Peanut Butter and Jelly Brownies
I love putting a new spin on a classic recipe. I had the pleasure of enjoying these Peanut Butter and Jelly Brownies when I was hanging out with my friends Fiona, Aimee, and Katie one night a couple months ago. Fiona had whipped up quite the unique recipe. Her recipe involves cutting the brownies in half after they’ve been baked and cooled. When it came right down to it, I was just too lazy to commit to that kind of effort.
I know, it really isn’t that much additional effort, but that’s the decision I made. Instead of following Fiona’s recipe exactly, I decided to just use peanut butter chips in the brownies and top it with jelly, just like Fiona did. The outcome is a great combination of the classic peanut butter and jelly flavors mixed into a brownie. These were a huge hit, as to be expected.
One Year Ago: Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls and Indian Spiced Beans
Two Years Ago: Cranberry, Caramelized Onion, and Goat Cheese Dip
Peanut Butter and Jelly Brownies
Yield: 16 bars
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup + 2 Tbsp sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp espresso powder, optional
1/2 Tbsp vanilla
3/4 cup flour
1 cup peanut butter chips
1/2 cup red raspberry jelly
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9x9" pan
In a saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat briefly, just until it's hot, but not bubbling; it'll become shiny looking as you stir it. Heating this mixture a second time will dissolve more of the sugar, which will yield a shiny top crust on your brownies.
Transfer the sugar mixture to a medium-sized mixing bowl, if you've heated it in a saucepan. Stir in the cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder, and vanilla.
Whisk in the eggs, stirring until smooth.
Add the flour and chips, again stirring until smooth.
Spoon the batter into a lightly greased pan.
In another pan or microwave dish, heat the jelly until warm and melted. Spoon warm jelly on top of brownie batter. Use a knife to swirl around to mix into brownies.
Bake the brownies for about 30 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it. The brownies should feel set on the edges, and the center should look very moist, but not uncooked. Remove them from the oven and cool completely prior to cutting.
Recipe adapted from A Boston Food Diary
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Mmmmm I love one dish cupcakes!
http://www.brisbanebaker.blogspot.com
Those cupcakes look delish! Can you tell me more about the “dipping in ganache” technique? Does the ganache need to be a certain consistency first?
I have seen some maple cheesecake around the blogs, maybe that would be awesome use for the sugar? Or to top maple sugar cookies 🙂
I made a seriously awesome maple mousse cake to go with Christmas dinner this year and it used maple sugar. It was one of the best desserts I’ve ever eaten. The link to the post is: http://joanne-eatswellwithothers.blogspot.com/2010/01/frozen-maple-mousse-pie-with-chocolate.html.
Go Butler!! I think I’m going to use your “go to” cupcake recipe to make some Final Four treats for the office Friday
Wow that maple syrup event looks really cool, I wish I had known about it- it looks like they only do it once a year!
Carly – I dipped the cupcakes in the ganache while it was still very liquidy. I did it a few minutes after making the ganache and then let it set up on the cupcakes. Hope that helps.
Jen, the maple syrup experience sounds like so much fun and I’ve always wanted to do it! I wonder if it’s too late this year.
Those cupcakes look so pretty. Can you tell me what kind of liners you’re using? They stay so nice and bright.
ooo I love sugar houses!!! The tastings are always the best 🙂
Lila, I get the liners online. Here is the link for the colored ones, and I also get brown liners as well.
The cupcakes look beautiful and festive!! I love real maple syrup!
I should have a birthday more often. So good…