I Love Nutella

xandra73, still got that peanut butter brownie recipe? Well, I tried it using Nutella and hazelnuts instead of peanut butter/peanuts this week. It works!

"Successively Excessively Crunchy Peanut Butter Brownies"

By Marcel Desaulniers in 'Death by Chocolate Cookies'

Excessively Crunchy Peanut Butter Brownie Batter:

1 and1/2 cups unsalted peanuts
1 and1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 and 1/4 cups tightly packed brown sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 pound unsalted butter, cut into 1-ounce pieces
1/4 cup dark corn syrup
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Successively Excessive Topping:

3/4 cup heavy cream
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped into 1/4 inch pieces
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup peanut butter chips

Make the brownie:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Toast the peanuts on a baking sheet in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 10 to 12 minutes. Cool the peanuts to room temperature before chopping by hand with a cook's knife into 1/4-inch pieces. Set aside.

In a sifter, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Sift onto a large piece of wax paper and set aside until needed.

Place the light brown sugar, peanut butter, unsalted butter and the corn syrup in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle. Beat on medium for 4 minutes. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl, then beat on medium for 2 more minutes. Scrape down the bowl. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating on medium for 1 minute and scraping down the bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and beat on medium for 1 minute. Operate the mixer on low while gradually adding the sifted dry ingredients until incorporated, about 1 minute. Add 3/4 cup chopped peanuts (the remaining peanuts are for the topping) and beat on medium for 10 seconds. Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a rubber spatula to finish mixing the ingredients until thoroughly combined.

Transfer the batter to a 9X13X2 nonstick baking pan. Use a rubber spatula to spread the batter in an even layer. Place the pan in the center of the preheated oven and bake for 35 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the brownies comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to stand at room temperature for 1 hour before finishing with the topping.

Prepare the topping:

Heat the heavy cream in a 1 and 1/2 quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil. Place the semisweet chocolate in a 3 quart bowl. Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and stir with a whisk until smooth. Congratulations--you have just created ganache!

Pour the ganache over the cooled brownie. Use a cake spatula to spread the ganache evenly over the entire surface of the brownie. Combine in a 3-quart bowl the chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and the remaining 3/4 cup chopped unsalted peanuts.

Sprinkle the chips and nuts evenly over the ganache. Refrigerate the brownie for 1 hour before cutting. This will make the ganache layer firm enough to cut.

Use a serrated knife with a rounded tip to cut the brownie into 24 2-inch squares. For a clean cut, heat the blade of the knife under hot running water and wipe the blade dry before making each cut. Serve immediately or store the brownies in a tightly sealed plastic container.

Shortcuts:

Buy already dry roasted peanuts and use these. To chop, place in a mini-food processor and give it a couple of whirls. Or put in a plastic bag and crunch with a rolling pin.

Use the same semisweet chocolate chips for the chopped semisweet chocolate.

Too lazy to sift? Don't have a sifter? Just be sure your baking powder is lump free when you measure, and use a wire whisk to sift/mix dry ingredients right in the bowl. But sift if you can. It lightens and mixes the dry ingredients, and improves mixing.

Just replace the peanut butter with plenty of Nutella. Replace the peanuts with toasted, chopped hazelnuts. And replace the peanut butter chips with more chocolate chips/drops/pieces. Oh yeah, and for good measure I added a big old dollop of Nutella in the ganache topping, too.

They're nastily rich. And a bit chewier, too. If I try it again, I think I would back off on the sugar, because the Nutella is so sweet.

I already forgot/lost all the metric conversions *G*