There isn’t much better than a REALLY good batch of brownies.
At least that is what I believe.
The smell of sugar and butter baking away, and delicious chocolate in the house is a scent to die for. I just love the look on peoples faces when they can just smell the baking in the air as soon as they step into my home. For a lot of people that smell is associated with their grandmother, or mum even, and all sorts of happy times. For me personally, considering my mum never baked, it is a smell that reminds me of the fruits of my labour! It reminds me of my successes in baking and cooking new things, as well as my learnings (let’s not call them failures hey!).
But, I am not much of a baker!
Join the club!
Baking used to give me such anxiety. The precision required, the flour going everywhere, and the thought of having to clean up the buttery dishes would be enough to have me avoiding baking at all costs. Over time I grew more and more comfortable with the art and began to experiment more and more. There were plenty of failed cake recipes – recipes that were far too dry or recipes that were just refusing to form nicely. I’ve had cakes break on me, and cookies just bubble and not really bake away – it has all happened!
Today, I still will not say I am a proficient baker, but I am certainly a lot more intuitive now. Over time you will understand the concept of listening to you ingredients (it sounds totally absurd I get it but just trust me!). You will realise over time when your batter appears too runny, or when it looks like there is too much oil.
There are 2 ways to learn baking and cooking – 1. with a recipe and 2. by just having a go. I strongly believe you need both to learn. The recipes will help you understand ratios and the key components to the flavour profiles you are developing in each recipe while just having a go will encourage your creativity! This is SO important to enjoying the process and you will feel even BETTER when it’s a tweak that you have made.
What is a good recipe to start with?
I got this question quite a bit on my Q and A’s on Instagram. Baking can be pretty daunting if it’s new to you or you aren’t comfortable yet. Either way my answer to you is the humble chocolate brownie.
Why?
Brownies are a great recipe to get you learning about the chemistry of baking in a really low-stress and fuss free environment. An overbaked brownie or an under-baked brownie is still phenomenal and because brownie batter is SO rich and moist, it’s actually not as easy as you think to burn them. It’s why I rate brownies as a starter baking recipe above cookies or cake!
I know the title makes this recipe sound like it is super intense. Anything Luxe must mean a lot of effort right?
Wrong!
The beauty of this recipe is simply that little addition of peanut butter. The added effort is ALL worth it trust me.
These are definitely one of my favourite brownies to make, and this is a recipe for you to save, and make over and over and over again. Trust me. As always, share the recipe with me via Instagram at @theminiaturelife
Luxe Peanut Butter Brownies
Ingredients
- 1 egg
- 125 g caster sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 250 g crunchy peanut butter
Chocolate Brownie
- 112 g unsalted butter
- 160 g dark chocolate
- 256 g brown sugar
- 1¼ cup caster sugar
- 1½ tsp vanilla extract
- 3 eggs
- 98 g plain flour
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
Chocolate Ganache topping
- 150 g mixture of dark and milk chocolate
- 1/4 cup cream
Instructions
- Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees celcius and prepare the middle rack
- Line a baking dish with baking paper
- In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients (the plain flour, cocoa powder and salt) for the chocolate brownie
- Prepare the chocolate brownie mixture, melt the chocolate and butter in a heat-proof bowl
- To this whisk in the brown sugar, caster sugar, vanilla extract (1 1/2 tsp)and cool slightly
- Once cooled, whisk in the 3 eggs, one at a time
- Gently fold in the dry ingredients to the chocolate and eggs mixture
- Now prepare the peanut butter mixture by mixing the peanut butter, egg, caster sugar, and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract until smooth
- Add half of the chocolate brownie mixture to the prepared baking dish, followed by all of the peanut butter mixture dropped in tablespoon mounds and swirl using a spoon
- Add the remaining chocolate brownie mixture and evenly spread across
- Place the tray in the oven and bake the brownie for at least 15 minutes to 20 minutes depending on how fudgy you like your brownies
- Prepare the ganache by heating the cream either on the stove or in the microwave. Pour all the hot cream over the chocolate and cover for 5-10 minutes
- Mix the ganache mixture till smooth and set aside to cool
- Once the brownie is baked, remove from the oven and set aside to cool for at least one hour before pouring over the ganache mixture. Set this to harden either at room temperature or in the fridge
- Serve! You can heat up the brownie slightly to make i extra fudgy to eat
