Hold Me Back Brownies

Oh my goodness. I am in love. I have actually created my OWN brownie recipe and I personally am obsessed with it. I love to try challenging new things, especially with baking. However, if I am going to put time and money into something, I want successful results. Who doesn't? Because of the snow last night, my evening classes and my basketball game were cancelled. So, I thought to myself, I want less dinner and more dessert. I decided this was the perfect opportunity to go out on a limb. I took a basic brownie recipe and totally modified it. I used only the measurements for the base ingredients and then went my own way. I tried to make this recipe as detailed as possible even down to the materials you need to cook them. I love details, they make cooking a breeze. These would be the perfect treat for your loved one for Valentine's Day. Billy calls them his Rub Them All Over My Face Brownies. Haha! Hope all of you have a great day. Thanks for letting me indulge myself for a few moments.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/3 cup Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1 tbsp. Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Syrup

3 tbsp. of Jif Creamy Peanut Butter

Materials:

Bowl

Saucepan

Whisk

Large Spoon

Measuring cups and spoons

Casserole Dish-I used an 8" one

Knife

Oven preheated to 350

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a saucepan on medium, allow it to melt and bubble slightly. I did not brown the butter but I did cook it slightly.

2. In a bowl, stir sugar, eggs, and vanilla together.

3. Temper butter into egg and sugar mixture. For those of you that don't know, temper means to take a small amount of the hot ingredient and stir it in the mix. Do this a little at a time to ensure that you do not scramble the eggs with the hot butter.

4. Once butter, eggs, and sugar are mixed together fully, stir in cocoa powder until fully mixed.

5. Stir in flour, salt, baking powder, and syrup.

6. I used a whisk and whipped the mix by hand and it worked well.

7. Spray a dish with Pam and pour batter into dish. Spread out evenly. Place three spoonfulls of peanut butter across the dish. Use your knife to swirl the peanut butter through the brownie mixture. Carefully drop the pan on the counter three or four times to release air bubbles and place in the oven. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until a toothpick comes out almost clean, somewhat crumbly. These do not need to be cooked all the way as they will settle and shape up after you let them rest for a few minutes.

8. Indulge.