I keep seeing Eton mess (traditional English dessert with fruit, merengue and whipped cream) pop up places: Instagram, Pinterest, in my emails. I think this is a sign to make it. It’s so eye catching and beautiful with the right fruit combination. Maybe it is a sign of things to come because I haven't made one yet, not ever. I DID make a special batch of brownies this week. By special I mean not your typical brownie or your stereotypical "special" brownie ;). This brownie has peanut butter, Rice Krispies, and a hardened chocolate layer. Before I get into this, it’s a Half Baked Harvest recipe, and I would do a few things differently. Also, it would be delicious with caramel! It is pretty straight forward. I made it on a whim yesterday, mostly because I needed something to blog about, also because I haven't made brownies in a while. You can start with any brownie recipe you like in a 9x13 pan. Make the recipe all the way through baking. Take your brownies out, and let them cool. While they are cooling, mix some peanut butter and a little bit of butter. This recipe called for 1 cup of peanut butter and 2 tbsp of butter. Mix them together until smooth. I definitely recommend creamy peanut butter for this dessert. Then slather it all on top of your brownies. Yup, that’s right; just lay it all out there in an even layer, then place it in the freezer to harden for about 10 minutes. While its hardening, you need to prepare the top chocolate layer, basically just melted chocolate. But this is a tricky process because you don’t want to burn the chocolate when melting, and you want it to be nice and smooth. The best way, if you aren't going to use a double boiler on the stove, is to microwave in 30 second increments, stirring at each pause until you have a nice, smooth melted chocolate. Ok. Now that your 10ish minutes are up, take that baby out of the freezer. (This next part I would do differently, but I'll tell you how at the end.) Take some Rice Krispies, the recipe calls for 1 cup, but you could use more or less; it’s personal preference. Make a nice even layer on top of your peanut butter, then pour your melted chocolate over top in a nice thick or thin layer, again personal preference.
Once again you need to put it in the freezer to harden. In about 20-30 minutes, you should have a nice, candy bar like brownie. It’s delicious! I like brownies any which way. I'm a sucker for them, but the little crunch of the Rice Krispies adds something special to this, and who doesn’t like a layer of peanut butter?
Now for my edits. I would put the Rice Krispies underneath the peanut butter, so brownies baked, Rice Krispies, peanut butter, then harden, then chocolate layer on top. I think it would be easier to spread the top layer around. I haven't tried this, so it’s very possible having them under the peanut butter, with the peanut butter not hardened yet, would take away the crispiness. I'll have to test it out.
I became frustrated trying to spread that top chocolate layer over the rice crispies because they kept moving around with the chocolate. You could definitely substitute caramel for the peanut butter with this recipe if you wanted. It would still be delicious. That’s all for this week. I'm going to have to seriously look at those Eton mess recipes though. They are tugging at my brain, and it might be time to tackle it.
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/peanut-butter-crunch-brownies/
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