Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies

I made these brownies for Brian's birthday this year, and then again for Father's day. Cut these very small - they are incredibly rich.

For the Brownies:

1. 1 cup butter
2. 2 cups sugar
3. 3 eggs
4. 3 teaspoons vanilla
5. 2/3 cup cocoa powder
6. 1 cup all purpose flour
7. 1/2 teaspoon salt
8. 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

For the Peanut Butter Filling:

1. 1/2 cup butter, softened
2. 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
3. 2 cup powdered sugar
4. 2-3 teaspoons milk

For the Ganache Topping:

1. 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2. 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3. 1/4 cup butter
4. 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9 by 13 inch metal baking pan. Put a long piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan, letting the parchment extend up two sides of the pan and overhang slightly on both ends. (This will make it easy to remove the bars from the pan after they have baked.) Butter the parchment.
2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Remove from heat and add the sugar; stir to combine. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Mix in cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add flour and stir until just combined and no streaks of dry ingredients remain. Pour into prepared pan and spread into an even layer. Bake for bake 25-30 minutes. Let cool completely in pan on a cooling rack.
3. While the brownies are cooling, make the peanut butter filling. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the ingredients and beat until smooth. Add more milk if necessary to make it spreadable. Spread in an even layer over the brownies. Place in the refrigerator until filling is set, about 30 minutes.
4. While the filling is setting, make the ganache, combine the ingredients in a double boiler or in a microwave safe bowl. Melt together and combine. Pour the ganache over the top and spread gently. Return to the fridge until set.

Yields: 24 brownies

Printed From: www.sweetpeaskitchen.com

Brian's Birthday, Fish and Chips, and Peanut Butter Torte

Brian's birthday was a couple of weeks ago. We both took the day off and we went to the zoo. Afterwards, we went to Central Market to find something to make for dinner. After annoying the fishmonger with our indecisiveness (He wanted to do something easy, I wanted something special), the fishmonger pointed out some North Atlantic Cod. It was beautiful and on sale. I said, "That would be great for fish and chips." But we did not have a deep fryer. We do now!!!

We came home and made amazing fish and chips (beer battered with Liberty Ale). We used Alton Brown's recipe.
Afterwards we had a Peanut Butter Torte I made. It was from Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, which I finally purchased a copy for the library after reading about Tuesdays with Dorie for so long on the Food Librarian's site and others.

It was so incredibly rich, like a fluffy peanut butter cheesecake with chocolate ganache. After the fried food and this, we were both nearly ill. Brian seemed to be happy with everything and said, "I don't regret one bite."

Brian loves Chocolate and Peanut Butter.  Together. Forever.

The last birthday cake I made him was in 2007 (we were in NYC in 2008). I made him this one:

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cake with Cream Cheese and Butterfinger Frosting

Begin preparing the cake one day ahead.  

Filling

2 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar

12 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1/2 cup old-fashioned (natural) chunky peanut butter 

Cake

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup old-fashioned (natural) chunky peanut butter

1 pound golden brown sugar

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk 

Frosting

1 1/2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature

2 cups powdered sugar, divided

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup chilled heavy whipping cream

Butterfinger candy bars, coarsely chopped

For filling:

Bring cream and sugar to simmer in saucepan, whisking to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat. Add chocolate; let stand 1 minute. Whisk until smooth. Whisk in peanut butter. Chill uncovered overnight. 

For cake:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter three 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides. Line bottoms with parchment paper. Sift first 4 ingredients into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter and peanut butter in large bowl until blended. Beat in sugar. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, then vanilla. At low speed, beat in flour mixture in 4 additions alternately with buttermilk in 3 additions. 

Divide batter among pans and spread evenly. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool cakes 5 minutes. Turn out onto racks; peel off parchment. Cool cakes completely. 

For frosting:

Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese, 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla in large bowl to blend. Whisk whipping cream and 3/4 cup powdered sugar in bowl until mixture holds medium-firm peaks. Fold into cream cheese mixture in 3 additions; chill until firm but spreadable, about 1 hour. 

Place 1 cake layer, bottom side up, on 9-inch tart pan bottom. Spread with half of filling. Place another layer, bottom side up, on work surface. Spread with remaining filling; place atop first layer. Top with remaining cake layer, bottom side up. 

Spread frosting over top and sides of cake. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome; chill. Let stand at room temperature 2 hours before continuing.) Press candy onto top of cake. 

Makes 12 servings.

Bon Appétit

Time For Dessert

March 2005

Epicurious.com © CondéNet, Inc. All rights reserved

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You can find the recipe on www.epicurious.com, with reviews.  Some of the reviewers claimed the filling was oozy, and I had the opposite problem.  I made the three parts on Friday, and assembled it on Saturday morning.  The filling was so hard I could barely get it out of the bowl.  I worked with it like a modeling clay, and then took a piece of wax paper to gently press it in and make it even for the next section of cake to set on top.

Brian showed me how his mom iced cakes - used a knife and starting from the top.  He was right, this definitely worked better than my rubber spatula.  I have admired those cake spatula at William-Sonoma many times before, but I honestly don’t make cakes like this that often.

I didn’t get a picture of the cake until later, but here it is after 2 days of refrigerator storage (yes, it looked terrible! but it was still good - I recommend microwaving a slice for 30 seconds on a low power before eating it):

And here's the magazine photo:

This year, I made him the Sour Cream-Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting and Chocolate-Peanut Butter Glaze from Sky High. I first saw it on the Food Librarian's website, and it's been a popular one!  So popular in fact, I see no reason to transcribe the recipe.  You can check the book out from the Colleyville Library, or google "Sour Cream-Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting and Chocolate-Peanut Butter Glaze" and you'll find it over and over again.

Here's Brian's cake!

It was an easy one too... The cake is made in one big bowl.  It was delicious, and I can't wait to try it again!  I'll even use the cake recipe with other frostings!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Coffins

This picture was from a couple of Halloweens ago when I first made these. It was just a fluke - I thought I'd make Rice Crispy Treats with Cocoa Pebbles instead. Then I think Brian said, "I wonder if you can add peanut butter." So I added Reese's Peanut Butter chips. The result was a hit!

If you want something less morbid, you can always just cut them into squares.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Crispy Coffins

3 TBSP butter
1 10 oz. package marshmallows
6 C Chocolate Rice Cereal
1 package peanut butter chips

Melt butter in a large pan.
Add marshmallows, and stir until melted. Remove from heat.
Add Cereal, and stir to coat.
Stir in peanut chips (they will melt).
Spoon into greased 13" x 9" pan, spread around and pressed until firm. It should look marbled.
Allow to cool, then cut into coffin shapes.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake/Brownie/Fudge/Plop Thing

Brian was wanted to test a peanut butter cake (for an over the top peanut butter chocolate nutter butter and Reese's Pieces covered monster to take to work), so he found this Peanut Butter Sheet Cake Recipe. We halfed the recipe, and added about 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips.

We didn't use the icing either. He wanted chocolate icing, so I took about 1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips, 3 TBSPs or so of milk, and 2 TBSP of Peanut Butter, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, and put it in the microwave for 30 seconds. Took it out and stirred it, and then put it back in for another 30 seconds. I repeated that process until it was a smooth consistency. Then I beat in powdered sugar until I got an icing (about 1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar).

Brian was not happy with the result. He wanted a true cake consistency, and it ended up being thick, dense, almost brownie or fudge like. While he didn't like it, I thought when it was cold in the fridge, it was awesome (He thought it was still too gooey).

It needs some work, but overall, I thought it was good basis for something that could end up super awesome!


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