Peanut Butter Cup Brownies for Lent

What’s that? You can’t eat these!? You gave up chocolate for Lent?? Wow. Well these are pretty much chocolate Peanut-Buttery awesome that’s too bad. This is the brownie recipe that is slowly making the rounds in my social circle. Serve it at an event and everyone will want the recipe. I don’t typically make a lot of desserts, and when I do they are reworked and substituted for optimum nutrition, but here we have what I like to call an exception. These are terrible for you, but sometimes you just have to bend the rules because life is meant to be happy, even at the cost of being good sometimes.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, plus more for the pan
• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 4 large eggs
• 3 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat flour)
• kosher salt (around 2 teaspoons, but I like my brownies a little salty to go with the sweet)
• 8 large peanut butter cups, cut into pieces (don’t feel limited by this, go full monty if you want)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat oven to 400 F.

2. Melt the butter and chocolate in a pan over low heat.

I feel cruel doing this.

3. Using mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until pale yellow and fluffy. Lower speed and pour in the melted chocolate and vanilla. Mix in the flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Fold in the peanut butter cups.

4. Scrape into a buttered 8-by-13-inch baking dish. Bake until the tip of knife comes out clean, about 35 minutes.

Let this be a warning to you not to make promises to God you won’t be able to keep! I stopped biting my nails and it’s going swimmingly.