter Pan are homogenized and have that stiff consistency, making them hard to incorporate into the batter.
My Peanut Butter Chocolate Chiffon Cake was baked using Skippy's creamy peanut butter, but it took effort to mix in and the batter turned incredibly heavy, gooey and sticky (which isn't ideal for chiffon cakes to emerge spongy and fluffy from the oven)!
Natural, non-homogenized peanut butter seems like a better choice because they're more fluid after stirring. If you're not sure how to tell the difference, look for the layer of peanut oil that's visible in natural peanut butters on the shelves. Conventional homogenized peanut butters don't have this layer. According to Kitchn:
"Natural Nut Butters
Products labeled with both "natural" and "butter" generally contain at least 90% peanuts with no artificial sweeteners, colors or preservatives.
Conventional Nut Butters
Conventional peanut butters can contain hydrogenated oils, sugar, salt and other ingredients such as soy protein, corn syrup and stabilizers.
Truly natural peanut butters on the market contain just peanuts and salt.
No-Stir Options: The Commercial Version of Natural
Natural peanut butters require stirring since they aren't homogenized. Commercial brands offering a natural alternative generally contain an added stabilizer like palm oil. Palm oil takes the place of hydrogenated vegetable oil to help prevent separation of the oil and to maintain the creamier, spreadable texture. Many of these products may also be alternately labeled as spreads. Although they contain 90% peanuts and loosely qualify as natural, they are stabilized with palm oil, which is outside of the definition for regular peanut butter."
THEN,
I found where the best peanut butter in the world is created! NEW ZEALAND. I'm a long-time die-hard peanut butter fan and I had the best peanut butter on a roadtrip in New Zealand recently:
The bottle speaks the truth. This is natural peanut butter, so we had to mix it before use. But it's so much smoother and the bottom doesn't clump together (unlike other natural peanut butter brands I tried here). And, it stays fairly well-mixed even after standing overnight, viscous enough when scooped with a knife, but flowy enough to be well-incorporated into baking batters. It was so good I had to buy a bottle back to Singapore at the end of my trip. And guess what? They're sold in Cold Storage and other selected supermarkets here! About $8+ for a bottle of this awesomeness. Go get it.
I bought a bar of Whittaker's Peanut Butter Chocolate (another New Zealand brand of chocolate that's absolutely delicious). Definitely a must-try for baking.
This Peanut Butter Brownie recipe by Handle the Heat looked great so I tried it with some modifications
Fluffy batter from beating the eggs and sugar together, to give the brownies that chewiness!
How can we exclude Reese's peanut butter cups? I only had 5 left so I threw everything in.
After distributing my brownies to many people and getting feedback, my conclusion is - everyone has different preferences.
Many loved it and devoured it quickly. Some could taste the peanut butter infused in the brownies, some couldn't and only tasted the peanut butter chunk from the peanut butter cups. Some loved the moistness of the brownies, some felt it was too thick. Some said it wasn't sweet, some said it was too sweet. Some liked the crispy crust at the top, some didn't.
This recipe will be hard for me to redo, since I haven't found a place where Whittaker's Peanut Butter Chocolate bars is available in Singapore (or any peanut butter flavoured chocolate bars, for that matter - please let me know if you know where to get those)!
Recipe adapted from Handle the Heat
Ingredients:
170g butter (if salted, don't add salt below. if unsalted, use salt)
113g peanut butter chocolate, broken to pieces
170g unsweetened dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter (I use Pic's Creamy Peanut Butter. You can try Chunky, that should be interesting)
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
93g all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
5 peanut butter cups (use 9 if you have enough)
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 175C. Line an 8×8-inch baking pan with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large pot over low heat, melt the butter but don't burn it. Add in the peanut butter chocolate pieces and melt fully. Add in the chocolate chips and stir till smooth and glossy. Turn off the heat and leave to cool.
3. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the eggs and sugar on medium-high speed until light and thick, about 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract. Stir in the cooled chocolate mixture with a rubber spatula. Add the flour and salt, folding gently until combined.
4. Pour half the batter into the prepared baking pan. Place the peanut butter cups evenly on this layer of batter, then pour in the remaining batter. Bake until a tester comes out with moist crumbs still attached, about 45 minutes. Do not overbake. Let cool to room temperature before unpanning the brownies.
5. (Optional) Spread some peanut butter over the top for that extra kick. Enjoy with ice-cream after microwaving for 20 seconds, or at room temperature. It's great either way (:
