Chocolate, Peanut Butter, and Monopoly

I found a recipe a while ago for Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies, but was inspired by the idea of Nanaimo bars, a Canadian treat, and decided to turn these into something similar. Normally these are made with a brownie or cookie base, a custard layer, and soft chocolate on top. I guess what I made could not be called Nanaimo bars for several reasons, one of which is that the center layer was not custard, but the baked peanut butter component of the original recipe.

To further complicate matters, I adapted the recipe for a muffin tin.

As you can see from the photo, the peanut butter layer was not as fully articulated as I would have hoped. However, I can assure you that the most important facet of any baked good (the TASTE) was, in this instance, on point.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies

Brownie layer

1/3 cup butter
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
2/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

PB layer

1/3 cup peanut butter
2 Tbsp. butter, softened.
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. flour
1 egg, beaten

Chocolate layer

4 oz. semisweet chocolate
1 Tbsp. butter

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin.
2. Melt the butter and unsweetened chocolate in a saucepan or the microwave. Let cool.
3. Beat the eggs and sugar together and add vanilla.
4. Mix the dry ingredients (flour, powder, salt) and incorporate. Lastly, add the melted chocolate mixture.
5. Combine all the elements of the peanut butter layer.
6. Spoon brownie batter into muffin tin. Then, spoon peanut butter batter onto the brownies, spreading with a spoon to create a layer in each muffin cup.
7. Bake for 10 to 14 minutes. Remove and let cool (I put them in the freezer for a couple of minutes).
8. Melt the chocolate and butter for the final layer, and spread over the cooled brownies. Place in fridge until firm. If, unlike me, you can wait that long.

Play monopoly (the General Mills version which purportedly is a collector's edition) and annoy everyone by getting chocolate on the board.

Yummm!

PS: The Pillsbury doughboy, while he did happen to mingle at times with the finished product, had no part whatsoever in the preparation of these brownies.