Fluffy Peanut Butter Nougat Chocolate Brownies

Our generous #Choctoberfest sponsors, Imperial Sugar and Rodelle, recently gifted each of us with a combination of 88 lbs. of light brown, granulated, and powdered sugar and a container of gourmet baking cocoa. All thoughts, ideas, recipes, pictures, and general silliness contained within this post are solely my own and not necessarily those of our sponsors.

These moist and decadent brownies are topped with fluffy peanut butter nougat and peanuts, before being spread with a thick heavenly chocolate icing.

I am not a serious fan of peanut butter. Unlike most people, I rarely crave it and find it easy to pass up without a second thought. However, after one lil’ ol’ bite of these decadently rich brownies, I decided that changing my stance on peanut butter was finally becoming an unavoidable possibility. I’m not sure if I’ll ever get to the point where eating peanut butter straight out of the jar is my thing, however, ultimately, I kind of think I could eat just about anything as long as it was smeared in this fluffy peanut butter nougat. It’s light, airy, creamy, and totally drool-worthy. And I’m not talking cute little drool here, I’m talking big ol’ rivers of gushing slobber. So for those of you put off by the number of ingredients or steps involved in making these mouth-watering brownies, please for the love of all that is holy, think again. Each step is fairly simple, allowing you to make these brownies from start to finish in under an hour. That’s less than one hour until your mouth will be singing its praises through saliva, drool, and lip-smacking pools of frothy slobber.

Ingredients:

Brownies:

• 1 Cup Unsalted Butter
• 1 (3.5-oz) Milk Chocolate Bar
• 1/2 Teaspoon Espresso Powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 1 Cup Imperial Granulated Sugar
• 1 Cup Imperial Light Brown Sugar
• 4 Eggs
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
• 2/3 Cup Rodelle Baking Cocoa
• 1 Cup All-Purpose Flour

Nougat:

• 1 Cup Imperial Granulated Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter
• 1/4 Cup Evaporated Milk
• 1 (7-oz.) Container Marshmallow Creme
• 1/4 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
• 1 Cup Roasted & Salted Peanuts

Icing:

• 1 (10-oz.) Bag Miniature Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 1/2 Cup Evaporated Milk
• Sprinkles

Directions:

Brownies:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place the butter, chocolate bar, espresso powder, and kosher salt in a medium saucepan over low heat. Cook, whisking frequently until the chocolate and butter have melted together; set aside.
3. On medium speed, cream the sugars, eggs, and vanilla together for 3 minutes.
4. Add the melted chocolate and butter mixture to the egg and sugar mixture; mix for 2 minutes on medium speed.
5. Using a silicone spatula, mix the cocoa into the batter, followed by the flour. Mix until just combined.
6. Evenly pour the batter into a parchment paper-lined 9×13 cake pan.
7. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until a knife or toothpick comes out clean.

Nougat:

1. Place the sugar, butter, and evaporated milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat; cook until melted.
2. Increase the heat to high and boil for 5 minutes, whisking constantly.
3. Remove from heat and immediately whisk in the marshmallow creme.
4. Whisk in the peanut butter and then quickly spread the mixture over the brownies.
5. Immediately top with the peanuts, pressing them into the nougat slightly with the palm of your hand.

Icing:

1. In a small saucepan, over medium heat, whisk together the chocolate chips and the evaporated milk until smooth.
2. Evenly spread the chocolate mixture over the brownies and then top with sprinkles.

Suggestions:

• You can replace the milk chocolate bar in the brownies with whatever type of chocolate you have on hand.
• Work quickly with the nougat. It will stiffen quite quickly. I suggest you have all of your nougat ingredients opened and measured out ahead of time.
• Make sure to use evaporated milk in this recipe and not condensed milk.
• These brownies will be much easier to cut if you allow them to set for several hours to cool before attempting to cut them.
• The nougat may come unstuck from these brownies when cutting them. Be careful, cut slowly and gently, and you shouldn’t have too much of a problem. If all else fails, simply smoosh the two layers gently back together again.

Improvements:

• If you don’t have any sprinkles on hand, top the chocolate icing with finely chopped peanuts instead of putting peanuts on top of the nougat.
• Add a 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla to the icing.
• Sprinkle the top of the brownies with a little bit of finely ground sea salt.
• Click HERE to find out more about #Choctoberfest and how you can enter to win over $450 in great prizes including a sugar prize pack from Imperial Sugar.
• For an extra chance to win a year’s worth of sugar from Imperial Sugar, make sure to enter their Scary Scramble Contest.
• Click HERE to find out more information about Rodelle Gourmet Baking Cocoa.
• CLICK HERE to check out all of our great Choctoberfest recipes.

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Make sure to check out some of the other great #Choctoberfest recipes below.