Peanut Butter Brownies

We are now deep into Christmas cookie season so this recipe is just in time for your next school function or Christmas party. Every year there seems to be somewhat of an unspoken battle among Moms who bring cookies to school.  You Moms know who you are, too!  You arrive in your child's classroom with dozens of perfectly cut out gingerbread men, and sparkling iced snowflake cookies, and thumbprint cookies with just the right amount of green or red frosting in the center. Ugh! Where do you people find the time?

I admit, I am not much of a sweets baker, but I do manage to make some pretty tasty cookies on occasion like our Triple Chocolate Cookies with Peanut Butter Filling, which are a Christmas favorite.  I love to make Gingerbread Cookies, but they are all round, and if I have the time I will even frost them with some basic Royal Icing.  But, I've never had the patience to make cutout cookies.  The little gingerbread men lose their heads, the snowflakes are not symmetrical but are kind of squatty shaped and I generally end up with all round(ish) cookies that taste great but look...a bit sad.

But I'm OK with that, because I can make brownies!  Anything that I can make in one pan and cut into bars, that's a recipe for me.  Which brings me to today's Peanut Butter Brownies, which are so amazingly good.  This is a very old recipe from one of my grandmother's cookbooks.  Back in the old days they used a minimal amount of ingredients and came up with some great tasting food.

With a light peanut butter flavor and a cake-like texture, these are a nice change from the usual super-sweet chocolate brownies.  For a holiday display table dust the top of the brownies with powdered sugar and they will look nice and festive.  If you take these to a school function, (especially in Florida) tell the kids they are dusted with snowflakes and you will be the favorite Mom of the day! lol  Enjoy!!

1/4 cup  Butter
1/4 cup  Peanut Butter
1 cup  Sugar
2  Eggs, beaten
2 squares  Unsweetened Chocolate, melted
1/2 cup  Flour
1/2 tsp  Baking Powder
1/4 tsp  Salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9 X 9 inch baking pan with parchment paper and lightly grease the paper with butter;  set aside.

Use a mixer to cream the butter, peanut butter and sugar together.

Add the eggs and melted chocolate and blend until combined, then add the flour, baking powder and salt and blend again.

Spread the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 20 - 22 minutes or until the center is set.