Since the pudding that I blogged about yesterday turned out to be a bust, or at least too embarrassing to serve to guests, I came home from work last Wednesday in need of a quick dessert. Normally I like to decide what I'm going to make and then search the internet for a really well-liked recipe for that dish. In this instance, there was no time to mess around and ponder the various recipes (I'm weird, I know). It has been awhile since I'd made brownies and I had half a bag of peanut butter chips sitting in my freezer and this recipe from Hershey's came to the rescue.I've never blended cream cheese into brownie batter before so I thought that was an interesting addition. These came out very moist and more fudgy than cakey, but not nearly as fudgy as my favorite brownies. I thought they were best when warm out of the oven, but Ryan and I each took some to our co-workers the next day and they seemed to still be well-liked a day later.
Irresistible Peanut Butter Chip Brownies
from Hershey's
Ingredients:
-1 cup butter or margarine, softened
-3 oz. cream cheese (I used 4 oz. of 1/3 less fat cream cheese)
-2 cups sugar
-3 eggs
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1 cup flour
-3/4 cup cocoa
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/4 tsp baking powder
-1 2/3 cup peanut butter chips
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a 9 x 13 baking dish.
2. Beat butter, cream cheese, and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder. Gradually add to wet mixture, beating well. Stir in peanut butter chips.
4. Pour batter into greased pan, using a spatula to spread evenly.
5. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan (mine took almost 45 minutes)
*The recipe online also includes brownie frosting, but in the interest of time, I excluded it! Besides, nothing beats the ganache from the Ghirardelli brownies!
