What better way to finish off a week than with chocolate? After I made chocolate hazelnut butter, my first thought was to make chocolate hazelnut brownies. For some reason, that sounded familiar; sure enough I looked back through the recipe pages to see that I made those last Winter. I made a few changes to the recipe this time around and took some higher quality photos to show you just how good these are.

These brownies aren’t quite cakey but aren’t quite fudgy, either; they’re in between. You can use store-bought or homemade chocolate hazelnut spread. Since the recipe doesn’t call for eggs to begin with, these are really easy to make vegan; simply swap out the butter for non-dairy margarine and use water or a non-dairy milk for the liquid.

Chocolate Hazelnut Brownies

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 16 brownies):

• 1/2 cup chocolate hazelnut spread
• 1/4 cup room temperature butter
• 3/4 cup cane sugar
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour(I used all-purpose gluten-free flour)
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup water or milk
• 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon chocolate chips(optional)
• 1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts(optional)

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
2. In a large bowl, cream the chocolate hazelnut butter, sugar, and butter together.
3. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda.
4. Pour in your liquid and mix until the batter comes together uniformly.
5. Fold in any chocolate chips or hazelnuts you might be using.
6. Grease an 8×8 baking pan and press the batter in in an even layer.
7. Bake for 28-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
8. Take out of the oven and let cool completely before cutting in.

I didn’t add hazelnuts or chocolate chips into the batter and since that felt a little boring I gave these a chocolate icing to make them a little more special. Mission accomplished.

Like I’ve said before, I’m not a big cookie fan. I’m a frosting person. I was the kid who would break apart an Oreo or maple leaf cookie, lick out the inside, and put the cookie halves back in the box. You can’t imagine how much that thrilled my parents.

I was going to fill these with a soft chocolate ganache, but since the cookies are rather unsweet on their own I thought a sweeter filling would contrast nicely and let all the flavors show. Because of that I went with my favorite kind of frosting: Buttercream. The filling is rich, sweet, and creamy adding a whole new level to the cookies.

I give a suggested recipe for the cookies to use but you can really do this with any cookie recipe. Again, this is really easy to make vegan by simply substituting a dairy-free margarine for the butter.

Peanut Butter Buttercream Sandwich Cookies

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 9 sandwich cookies):

• 1 batch peanut butter cookies
• 3 Tablespoons no-oil added peanut butter
• 3 Tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Method:

1. Cream together the peanut butter, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla extract until it makes a smooth and thick buttercream.
2. Scoop 1 tablespoon of buttercream onto the flat side of a cookie and sandwich together with an equally sized cookie. Repeat until all of the cookies and frosting are gone.

I’m sorry that the name for this recipe is such a mouthful that you’ll probably finish half the batch before you say it. More accurately I’d call these “White Chocolate Peanut Butter Graham Cracker Bars With Dark Chocolate Ganache” but with a name like that you’d have to come up for air at some point.

This recipe is made with a few of my favorite things. PB&Co.’s White Chocolate Wonderful is one of the best vegan “white chocolate” anything I’ve ever had. It actually tastes like white chocolate without any dairy. For the ganache, I used Scharffen Berger’s 70% baking chocolate, which is delicious and smooth to eat both on its own and in recipes. You can taste the quality in it and—I warn you—it’s addicting stuff.

Normally, when I make peanut butter bars I use this recipe which is naturally gluten-free. However I’ve seen a lot of peanut butter bar recipes that use graham crackers as a binding(most recently this one) and I figured if so many people are doing it there must be something to it, right? So I broke out the ol’ gluten-free graham crackers and got cooking. I didn’t expect to like these as much as I do. The earthy spices in the graham crackers pair really well with the sweet and nutty peanut butter and add a pleasantly crunchy texture.

Graham Cracker Peanut Butter Bars With Dark Chocolate Ganache

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 18 1-inch squares):

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons White Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter*
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 135g graham cracker crumbs**
• 120g 70% dark chocolate OR 1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

*You can use any peanut butter so long as it’s the no-stir kind. If you want the white chocolate flavor but don’t have White Chocolate Wonderful, use 1/2 cup of natural peanut butter mixed with 3 Tablespoons melted white chocolate.

**This is easy to make at home. Simply pulse 9 sheets of graham crackers in a food processor until it makes a smooth flour.

Method:

1. Gently melt the butter and 1/2 cup peanut butter either in the microwave or over the stove until it’s smooth and liquid.
2. Once the ingredients are melted, sift in the powdered sugar and pour in the graham cracker crumbs and mix it together until emulsified.
3. Grease a 3×8 loaf pan and press the peanut butter mixture into the pan in an even layer.
4. In the microwave or over the stove, melt together the remaining 2 Tablespoons of peanut butter and chocolate. Once they’re melted, mix them together.
5. Pour the ganache over the peanut butter layer and refrigerate until hardened(at least 30 minutes).
6. 10 minutes before serving, remove these from the refrigerator to soften. Once soft, gently cut into 1-inch squares with a sharp knife and serve. Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week.

One of my favorite things about recipes like these is that they’re so easily adaptable for different allergens. I made mine gluten-free simply by using gluten-free graham crackers. To make them vegan you can use a dairy-free margarine in place of the butter and make sure to use vegan graham crackers.

The last time I posted was 5 days ago. There’s a reason for my absence. I spent all week in Philadelphia at the Healthy Living Summit living it up with some great friends. I learned and did so many things in Philly that I can’t wait to share. But not yet. I got home late last night and my head(and bedroom floor) are currently a mess.

One thing I can share is this brownie recipe. Like the almond flour brownie recipe, I baked these and packed them up to bring to Philly and share with bloggers. Most of all I was excited to share these with Cynthia, who also has food allergies(gluten, soy, almond, hazelnut, refined sugar, and dairy). I didn’t have a recipe that avoided all of those allergens, so I made one up and said a little prayer. At first I worried they came out too cakey for my preference, but one taste and I was sold. The only question remaining was how would other people like them.

The response to these was overwhelming. As soon as I tweeted out, the brownies started selling like hotcakes(but way better because they’re brownies, duh). Cynthia really enjoyed them, as did Meghann, Julie, and too many other bloggers to count. I don’t care how good food tastes; nothing feels as good as sharing it with others. 

If you’re baking for someone with a peanut or tree nut allergy, sunflower seed butter makes a great substitute for peanut butter.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients(makes 16 brownies):

• 4.5oz unsweetened baking chocolate(I used Scharffen Berger because it’s soy-free)
• 1 3/4 cups maple syrup, divided
• 1 cup unsweetened peanut butter, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour(I used Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free all purpose flour)
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup water

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt the chocolate and whisk in 1 1/4 cup maple syrup and 1/2 cup peanut butter. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, sift together the baking powder, salt, flour, and cocoa powder. Whisk in 2 eggs and 1/3 cup of water.
4. Mix the chocolate-peanut butter mixture into flour and eggs until completely combines. Pour this into a greased 8×8 baking pan. If the batter is too thick to pour, add extra water until it’s runny but still thick.
5. Make the peanut butter part by whisking together the remaining maple syrup, peanut butter, and egg.
6. Pour the peanut butter mixture on top of the brownies and lightly swirl the two batters together a couple times, making sure not to over mix them.
7. Bake for 40 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
8. Cool completely before cutting.

Make sure to share these after making them. That way they’ll taste all the better.