Peanut Butter Brownies

I was originally planning on making apple cake, because it's finally apple season. But it was warmer yesterday than I expected it to be, so I didn't really want to leave the oven on for most of an hour. I've been intending to make peanut butter cookies, and had peanut butter in the house, but the only recipe I liked called for nuts as well as peanut butter, and I didn't have any. But Tish Boyle's Good Cookie does have a nice sounding peanut butter brownie recipe, though the brownie part doesn't sound as good as my usual (from Alice Medrich's Bittersweet). So I put the bits and pieces together from a few sources, replacing some of the white sugar with brown because it seemed that the nuts would go well with the darker sugar flavor, and they were pretty much exactly what I wanted. They're surprisingly richer than the plain brownies; one is plenty for dessert, and two left me too full for more. (And yes, they bake for 45 minutes — although at a low temperature — so I could have just made my apple cake. Next time...)

Peanut Butter Brownies
makes 16 brownies

Peanut butter layer:
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1/3 cup white sugar
1 egg
(1/2 tsp salt because we use Trader Joe's unsalted peanut butter)

Brownie layer:
6 1/2 oz 70% chocolate
7 tbsp butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup flour

Line a 8" square pan with aluminum foil, and preheat the oven to 325. (I usually bake brownies at a higher temp, but I didn't want to overcook the peanut butter layer.)

Mix the peanut butter, sugar, and egg in a power mixer on medium speed until combined. Press into the bottom of the pan.

Melt the chocolate and the butter in a bowl in the microwave (50% power for 2 minutes, repeat for another minute if there are large chunks, stir until melted). Stir in the sugar. Add eggs one at a time, mixing until combined. Add the vanilla, and stir again. Add the flour, and stir until the edges start to pull away from the bowl (about one minute). Spread the brownie mix over the peanut butter base, and bake for about 45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out mostly clean.