Peanut Butter

Sooooo...I'm just wondering.

Is everyone but GS and I on Blog-Strike over something?

To the post!

FUN FACTS ABOUT PEANUT BUTTER!

Mmm...one of the best foods you will find!

--Mr. Kellogg (who became famous because of his cereals) actually patented the first peanut butter process?

--peanuts are actually legumes, not nuts, and they originated from Brazil, and that even the Incas appreciated the delicious taste of peanut butter many centuries before us!

--the most unique property of peanut butter, though, is its high content in Resveratrol, a substance that's been shown to have very strong anti-cancer properties.

--Americans eat about 3 pounds of peanut butter per person each year, totaling about 500 million pounds...

--Two peanut farmers have been elected president of the United States: Thomas Jefferson and Jimmy Carter.

-- "Arachibutyrophobia" (pronounced I-RA-KID-BU-TI-RO-PHO-BI-A) is the fear of peanut butter getting stuck to the roof of your mouth.

-- It takes almost 850 peanuts to make an 18 oz jar of peanut butter!

Interesting, isn't it?

Good recipe I found, and would like to share.

Marbled Peanut Butter Brownies
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 scant teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup (generous) peanut butter

1 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

Chocolate Swirl: 2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Topping: ½ cup peanut butter (creamy)

½ teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Chocolate Swirl: 1 ½ to 2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate – one that melts nicely, if possible (Dove)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line an 8 inch square metal pan with parchment or better yet, Release foil.
Thoroughly stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, beat together butter, peanut butter and both sugars. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add flour mixture, stir until incorporated, then spread in pan.
Prepare chocolate swirl. Using microwave or double boiler, melt chocolate and butter. Drop by spoonfuls on top of peanut butter batter and drag a knife through the batter to marble.
Bake on center rack for 30-35 minutes or until edges appear brown and center appears set. I baked mine for 30 to avoid over-baking. Remove from oven and cool on a rack.
Meanwhile, prepare topping. Stir together peanut butter, vanilla and melted butter. Spread this mixture over the warm (not piping hot, not cool) brownies. Let cool completely.
Prepare Chocolate Swirl. Put chocolate in a heavy duty freezer bag. Microwave the bag for 30 seconds. Knead it with your hands to melt chocolate. Repeat, microwaving another 30 seconds and kneading bag, until chocolate is completely melted. Make sure there are no lumps. Snip a tiny hole in bottom corner of bag and drizzle chocolate decoratively over peanut butter.
At this point, it’s a good idea to chill the brownies to set the peanut butter and chocolate. I actually froze mine for about 20 minutes, then moved them to the refrigerator. The point, again, is to set the topping so you can slice the brownies nicely.
When cold and set, lift from pan and slice brownies in to squares or bars.
Makes 1 8 inch pan

-Recipe