Kitchening: Peanut Butter & Pumpkin Brownies

A little while back I bought a Queensland blue pumpkin which was so pretty, but not to pretty to break open (with a machete). I never buy puree of pumpkin anymore. It's expensive here and pumpkins are always available, though the Queensland blue was a special find from the organic farm I sometimes order from.  Anyway. What you really want is that recipe I mentioned a little while back. Pumpkin, peanut butter, and chocolate all swirled into an slightly unusual but very hard to stop eating brownie. The recipe was on Natalie's Killer Cuisine which is a slightly ominous title.

The cool thing about this recipe is that you make a master batter, divide it into three and then flavor it with the pumpkin, PB, and chocolate.








Peanut Butter & Pumpkin Brownies


2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 Tbs vanilla extract
1 cup butter
6 oz chocolate (semisweet or any kind that melts)
1 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup peanut butter (I used some homemade pb and it worked great)
Chocolate Chips, optional

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of an electric mixer add the eggs, sugars and vanilla and mix for 4 minutes until frothy. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix for another minute, until fully combined. Set the batter aside.
2. In a large pot start to boil some water. In a heat proof bowl add the chocolate and butter and place on top of the boiling water, stir until melted, smooth and combined.
3. In another bowl combine the pumpkin, oil, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix until smooth.
4. Add peanut butter to the last bowl and microwave for 20 seconds until the peanut butter is melted.
4. Divide the batter between the three bowls. You will have a pumpkin batter, a chocolate batter and a peanut butter batter.
5. Prepare your baking dish with pan spray and/or parchment paper. I made the mistake of trying to do three layers and then swirling. The PB layer is hard to spread. I'd try half the chocolate for the bottom layer, a little of the pumpkin and then drop dollops of the rest on top and swirl with a chopstick. It might be worth trying to let it cook for 5 minutes and then swirl it. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top of the batter, optional.
6. Bake an 8×8 pan for 45 minutes, and a 9×9 pan for 40 minutes. Let rest 15 minutes before cutting.

Note: The pumpkin layer was very, very moist. Partly that might be because the Queensland pumpkin has more water content than others, but the less moist the better (esp if you're in a humid climate). But I had no complaints!