Chocolate Brownies with Peanut Butter Icing

Fourth blog post today and the general consensus: we eat a lot! Haha you never really notice how much you eat until you start documenting it...holy moly! Good thing we are starting the Insanity Program soon or this blog may have to take a turn for the healthy...dundundun! No- I have nothing against healthy food. I just like food that tastes yummy (who doesn't?) and generally don't cut any corners and sacrifice taste for calories. Oh well. You will probably see one or two "healthy" recipes posted sooner or later...but if that's solely what you're searching for; I'm sorry but you're barkin' up the wrong tree my friends!

I have a MAJOR dessert problem. Seriously I almost make dessert every night. And tonight, since I didn't make anything fancy for dinner...Kraft Mac 'n' Cheese and sandwiches. Whoopdee-Doo, right? I knew I had to satisfy my urge to bake as well as my urge to eat something deliciously sweet with these yummy brownies! The original recipe is from All Recipes with chocolate icing, but peanut butter sounded wayyyy better so I made up my own peanut butter icing to go with! YUM.

Brownies:

1/2 cup butter 

1 cup white sugar

 2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8 inch square pan.

2. In a large saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, salt, and baking powder. 

3. Spread batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Do not overcook.

I was reading the comments for this recipe, and the main thing I saw people were saying was to beat these brownies by hand. Now people, one of my most prized possessions is my beautiful kitchen aid mixer! I hate to watch that $400 machine sit there and go to waste while I use a wooden spoon. BUT, every comment said that the brownies turned out more fudge-y instead of cake-y when done this way. I prefer a brownie with a fudge texture rather than cake like so I followed these recommendations. My poor kitchen aid baby!

For the frosting, I melted 3 tablespoons of butter and 1/2 cup of peanut butter in a small sauce pan. When the two butters were completely melted I poured the mixture over 1 cup of confectioners sugar, and stirred until combined. At this point I added I teaspoon of vanilla extract, and 1-2 tablespoons of milk to thin the frosting out to a consistency that it could be poured over the brownies.

I poured the icing over the top while the brownies were still pretty hot, mostly because I couldn't contain myself; but you might want to let the brownies cool off a little more before you lay on the peanut butter deliciousness.

I then stuck the pan into the refrigerator, 'cause I wanted to speed up the process of me cutting into these yummy looking brownies! Didn't last long and I cut into them while they were still gooey, which is why the picture isn't all that beautiful. But for the record, what they lack in beauty they make up for in taste! Holy moly these are sooooooo sweet, delectable, rich, and the perfect combination of chocolate and peanut butter! MMMMMMM!

Yesss this brownie is only about as big as my fork, so word to the wise, these suckers are RICH! Don't over indulge and give yourself a tummy ache! 

They are an ooey-gooey ugly mess but I promise you they will satisfy your sweet tooth in a hurry!