Dangerously Delicious

Eric's mom has this great recipe for peanut butter brownies that Eric absolutely loves.  I'd never made them or even eaten them up until two days ago.  I've asked him to get the recipe for me a few times and he finally did when he couldn't live without the taste of them one day longer.  So I sent him to the store to pick up the few ingredients I didn't have and then I whipped up the batter.  They were very simple to prepare and only take 10 minutes in the oven.  The hard part was waiting for them to cool enough for us to layer on some more peanut butter.  

 Once they were slathered with enough peanut butter to satisfy me I attempted to make the frosting.  I added too much milk at first and not enough powdered sugar and I was getting frustrated. I'm not very good at frostings.  We had company come over and I welcomed the distraction as I was about to call it quits on the frosting and just figure something else out but Eric wouldn't give up.  "The frosting is what makes the brownies good" he told me and he set to work trying to make the frosting thicken up.  When he ran out of powdered sugar and we realized there was no thickening the frosting without it we ran to the store to pick some more up.  It was 10:30 at night by this time and I was very ready for the brownie fiasco to be over.  We came home, added a lot more powdered sugar and the frosting turned out wonderfully, even though we have enough of it to make about four more batches. 

We frosted the brownies, let them set in the freezer for about one minute, (we couldn't wait any longer) cut them up and each had a large bar, with the required milk to wash it all down with, of course.  They were great! I couldn't believe that I hadn't ever had them before and that I'd waited so long to make them.

Here is the recipe:

Peanut Butter Brownies

• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. white sugar
• 1/2 c. shortening
• 1/3 c. smooth and creamy peanut butter
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

 Cream the sugars and the shortening.  Add the remaining ingredients into the mix and stir until combined.  Add in 1 c. flour and 1 c. oats.  Pour into a lightly greased pan. (I used a 9x9 inch pan and they turned out soft and chey, if you want a thinner browning you can use a bigger pan but the brownies may turn out harder).  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.  Let cool completely.  Spread as much peanut butter over the cool brownies as you want, just make sure they are completely cool or the peanut butter will melt into them.  Then spread the frosting over the peanut butter.  Eric's mom's frosting recipe doesn't have exact measurements so you just have to experiment until you get it right.  You will need:

• evaporated milk
• melted butter
• powdered sugar
• cocoa powder

I hope they turn out well for you and that your kitchen doesn't turn out to be as big of a disaster area as mine did.