Peanut Butter Snickers Brownies

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cups Dutch-process cocoa or Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
12 Peanut Butter Snickers Squares, each cut into 4 pieces

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9" x 13" pan with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.

2. In a saucepan over low heat, melt the butter, add sugar and stir to combine. Continue heating mixture just until it's hot (about 110°F to 120°F), but don’t let it bubble. It should get a shiny appearance as you stir it. According the lovely bakers at King Arthur Flour, heating this mixture a second time dissolves more of the sugar, which will create a shiny top crust the brownies.

3. While the sugar heats a second time, crack the 4 eggs into a bowl, and beat them with an electric mixer on low speed and add in the cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder, and vanilla until the mixture is thoroughly incorporated and smooth.

4. Add the hot butter/sugar mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon until smooth.

5. Add the flour and stir until just combined.

6. Spoon half of the batter into the prepared pan. Place an even layer of Peanut Butter Snickers onto the brownie batter. Slightly push the Peanut Butter Snickers into the batter. Top with the remaining batter and smooth the batter to cover the Snickers pieces.

7. Bake the brownies for about 30 minutes. The brownies should feel set on the edges, and the center should look very moist, but not uncooked. Remove them from the oven and cool completely on a rack before cutting and serving.

Notes:

- I used Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder because I was out of Dutch-process. The results were delicious. I would not recommend using regular unsweetened cocoa.
- Not a fan of Peanut Butter Snickers? No problem. Sub in another candy bar like Almond Joy, regular Snickers, Twix, Reese Cups, etc.

Adapted from King Arthur Flour
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