Since everyone is social distancing and staying home to avoid contracting and spreading COVID-19, now is a great time to get creative in the kitchen and spend more time cooking, baking, and eating yummy homemade food.
Personally, I’ve been craving desserts, which is kind of unusual for me, but with so much time on my hands I’ve been surrendering to my sweet tooth by making cookies, apple pie, and this brownie recipe I discovered! It’s incredibly easy and makes delicious, moist brownies. Of course, I couldn’t stop there. I love a good chocolate and peanut butter combo, so I decided to try my hand at making peanut butter frosting for the first time ever. The result? Well, see the video below – it stars the brownies, my rescue dog Stella, and the musical talents of my boyfriend!
It’s hard to get this recipe wrong and you will not be disappointed with the end result. Both times I have made these brownies, they did not last more than two days! They were gobbled up by my boyfriend and his parents (and well, me…!) The recipe is in the video, but I have also included the written recipe after the video.
- For the brownies:
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 cups white sugar
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- For the frosting:
- 1 cup unsalted vegan butter softened to room temperature
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2-5 tablespoons non-dairy milk (add more milk if frosting is too thick)
- For the brownies: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
- Pour in water, vegetable oil and vanilla; mix until well blended.
- Spread evenly in a 9x13 inch baking pan.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until the top is no longer shiny. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting into squares.
- For the frosting: Combine butter and peanut butter in a large bowl and use an electric mixer to beat until creamy and well-combined.
- With mixer on low-speed, gradually add powdered sugar (1/3 cup at a time) until completely combined. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl so all ingredients are well-combined.
- Stir in vanilla extract and salt.
- With mixer on low-speed, add milk and stir until well-combined. Gradually increase speed to high and beat for 30 seconds.
- Spread frosting onto completely cooled brownies.
Here’s a link to the original brownie recipe and a link to the original frosting recipe which I turned from non-vegan into vegan! The brownie recipes says it yields 16 brownies, and although I didn’t count exactly how many I ended up with in my batch, I’m pretty it was closer to 20!
Enjoy 🙂
Jillian
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