Ooey, Gooey Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies

Oh. My. Brownies. 

I've definitely had my share of chocolate dream bars. Homemade. Boxed. Smothered with frosting. Covered in ice cream. Straight from the oven. Straight from the bowl. But never, ever, have I had anything like this.

You'd think it was the peanut butter. We've all fallen under the spell of chocolate and peanut butter's combined force. But in this recipe, peanut butter can't take all the glory. There's also an entire jar of marshmallow cream in there and lots of sweetened condensed milk. Mix all that together and what you have is the world's best brownie, my friends.

And they're super easy thanks to an evil little Devil's food mix shortcut. *Oh the shame!* I've bashed boxed cake mixes many a time and now I'm eating my words. Delicious, chocolate peanut butter-covered words.

But guess what I do far better than bake? Rationalize. And since I’d still be adding a few things here and there, I released myself from guilt, slapped on an apron and got to work making my dreamy semi-homemade treat.

First, I whipped up the batter, which has a thick, sticky, cookie dough consistency. Then with floured hands, I patted 2/3 of it into a pan and baked it for ten minutes.

While that was baking, I mixed the sweetened condensed milk, marshmallow cream and peanut butter chips together. When the brownies were done, I spread on the marshmallow mix and topped with dollops of the remaining brownie batter.

Back into the oven it went for 20 more minutes. The recipe actually calls for 30, but an incredible amount of online reviewers insisted that 30 minutes would produce brittle brownie bricks. Twenty minutes seemed to be the magic number for everyone else, so I followed suit.

They were right! Twenty minutes later, the marshmallow was perfectly toasted, and I had produced nothing less than perfect, peanut buttery, chocolaty, milky, marshmallowy brownie bliss. 

So, should we top them with frosting? Ha! Serve them with ice cream? Paaalease. Hands down, these are the BEST brownies I've ever eaten. Two ooey-gooey thumbs way up. So they don't need a thing, aside from maybe a cold glass of milk to prevent choking. Trust me, you will definitely be stuffing your face in an unsafe manner.

Ooey-Gooey Chocolate-Peanut Butter Brownies
Cooking Light, September 2000
Yield: 24 brownies (serving size: 1 brownie)

Ingredients:
3/4  cup  fat-free sweetened condensed milk, divided
1/4  cup  butter or stick margarine, melted and cooled
1/4  cup  fat-free milk
1  (18.25-ounce) package devil's food cake mix
1  large egg white, lightly beaten
Cooking spray
1  (7-ounce) jar marshmallow creme (about 1 3/4 cups)
1/2  cup  peanut butter morsels

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine 1/4 cup condensed milk, butter, and next 3 ingredients (butter through egg white) in a bowl (batter will be very stiff). Coat bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Press two-thirds of batter into prepared pan using floured hands; pat evenly (layer will be thin).

Bake at 350° for 10 minutes. Combine 1/2 cup condensed milk and marshmallow creme in a bowl; stir in morsels. Spread marshmallow mixture evenly over brownie layer. Carefully drop remaining batter by spoonfuls over marshmallow mixture. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. (note: I strongly advise you to only bake them for about 20 minutes to keep them gooey) Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

Nutritional Information: Calories: 176 (25% from fat), Fat: 5g (sat 2.1g,mono 1.6g,poly 1.1g), Protein: 2.6g, Carbohydrate: 29.9g, Fiber: 0.8g, Cholesterol: 6mg, Iron: 0.8mg, Sodium: 212mg, Calcium: 30mg.

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