Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies

My boyfriend decided that he was going to cook dinner for me on Saturday, and so I thought I'd make a dessert that he would love to bring over. Now he absolutely loved the Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes that I had made a few weeks ago, so I wanted to definitely bake something with peanut butter involved. I found this amazing recipe for Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies while perusing The Girl Who Ate Everything and thought they would be absolutely perfect. It called for just a melted chocolate & butter topping but I thought I'd go a step further and put a Chambord chocolate ganache topping instead. Mmm.

Fudge Brownie:

1 stick butter (melted)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips/peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease pan with cooking spray or shortening. In large mixing bowl, blend butter, sugar and vanilla. Add eggs and beat well. In a small bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Gradually blend dry ingredients into wet mixture until well combined. Stir in chocolate and peanut butter chips. Spread batter in 13" x 9" pan and bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool completely.

Peanut Butter Truffle Filling:

1/2 cup butter (softened)
3/4 cup peanut butter
2 cups confectioners sugar
2 tsps milk

In medium bowl, mix filling ingredients together with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Spread mixture evenly over cooled brownie.

Chambord Chocolate Ganache:

12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
1 cup heavy cream
6 tbsp Chambord liqueur (or to taste)

Place chocolate and Chambord into a medium to large bowl. Heat heavy cream on stove on medium heat until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and immediately pour over chocolate and Chambord mixture. Stir constantly until mixture is mixed and glossy. Allow ganache to cool a little so it thickens a little before pouring on top of brownie/truffle. Pour and spread evenly over peanut butter truffle filling and put in refrigerator to set.

If you choose to, you can sprinkle or if you're obsessive like me, you can decorate the top of the brownie with the leftover chocolate and peanut butter chips after 10 minutes. Once the ganache sets completely, cut, serve, and enjoy!

After dinner, we took these out and they were absolutely decadent. These brownies contain everything that I love in a dessert... Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Chambord! I must say that I am in LOVE with how these babies turned out!