Success comes in the form of brownies

After two failed attempts, I finally managed to bake something by myself that was, a) not burnt and b) edible. Everyone's tastebuds can stop crying now.

What I made one afternoon were a simple batch of brownies for a friend. I was so nervous throughout baking this as my failure rate has been incredibly high and seeing that these were for a friend, I had to be extra cautious. Which meant extra pressure. Perhaps pressure was what made me super pedantic (more so than usual), that I measured out everything exactly and made sure that I followed the recipe word for word (unlike this).

Peanut Butter and Nutella Brownies
(Adapted from The Craving Chronicles)

Ingredients:

• ½ cup butter, melted
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup plain flour
• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 4 tbsp (¼ cup) peanut butter (chunky or smooth)
• 4 tbsp (¼ cup) Nutella

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 8×8 inch or 7×11 inch pan with baking paper.
2. Measure the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt into a small bowl and whisk to combine.
3. Using an electric mixer, cream the sugar with the melted butter. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add in the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
4. Put the Nutella and peanut butter in a small bowl and microwave until runny. Fold into brownie mix (don't completely combine the mixture if you want visible streaks of Nutella and peanut butter to appear on the brownie crust).
5. Pour batter into pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, until top forms a crust.

Print-friendly version of recipe here.

These brownies are not like your usual rich and fudgey brownies as they are fluffier and less dense. This may have been achieved through the use of an electric mixer, which the original recipe didn't call for.

If you live in New Zealand, the taste of these brownies are similar to Farmbake's peanut brownie cookies. Which are not bad if you're a fan of those biscuits. For me, I wish it was a tad more peanut buttery, but that's just being nitpicky. I should accept these little victories for as long as they last!