On December 24th, 2014 I commenced a baking a marathon. It began upon waking with a large cup of french roast coffee, snowman flannel pajamas, and two dogs following me around the kitchen hoping I was going to drop crumbs. The complete list of baked goods is as follows:
- Nutella peanut butter brownies, (BLOG BONUS: adapted recipe at the end of the post!)
- the famous cranberry butter cake I’ve reference a thousand times
- confetti cupcakes from Seriously Delish
- and finally, the Vanilla Bean Confetti Cupcakes from Joy the Baker detailed in my last post
Somehow, I managed to keep to a very strict schedule that went a little something like this:
8:00 am – Sip coffee.
8:05 am – Begin cookies.
8:15 am – Microwave coffee, dammit.
8:30 am – Realize cookies have to be refrigerated for 2 hours, sigh.
8:35 am – Spill an entire bottle of organic vanilla extract all over cookbook and counter, BUT DO NOT CRY.
8:40 – Microwave coffee, this time whilst smelling of vanilla.
9:00 – 9:25am – Brownie making and baking.
10:00 am – Take brownies out, go to the gym smelling of 10,000 vanilla beans.
11:00 am – Begin cranberry cake and interpret 3/4 cup of butter, as three sticks of butter.
11:45 am – 12:45pm – Drain butter from cake pan every ten minutes. Microwave coffee 2 more times.
1:30 pm – Complete cranberry cake, collapse unable to continue with cupcakes.
2:30 pm – Muster up energy to make cupcakes while eating as much raw cupcake batter as possible.
So, my cookbook now smells like vanilla and the cranberry cake was EXTRA buttery – but overall, minor disasters! The brownies Nutella PB Brownies are so, so delicious. The Nutella flavor doesn’t really come through, but it adds to the overall chocolatey, chewy, fudgy texture of the brownies. You could add a bit more Nutella and cut the PB if you want it to shine!
But first, check out the holiday spread…
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 12 brownies | 25 minutes |
| Cook Time |
| 20 - 25 minutes |
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A quick, easy, and delicious brownie that is the perfectly mix of chewy and fudgy! Adapted from Oven Haven by Return to Sender.
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- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup turbinado sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder (I recommend Ghirardelli over Hershey's)
- 1/4 cup peanut butter unsweetened, natural
- 2 tbsp sprinkles/decorative sugar (optional)
Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8x8 inch pan with parchment paper.
Add flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt into a medium sized bowl and whisk to combine.
Melt the butter, then stir sugar into the melted butter until well combined. Add the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. (Make sure your melted butter isn't too warm for the eggs!)
Add the dry ingredients and then mix until just combined.
Add Nutella and peanut butter to a small, microwaveable bowl and heat in the microwave until runny, about 30 seconds. Stir peanut butter and Nutella together, and then fold into brownie mix - but do not mix.
Pour batter into the pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.
After they come out of the oven - for a holiday twist - sprinkle with holiday sprinkles or sugar while still warm.
