Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies and the Mama-land




I've made these brownies three times since my last blog post.

And yes, I know it’s been awhile. About that…

So much has been going on. Stressful things, fun things, happy things, scary things… The scary/stressful are long gone now, so let’s talk about some of the other stuff.

I went to Mexico to visit my mom and took a total of two, count em, TWO pictures on my iPhone over Mother’s Day. Adam also took one of me at a palapa-covered restaurant to make a third. These are them:

Buenos dias. I'll take two of everything.

How's that for a nice day?

My friend Dan, with a mango and his iPhone.

Guys, I was too busy eating cotija cheese and onion enchiladas, fresh seafood, and carnasa tacos to stop and take pictures. Also, I drank a lot of piña coladas… They were made with fresh pineapple and coconut—how could I not?

Oh I love the motherland for so many reasons. My mama is there, and I love my mama. Everything tastes so darn good. (It’s true. I constantly annoy my friends/hubby with squinty eeehh-I-don’t-think-so faces when they invite me to Mexican restaurants in LA. Most of them will never be good enough. Don’t get me started…) And I LOVE the weather. What can I say? My ancestors worshipped the sun.

And as excited as I was to see my mom and reunite with her cooking, she asked me to bake her something “yaammi-yaammi” before coming to her house.

I am the designated baker in my family, and that is A-OK with me.

So I baked peanut butter brownies because I had made them twice before my trip and they were a SMASH hit with my brother and my friends. And trust me guys, my brother would tell me if something I baked wasn’t top-notch. (And he has.)

Guess where I got this recipe? … Surprise! Betty Crocker, again. Yeah. I have trouble branching out once I’ve found a source of baking recipes I can trust.

Stay tuned for next time when I attempt to replicate my mom’s salsa and her cotija onion enchiladas! (I wish I had a cooking show.) But for now, make these brownies for your mom. Or yourself. My mother, the cooking guru that she is, ran around our beach village sharing them with her neighbors. They even kindly dismissed that hint of an American accent I can’t ever seem to kick, they were so impressed. That should tell you something.

Hasta luego, amigos.

Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies
adapted from Bettycrocker.com
Feel free to substitute all chocolate chips for the peanut butter or butterscotch chips. If you'd like, save a couple extra chips to sprinkle over the top of the brownie batter before baking for a prettier presentation. Also, these brownies need to cool completely before cutting or else they tend to fall apart. Lastly, this recipe doubles very well baked in a 9x13 inch pan. Brownies will be thicker and will require a slightly longer bake time, so keep an eye on them for doneness.

2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 tablespoons milk
2 eggs
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup peanut butter (I used Jiff brand and doubled Betty's amount of peanut butter successfully)
1/3 cup peanut butter chips, or butterscotch chips
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease square pan, 9x9x2 inches. Mix sugars, butter, milk and eggs in medium bowl. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt.

Divide batter in half (about 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons for each half). Stir peanut butter and peanut butter chips into 1 half. Stir cocoa and chocolate chips into remaining half.

Spoon chocolate batter into pan in 8 mounds, checkerboard style. Spoon peanut butter batter between mounds of chocolate batter. Gently swirl through batters with knife for marbled design.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely about 1 hour. For 16 brownies, cut into 4 rows by 4 rows.

15 comments:

hanner said...

OMGGGGGGGGG. also, when can i go live with your mom? just wondering.

Tony B said...

I love swirled baked goods. I once made a cake that had zebra stripes

Andrea said...

Hannah, you know my mom wants you to come live with her whenever you want! But if you ever do go live with her, you have to make her those pumpkin cookies as your rent.

How could anyone NOT like swirled baked goods, right? How did you make a zebra cake? One time when I was little I tried to make a tie die cake with my mom but I ruined it by mixing the colors until they became some gross brownish green color.

Andrea said...

um I meant tie *dye*. heh.

Sayeh said...

this made me salivate. and then run straight to my betty crocker cookbook to make sure it has the recipe (which it does!) Adding a post-it with your notes now on waiting until completely cool (which i NEVER have the patience to do)! <3

Unknown said...

And double the peanut butter Rochelle! (i put that note in the igredients list.) It gives them a more peanutbuttery taste to counter the chocolate!

Sayeh said...

I just copied your whole ingredients list onto the post it. Why does my middle name show up? Weird.

ALSO - Betty Crocker failed me on chicken salad - and so did my Sonoma chicken cookbook. :(

PS - I started reading cookbooks from cover to cover since you started your blog. Thank you! <3

Andrea said...

aw! That's too bad... I've always wanted to try making Ina Garten's chicken salad Veronique. Looks really yummy and she hasn't once lead me astray! If you do try that one let me know how it goes.

I love hearing that my friends are cooking and reading cookbooks after reading this blog! Food/cooking/baking are things that consistently make me feel happy, relaxed and grounded, and it's always awesome when I hear my friends have discovered cooking has that same effect on them. It becomes addicting!

Rochelle, I think you need to make me something when you get home! I think I've only ever had our mutually perfected roast chicken!

Global Booksearch and Sales said...

Do you have any SUPERB, over the top recipes for stuffed eggs? We have some "locals" nights at a Kitchen store in Amador City. So, I am becoming the "expert" in stuffed eggs but running out of ideas. Can you help?

What a fantastic place, the smallest town in California w/150 people.
http://www.amador-city.com/

FYI, just listed a fantastic cook book - featured on our blog....

Sayeh said...

mmmm. apparently our roasted chicken is also called "lemon butt chicken" which makes me giggle because i'm 6 years old. i will make you something!! yay. :) i'll add that to the list of our august adventures.

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