Pb&J Brownies

( Such majesty in one picture; the Proud, tall, tower of regal brownies)

Confession time: I’ve been eating brownies with peanut butter for breakfast practically every day…. For like 2 weeks… XD lol I have some ACE brownie recipes that I make almost every Sunday just so I can wake up and have a chocolatey brownie slice alongside richly brewed coffee ( Yes I reference coffee a lot, I’m slightly addicted). Recently I have been too tired in the mornings to cook so these do the trick and also provide awesome snacks throughout the day.

Predictably I grew tired of the drab plain Jane brownies and decided to stretch my culinary muscles this week. An idea for swirling the creamy essence of peanut butter throughout the dense chocolate cake started running through my mind. And wouldn’t it be spectacular if the brownies had a raspberry hint to them? Why yes I think it would!

Enter: Peanut butter and Jelly Brownies!

Super moist fudgy brownies with a creamy peanut butter protein river twirling throughout and a hint of raspberry peeking through the intense chocolate! The flavors came together beautifully and I already made this recipe twice (For taste testing purposes only of course ;D)

As usual this recipe is supah dupah healthy with an added vitamin A bonus!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Brownies

Brownies:

1/4C (60g) unsweetened applesauce

3tbs (46g) liquid eggwhites

1/4C Raspberry sf syrup*

1tsp Raspberry extract

½ a can black beans drained and rinsed

4tbs (20g) coco powder

1/3C (40g) Oat flour

1tsp baking powder

1tsp baking soda

Method:

In a food processor process all ingredients until smooth.

**Optional: Fold in fresh raspberries, strawberries, or dried goji berries!

Filling:

1/4C (60g) pumpkin puree

2tbs (12g) powdered peanut butter*

1/4C almond milk

1tbs+1tsp Jiff whips salted caramel*

2tbs sf caramel syrup*

3tbs (12g) peanut butter protein powder*

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.

Finale:

Spray a 8×8 baking dish and line with parchment paper. To layer the batters begin by pouring a thin layer of the brownies batter over the bottom of the dish. You want to cover the bottom but with no more than a 1cm thick layer. Then proceed to drizzle the peanut butter filling over the bottom layer (find your inner artist, get fancy).

Since there is not a ton of batter, after I have established these first two layers I finish by pouring the remaining batter over the peanut butter swirls, JUST the swirls. Then more swirls, then more brownie batter, etc.. Until you have no batter or pb filling left. It’s okay for some of the swirls to show through the top J

**Optional: Swirl in some strawberry or raspberry jam for extra pb&j effect 😉

Place in the oven and bake at 350deg for 20-25min. The brownies are done when no jiggling occurs when you shake the pan.

( I mean just look at that swirl… I could marry it. Or eat it. Either way)

Allow time to cool, these puppies will be moist and delicate!!! Slice and serve!

Nutrition for 1/6 of recipe: 120calories, 3.3g Fat, 14.3g Carb, 8.2g Protein

*Recipe Notes:

The raspberry syrup I am using is once again my good friend Jordan’s skinny syrups found at home goods or koahls for only $3.99 a bottle! I’m serious you NEED these. In the event of needing a substitution you could use lite maple syrup or vanilla sf coffee syrup (this goes for the caramel syrup as well) .This will of course detract from the “jam” flavor. I suggest adding extra raspberry extract and even a tbs of strawberry or raspberry jam

You can use any powdered peanut butter (sticking to the same 12gs) however I highly recommend bell plantation pb2 for flavor. I have tried pb lean, just great stuff pb and tru nut and still stick to old faithful pb2.

For the peanut butter in the filling I used jiff whips because the higher processed peanut butter imparted a stronger flavor in a smaller quantity. It also has lower fat than normal peanut butter and therefore offers better macros. This was just my preference, swap in other peanut butters but know the nutrition will be altered slightly.

For the protein powder I used metabolic nutrition pb whey. Peanut butter flavor wise it is my favorite protein powder I have tried so far so I highly recommend it for baking and use in general. However, as usual, sub with another pb whey or vanilla but prepare for flavor and or nutrition changes.

• breakfast
• dessert
• healthy