Martha's Peanut-butter Swirl Brownies

I ordered Martha Stewart's new cookie book, it finally arrived this past week. After taking it work to share it with others, I decided to bake something out of it today. Funny enough, it wasn't a cookie.....it was brownies. As I've mentioned before I'm not a big peanut-butter fan, but a friend of mine requested these hence why I tried them.

The recipe is pretty straight forward, not really anything I'd change about it. I did change the baking time in my version, that's the only adjustment I made. Martha says to bake them for 45 minutes, mine didn't cook but about 35 minutes and actually they could have come out a few minutes earlier.



I cut a small square out of the corner for myself. I couldn't resist the urge not to try them, they looked soo good! I was quite surprised I actually really liked them. For me I could've used less peanut-butter, but my boyfriend disagreed he said they were perfect as they were.



How to.....
Batter
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Filling
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a buttered 8-inch square baking pan with foil or parchment paper, allowing 2 inches to hang over sides. Butter lining (excluding overhang); set pan aside.
Make batter: Put butter and chocolates in a heatproof medium bowl set over a pan of simmering water; stir until melted. Let cool slightly. (I melted my chocolate and butter in a microwavable bowl in 30 second increments until it was melted.)
Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl, and set aside.
Whisk granulated sugar into chocolate mixture. Add eggs, and whisk until mixture is smooth. Stir in vanilla. Add flour mixture; stir until well incorporated.
Make filling: Stir together butter, confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, salt, and vanilla in a bowl until smooth.
Pour one-third of batter into prepared pan, and spread evenly with a rubber spatula. Place dollops of filling (about 1 tablespoon each) about 1 inch apart on top of batter. Drizzle remaining batter on top, and gently spread to fill pan. Place dollops of remaining filling on top.
With a butter knife, gently swirl filling into batter, running knife lengthwise and crosswise through layers. Bake until a cake tester inserted into brownies comes out with a few crumbs but is not wet, about 35-40 minutes. Let cool slightly in pan, about 15 minutes. Lift out brownies; let cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into squares.