Peanut Butter Pumpkin Brownies

I can't believe Halloween is just weeks away.

I probably won't be celebrating much this year but I love what Halloween means. It means that a few days after that I leave for the Foodbuzz Foodblogger's Festival in San Francisco (super excited to meet my blogging friends!)

And after that it's Thanksgiving.
And after that it's Christmas.
And after that it's New Years!

I picked up a can of Libby's Pumpkin Puree at the store last night, and within an hour of being home I was already cranking it open. I have seen so many fantastic pumpkin recipes lately, and I have been ready to join along.

I had pumpkin chili and pumpkin ice cream on my mind but I wanted something a bit more hand held, easy and a bit more chocolate-y. It was a last minute decision to add peanut butter, but a good decision at that. Though this recipes calls for quite a few bowls, it's pretty easy and straight forward.

Peanut Butter Pumpkin Brownies
yield: 9-12 brownies

2 cups AP Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup Sugar
4 Eggs
1 TBS Vanilla
8 TBS Butter
6 oz Chocolate, semi sweet or milk chocolate
1 1/4 cup Pumpkin
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1/4 cup Peanut Butter
Chocolate Chips, optional

preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer add the eggs, sugars and vanilla and mix for 4 minutes until frothy. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix for another minute, until fully combined. Set the batter aside.
2. In a large pot start to boil some water. In a heat proof bowl add the chocolate and butter and place on top of the boiling water, stir until melted, smooth and combined.
3. In another bowl combine the pumpkin, oil, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix until smooth.
4. Add peanut butter to the last bowl and microwave for 20 seconds until the peanut butter is melted.
4. Divide the batter between the three bowls. You will have a pumpkin batter, a chocolate batter and a peanut butter batter.
5. Prepare your baking dish with pan spray and/or parchment paper and add the batters in alternating layers. (The PB layer will be harder to pour, I just dropped blobs of it into the pan) and use a toothpick, chopstick or knife to swirl the batters. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top of the batter, optional.
6. Bake an 8x8 pan for 45 minutes, and a 9x9 pan for 40 minutes. Let rest 15 minutes before cutting.

These brownies are delicious and rich (and cake like). I was worried that the brownies would only taste like chocolate or just pumpkin, but each of the three flavors stood out. The pumpkin layer is so moist it almost tasted like pumpkin pie. The peanut butter and chocolate brownie layers tasted just like that, peanut butter and chocolate. Trust me when I say pumpkin is a great addition to these two favorite flavors.