Let’s just get this out of the way - I need to know where you stand on the combination of peanut butter and chocolate. FULL DISCLOSURE: it will 100% affect my opinion of you as a person and whether or not we can be close friends ;) Personally, I’ve always been team PB & chocolate. Every year at Easter I look forward to making myself miserable by consuming an embarrassing amount of Reese’s peanut butter eggs. And yes, I absolutely CAN eat just one (bag).
When I was in high school, I would invite my friends over to my house every Friday night after the football game and I would serve them Totino’s frozen pizzas (another something that I can eat just one of), chips, soft drinks, and anything else that I knew my friends might like. But I always made sure to have a bowl full of peanut butter M&Ms whether they liked them or not because *I* liked them.
I must talk about them a lot because lately my man candy has started mentioning the fact that he ate some peanut butter M&Ms earlier in the day and my voice goes up about three octaves as I shout, “REALLY?!?!?” (only dogs can hear me) and prepare to ask if he has any more that he can share, but before I get that second question out he corrects himself to just “peanut M&Ms” and then my hopes of a sweet and salty sugar rush are dashed.
So this week when I wanted a flourless comfort food type of dessert (comfort food because life is hard right now and this is how I cope. And flourless only because flour has become the new TP of COVID-19 hoarding which means I can’t find it anywhere. So now I have to conserve what little flour I do have for a cake order next week. Thanks, Obama.), I shamelessly threw myself into this peanut butter brownie recipe just to get that PB and chocolate fix that I’ve been craving. I’m so glad that I did.
Not only was this brownie super chocolatey rich, but when I bit into it for the first time to take an "artsy" photo (see below), I involuntarily paused for a moment and closed my eyes because it was such a transformative experience.
(SIDE NOTE: I still haven't gotten to try a Popeye's fried chicken sandwich and I'm really upset about it. As soon as I get back to New Orleans, I'm gonna get a few. #ScientificMethodRequiresALargeSampleSize)
And all I decorated these brownies with was a melted peanut butter drizzle, because hey - they were perfect. Honestly I was actually afraid that this peanut butter drizzle would cause an overwhelming peanut butter taste, but the chocolate was so powerful with this brownie that the light drizzle of pb didn’t cause any issues.
One day, I will teach all of you how to make one of those pastry bags out of paper. I’m putting this on my list now. It's imperative. I once had a boss who owned a praline shop in New Orleans and he was angry that my coworkers and I - all of us trained professionals from reputable pastry schools - knew how to make these pastry bags while he did not. I guess there's something to be said for having an education in your field. (Shout out to The French Pastry School for just being awesome!)
Back to these brownies. I have to mention that the best part of all of this is that I smelled like chocolate and peanut butter for SEVERAL hours after I took the pan out of the oven. I sat outside while my brownie block cooled, happily devouring my new book club book and catching whiffs of myself in the most delicious way possible. It was not a bad Friday.
My Saturday, however, wasn’t quite as awesome. I totally bombed the long run I had planned to do [I really do NOT know how I used to run at 3:00 in the afternoon in South Louisiana heat and humidity because it’s not nearly as hot or humid here and I absolutely cannot deal with it while running anymore], plus the governor extended our stay at home orders, so I made myself an aptly named cocktail to help me accept this new development.
After my cocktail, I gave myself permission to enjoy another one of my peanut butter brownies as a way to comfort myself after a Saturday filled with not so great news. (They pair exceptionally well with a glass of red wine, just FYI.) Thank goodness for the healing powers of chocolate and booze. What fun cocktails are you creating lately? I’m definitely interested and would love for you to share. Post your creations in the comments, and don't for get to tell me your thoughts on PB & chocolate!
Happy eating, y’all!
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