Brownies to Save the Day

Last weekend I was struggling with the snow, and in turn, Steve was struggling with me. I was bound and determined not to leave the house on Saturday. I was in for the day and night, and that was that. Steve, on the other hand wanted to go out for dinner at one of the great Middle Eastern joints in our neighborhood. Date nights are great and all, but nothing makes me feel less attractive than trudging around in my snow boots with a red nose.

We went back and forth on options, where we could go, what we could pick up as take out, what could be delivered. Finally, I found that I had won the battle of the dinner! Spicy Thai it would be. After almost two hours spent debating, we weren't prepared for all of the hold ups once we had finally decided. However, every Thai place that we wanted to try kindly told us that they "didn't deliver that far west." Hmph. So we called our old stand by that we knew would deliver to us. Which would have been fine...if they had decided to answer their phone!

Midly worried that the one decent Thai place that doesn't consider us to be inconveniently located might have been shut down (therefore making them not quite as decent as we thought), we were still stuck, now three hours into our predicament and no closer to dinner.

I went and heated up leftovers, abandoning the effort. Steve followed suit and made some oatmeal. Finishing up our sad Saturday night dinner while watching the tacky holiday decorations for sale on QVC, we decided we needed a little pick-me-up.

Baking Bites yet again saves the day with her Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownies. I could have eaten that entire bowl of batter, but I restrained myself and decided to bake it instead. Phenomenal! There's still nothing better to me than peanutbutter and chocolate and these brownies give you the perfect dose of both. And the reassurance that even if Steve and I can't decide on where or what to eat, he's still by my side to gobble down brownies on a Saturday night.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownies
Recipe by Baking Bites

1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup all pupose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F and line a 9×9-in square pan with aluminum foil. Lightly grease the foil with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and peanut butter until smooth, then beat in sugar until light and fluffy. Add in eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla.
In a small bowl, sift together cocoa, flour, salt and baking powder. Mix in to peanut butter mixture at a low speed, stopping when just combined. Stir in chocolate chips and scrape batter into pan, spreading into an even layer.
Bake for 26-29 minutes, until set. Edges should feel slightly firm and the center should not look wet or jiggly.
Cool on a wire rack and lit brownies out with the foil when ready to slice. Makes 16 brownies.