Fudgy Macadamia and Peanut Butter Brownies



No matter what sort of day you're having, it can only be made better with a brownie. Take my day for instance.  I don't want to sound smug, but I've seriously been kicking some goals today. I've eaten a bowl of delicious banana, date, cinnamon and maple syrup porridge for breakfast before smashing out a 5k run and an hour of weight training. I did my grocery shopping in record time. My husband came home from work and made me lunch. I'm now halfway through cooking a pulled pork shoulder for dinner. I've prepped the dough for some mini brioche buns to have with our pulled pork. And while achieving all of that, I've solved a few of the worlds (okay, my) problems and folded the laundry. See? Kicking goals. And just when I thought it couldn't get any better, I made coffee and sunk my teeth into one of these brownies... and the clouds parted and the angels sang. Lord only knows how good one of these would taste on a crappy day. Stay tuned. I'm sure I'll have one of those soon and I'll let you know the results.




Fudgy Macadamia and Peanut Butter Brownies
slightly adapted from here
Makes 18

50g (1/3 cup) plain flour
40g (1/3 cup) cocoa powder, plus extra for dusting
Pinch of fine sea salt
300g (10 1/2 oz) dark chocolate, chopped
150g (5 oz) unsalted butter, cut into cubes
300g (1 1/3 cups) brown sugar
4 eggs
125g (1/2 cup) mascarpone
100g (3 1/2 oz) macadamia nuts
12 tablespoons smooth peanut butter

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Grease and line a 20 x 30 x 4 cm (8 x 12 x 1 1/2 inch) baking pan with baking paper. Set aside.

Sift the flour, cocoa and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

Put the chocolate and butter into a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a an of simmering water. Don't let the bowl touch the water. Stir until melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool for about 10 minutes.

Add the brown sugar to the melted chocolate, then add the eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each addition. Add the flour and stir until combined. Finally, add the mascarpone and macadamias through the batter.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it out to the corner and edges. Using a small ice cream scoop, place 12 dollops of peanut butter evenly over the mixture. Wet a finger and push the mounds of peanut butter into the batter. Use a palette knife to smooth the surface and bake for 30 minutes. The mixture should be just set at the edges and still be a little squidgy in the centre. Leave to cool completely in the pan.

Once cooled, remove from the pan, dust with cocoa powder and slice.