Peanut Butter Brownies

1/2 cup peanut butter
3 TBSP butter
2 TBSP unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Combine peanut butter, butter, applesauce and sugars. Then beat in eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in most of the chocolate chips and spread in greased 9x13 pan, then sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips on top. Place in 350° F oven for 4 minutes. Remove pan from oven and run knife through batter forming a marble pattern (run zigzags top to bottom, then side to side). Bake an addition 15-20 minutes. Cool completely before serving. Makes 12 large brownies with 161 calories and 6.5 gm fat each. Freezes well.

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This was a family favorite growing up and it is still my favorite brownie. This is a great dessert when you are running short on prep time- it’s very fast to mix everything together and get it into the oven. The amount of butter has been reduced from the traditional recipe and applesauce has been added to make these brownies a little more moist. They are so chewy with a perfect balance of peanut butter and chocolate. If you don’t have applesauce on hand, you can omit the applesauce and increase the amount of butter to 1/3 cup. Thanks to Valene, my mom, for this great recipe.

Instead of spraying my pans with “Pam” spray, I buy a refillable bottle called “Misto.” Fill it with olive oil, then pump the cap to pressurize. No chemicals or propellants. It’s a great tool for just $10.00, I’ve had mine for several years and it still works great.