How Can You Go Wrong With Chocolate and Peanut Butter?

You can't can you?  It's a classic combination that wins every single time.  There is just something so simple yet just a little bit special about these.  They aren't quite brownies and they aren't quite cake (even though the base of it is cake mix) but one thing's for sure, they are delicious.  So let's get to it, shall we?

What you'll need to recreate these:

- 1 package chocolate cake mix

- 1 package (3.9 oz) Chocolate Instant Pudding mix

- 1 stick butter, melted

- About 1/2 cup cold, whole milk

- 6 squares of Baker's semi-sweet chocolate, chopped and divided

- A couple large handfuls of dry-roasted peanuts, divided

- About a coup of creamy peanut butter (I used an all-natural kind)

To start, you'll want to get your oven pre-heated to 350.  Then you mix the cake mix, pudding mix, melted butter and milk together until everything is well blended.  Fair warning, this mixture is going to be super thick!

Next, I like to line my pans with foil when I bake so that I can easily remove what I've made from the pan and I can cut it up all nicely.  Plus, it's way easier to clean up (which is awesome because my Small Boston Kitchens is dishwasherless!) Once you've lined your pan with foil, divide the cake batter in half and using your fingers, spread one half of the batter into the bottom of the pan. Let this cook for about 10 minutes.  While that's baking, get started on chopping up 3 of the Baker's chocolate squares.  

After 10 minutes is up, take the batter out of the oven.  Let it cool for a couple of minutes and then start spreading the peanut butter over the batter.  Add 1/2 of the dry roasted peanuts and the 3 chopped squares of chocolate.  Make sure that this delicious little peanut butter and chocolate mix is spread evenly on top.  You'll want every bite to be full of flavor.

Then, place the other half of the batter on top of the peanut butter mixture.  This part get a little tricky but it's no big deal who messy it looks.  Press down on the top layer of batter and then add more peanuts and the other chopped up three squares of chocolate.  Pop it back in the oven for another 10-15 minutes and then let these babies cool.  Once they are cool, stick 'em in the freezer to help them set and get firm.  Added bonus, you can make these up a couple days in advance and then just keep them in freezer.  You can serve these as a frozen little treat (I particularly like the crunchiness of them when they are frozen) or you can take them out and let them hit room temperature before serving.  SBK Tip: Cut them into little squares while they are still frozen.  It's so much easier and you'll get a nice clean cut.