Community Corner
Sustenance for Pools, Play Dates and Picnics
Patch food columnist Amy Currie makes peanut butter chocolate chip brownies.
Some of the best memories of summer are made right in the kitchen. Not necessarily the cooking part, but what you make for all those summer activities out of the kitchen. Half the fun of being in the great outdoors, whether it's the pool or the park is what comes out of the picnic basket. The wicker basket of yesterday has now become a monster cooler with wheels, but what's inside is as old fashioned as you'd like it to be. Who knows who invented the combination of peanut butter and chocolate, but its a flavor that's memory-worthy right along with all that fun in the sun.
Peanut butter chocolate chip brownies really are as decadent as they sound. The brownie, chewy and deeply flavorful from the peanut butter is perfectly suited for either dark or milk chocolate chips. The "natural" peanut butter which is nothing but ground peanuts can be found in any supermarket and many have a fancy machine to let you grind your own. The result, combined with brown sugar and the other baking staples, butter, eggs, flour and vanilla, produce pure joy in a pan. The density of the brownies makes them more portable than perishable, so bake a batch for now or freeze them for later and the next time you pack up some good homemade food to go, you'll be all set with a sweet memory.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Brownies
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Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Makes 20 brownies
1 stick unsalted butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup "natural" peanut butter (ingredient: peanuts!)
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
12 oz bag chocolate chips (dark or milk)
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9" x 13" baking pan.
In a bowl with an electric mixer, combine butter and sugar until smooth. Add peanut butter followed by the eggs. Add flour and salt and mix until just combined, then fold in chocolate chips.
Spread in prepared pan and bake 25-30 minutes until set and lightly golden. Cool, and cut into 20 squares by cutting 4 rows lengthwise and 5 rows crosswise.
Amy Currie is a mother of three and teacher at the Kings Cooking Studio in Short Hills. She is the author of "Memoirs of a Home Cook," "Every Great Recipe Has a Story" and her latest cookbook, "Secrets of a Home Cook." You can e-mail her at summitpatchdish@gmail.com. She writes a weekly column for the Summit Patch, which appears every Thursday at summit.patch.com.
