The occasion
Last weekend saw another family gathering at ours to mark my birthday, but instead of birthday cake, I fancied these peanut butter brownies from Delicious Magazine. I’ve been going through a real peanut and chocolate phase recently (old Snickers habit coming back to haunt me) and I simply couldn’t resist.
Weekend entertaining is a busy business in my household, and with the kids generally running riot, I try and prepare as much as possible in advance. Make ahead desserts are crucial if I want to keep my sanity on the day (refilling the crisps is taxing enough with a toddler hanging off your leg), and pavlova has been a recent go-to. The main event, the meringue, is made the night before leaving just a quick(ish) assembly job before serving.
How easy was it to make?
I don’t make brownies all that often and always struggle getting the right amount of wobble. After a couple of checks, I ended up keeping the brownies in for the full time, and even then, was unsure if I’d overcooked the goose or not (would love to hear from any brownie experts out there for future reference). I spent a sleepless night worrying about serving up dry brownies. They’ll think I can’t cook! At least there was ice-cream, I reminded myself. And cream, and custard (just to be on the safe side).
How did they turn out?
I needn’t have worried because they were exceptionally moist. The middle section was, if anything, a bit too soft –more like a dessert than a brownie – but overall they were incredible. Intensely chocolatey, with lovely blobs of peanut butter – and ridiculously rich. The squares seemed a bit small at first glance, but even for a greedy guts like me who can normally swallow a family sized bar of Dairy Milk in one go, I only managed two (plus a generous portion of salted caramel ice cream obvs).
Would I recommend it?
If you like chocolate and peanuts like I do, then make this recipe immediately. Just make sure you’ve got enough people to help you finish it, otherwise you may never be able to look a brownie in the eye again – there can be too much of a good thing, don’t you know.
For the full recipe go to the Delicious Magazine site here.