Computer malfunctions, with a side of peanut butter brownies

I was going to post this yesterday, but after I wrote it all out, poised my mouse pointer over the "Publish" button, and ... nothing. My computer froze and took the post with it. To avoid killing the computer, I went to dinner to calm down. Here is try No. 2.

This was the week of the peanut butter brownies. I was making some Scout's Brownies to send to Dear Husband's dad for his birthday, and while I had the ingredients out, I decided to do some experimenting. I had some peanut butter chips around the house, which led to inspiration.

Using the Scout's Brownies as a base, I switched a few ingredients out and ended up with a pretty good recipe. It's not as sweet as some people might like, and the peanut butter is more of a smell and a hint of a taste, but I liked them a lot. So did a certain business editor at work.

1 cup unsalted butter
4 ounces peanut butter chips
3 tablespoons european style unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (high altitude, add 2 tbsp)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup good quality chocolate chips (I used a mixture of half peanut butter, half chocolate chips. I think dark chocolate chips could also be good).

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees (high altitude 375).
• Melt butter with unsweetened chocolate in a double boiler. Set aside to cool.
• Sift together cocoa, flour, baking powder and salt.
• Beat eggs until creamy, and slowly add the sugar, beating constantly.
• Add vanilla and cooled chocolate/butter mixture.
• Stir in dry ingredients until just combined.
• Spread batter in buttered 9x13 pan.
• Sprinkle chips over surface.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes or until center is set. Let cool before cutting.

Then on Saturday, I made another batch from a recipe I found online to take into work -- one of our copy editors was leaving us, and we responded with bringing tons of food for her last night. The recipe produced a peanut butter brownie very reminiscent of peanut butter cookies. The peanut butter taste was much stronger, and the brownies were moist and chewie.

Both batches went over well at work, but as I've said before, journalists will eat anything, so I don't know if I can judge by that. I prefer the first batch I made, but I think they were both good and would do well in a peanut butter fix.