football sunday funday

If I promise to give you a fabulous recipe, will you promise not to report me to the blogging lords?  Because I'm about to backlog a recipe.  Give me a break here - my recipe index is looking pretty sad.  That pancake needs some friends in there.  

In my humble opinion, these are pretty nice friends to have.  These fudgy, creamy, fun little calorie bombs will always be there when you need some comfort and companionship.  And believe me, they'll stay with you for a long time - they're loyal little suckers.  To your waistline.  

I call them peanut butter brownie cups.  I made them one week ago (so I'm really not too guilty of backlogging) for the Giants/Colts game that I watched at Morgan and Jon's.   I knew that they both love peanut butter, and I've been aching to use my giant muffin pan that I got from Home Goods over two months ago.  So when I saw Baked Perfection's version, I knew this would be a good choice.  Oh, also...please don't tell my brother in law that I made these.  I had every intention of sending him some, since he loves peanut butter/chocolate anything more than anyone I know, but sadly, I knew these would become a huge sticky mess if handled by the USPS, and that would be a tragedy.  So I have every intention of bringing him some next time I go home...but again, don't tell him, okay?  Thanks.

mmm...Reece's Pieces.  These just ooze fall goodness.  And peanut butter.

Okay, back to the the brownies - they're my adaptation of Ina Garten's Outrageous Brownie.  This is probably the best brownie I've ever had (although I still have yet to try the iconic Baked brownie - that's my next one.)  It's super fudgy, rich, and moist.  It is not kind to your diet.  But my logic is, if you're going to eat a brownie, you better do it right.  And these do not disappoint.  (Warning: it may be too rich for some of you. Even Kevan was overwhelmed by them when I made them last Superbowl, and that guy can eat sweets like I've never before known possible. But Morgan and Jon seemed to be big fans!)

When you bake the brownies, do me a favor: take out your hand beater and beat the batter for about 30 seconds.  I had to scrap my entire first pan because the flour did not mix into the batter well enough and I had disgusting clumps of flour punctuating the chocolate deliciousness.  Also, the great thing about these are that when you test them for doneness with a fork, you don't have to worry about the centers falling and looking all sad and ugly, because you're just going to fill that crater with a huge heaping mound of peanut butter.  And then more chocolate.  mmm.  Oh, and wait until the brownies are completely cooled before adding the decorations - I didn't and mine eventually melted into the peanut butter and sank to the bottom.  I guess this still left a nice surprise for my tasters, though. :)

Yeah...don't try decorating them with sprinkles like I did - this was a dumb idea. Not as cute as chocolate chips, and definitely not as fitting and festive as Reece's.

Peanut Butter Brownie Cups

Brownie recipe adapted from Ina Garten's The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Makes 18 large brownie cups

Triple Goodness Brownies:

3 sticks unsalted butter 

1 bag (11.5 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips [I use Gihardelli] 

6 ounces bittersweet or unsweetened chocolate [I use Gihardelli 60% cacao] 

5 eggs 

3 tablespoons fresh dark roasted coffee 

2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract 

2 1/4 cups sugar 

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 

1 tablespoon baking powder 

1 teaspoon salt 

11.5 ounces milk chocolate chips (optional, if you can handle it!)

Peanut Butter filling:

2 cups natural peanut butter (I like Jif)

Reece's Pieces, Peanut Butter M&Ms, or leftover milk chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Melt together the butter and chocolate in a medium bowl over simmering water. Allow to cool slightly. 
3. In a large bowl, stir (do not beat) together the eggs, coffee, vanilla, and sugar. Stir the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and allow to cool to room temperature.
4. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the cooled chocolate mixture. If you want to add the chocolate chips, toss them in a medium bowl with 1/4 cup of flour, then add them to the chocolate batter.  Mix batter well - use hand mixer if necessary.
5. Pour about 1/2 cup of batter into each muffin tin.  Bake for 10 minutes, then rap the baking sheet against the oven shelf to force the air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. Bake for about 10 more minutes, until a fork or toothpick comes out clean. 
6. Once removed from the oven, take a fork and make a quarter-sized hole in the center of each brownie cup (this should be simple, as the middle easily collapses when baking.)   Fill each center with peanut butter - about two tablespoons each.  Once completely cooled, decorate with Reese's Pieces, Peanut Butter M&Ms, or chocolate chips.

Wine Pairing: Eating these on a crisp fall day doesn't really render a sweet white compatible, so I'd suggest a lighter, juicier red in order to balance out the richness of these little suckers.  I brought a bottle of Blue Fin Petite Syrah to Morgan's, which I think is mellow and compliments these pretty well (and for only $3.99 at Trader Joe's, why argue?)  But if you insist on a dessert wine, one of my favorite Moscatos is by Bartenura.  Who am I to judge if you can handle even more sweetness?  I applaud you.