When I think of butter, I think of brownies.

I love brownies with a REALLY HIGH ratio of butter to flour because I've the assumption that this makes them really dense and chocolatey (rather than cakey) :D Of course, I love a brownie even more when it has its surface cracked!

And ever since I started comparing various recipes of cookies with regards to their proportion of ingredients (YES I'M IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT COOKIE TOO!), I decided to do the same for brownies. The two must-bake things in every bakers' list. RIGHT? Right! Lots of butter. Little flour! *Mmm..

The brownie recipe I've adapted from BeckyBakes was a success! Her recipe, compared to Rick Katz's from Chocolatechic and Sue Lawrence's from Ovenhaven had lesser butter to flour ratio. I chose to baked hers first in the end because Becky's recipe had mr. Butter's blessings for the marriage of mr. CHOCOLATE & miss PEANUT BUTTER!

YUP :) It was not a mistake, which also brings me to my conclusion that no matter what brownie (&cheesecake) recipe is used, it is most important to take care that they are NOT over baked!

Becky's brownies baked in a 8x8 pan took 30-35minutes while mine, baked in a 7x10 pan took exactly 23minutes. I had too many repeated failures on brownies so I decided that I had to be really really careful this time! Everyone can make nice brownies, so watch the time and check your brownies frequently once you notice they've set & just a little runny when a cake tester is push through it :)

I left out the Reese peanut butter cups as I did not have it when I wanted to make this, so I left that out. It's still fantastic anyway!

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies
recipe from BeckyBakes

8oz semisweet chocolate chips
113g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, cubed (I use 120g)
4 tbsp cocoa powder (I use 2tbsp)
1 1/2 tbsp instant espresso powder (I omitted)
3 eggs
250g (1 1/4 cup) sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup peanut butter (I use 1/2 cup)
1/2 tsp salt
128g (1 cup) flour (I use 100g)
8 or 9 regular size Reese’s peanut butter cups, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8″ square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Microwave chocolate chips and butter in microwave for about 45 seconds. If not mostly melted, microwave for 20 more seconds. Stir until smooth. Whisk in the cocoa powder and espresso powder. Set aside.

Whisk together eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, peanut butter and salt until combined. Whisk the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture. Stir in the flour until just combined. Fold chopped Reese’s peanut butter cups into batter. Pour mixture into prepared pan, spread evenly and level the surface with a rubber spatula.

Bake approximately 35-40 minutes. Brownies will be slightly puffed and a toothpick inserted into the center should come out mostly clean. Cool to room temperature for about 2 hours. Cut into 1″ squares. Store in a tightly sealed container; preferably in the refrigerator.