key lime meltaways

I remember years ago (dare I say decades?) when I had my first taste of a rum meltaway cookie.
What a great texture, great flavor--and it bothered me to no end what made it so smooth.
Since I was still fairly new at the in's and out's of baking and cooking, I would have never guessed it was cornstarch.
Funny because back then I always thought it was something unique, wild, a rare faraway spice or herb. HA!
Here it was just cornstarch.
Recently, I had another "ah ha baking moment" find when I discovered how to get the perfect popover: cold oven.
And boy does it work. (I learned this from chef john over at Food Wishes).
The best part of learning and creating new recipes, all the new tips and tricks you find along the way; makes you eager to continue on learning all you can in cooking and baking. And for me, helps build confidence in the kitchen.

What are your baking "ah ha" moments?


Aren't these so pretty?
Make sure to decorate the chocolate dipped edges with lime zest.
I completely forgot. But trust me when I say the lime zest green color looks stunning against the white chocolate.


Every great recipe starts with lots of butter doesn't it?






See my tips on tempering the ever difficult white chocolate in the recipe.
Low heat and constant stirring for melting chocolates perfectly.
Remember: you can easily fixed undermelted, but cannot fix overmelted, so go slow.


Decorate the edges with lime zest to make them even more stunning!
(I completely forgot this part)



key lime melt-aways with white chocolate
print recipe

13 TB unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup powdered sugar
Grated zest of 2 regular limes (I used about 2 TB zest, use whatever your lime zest taste level is at)
2 TB of fresh key lime juice (regular will work too)
½ TB pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups + 2 TB all-purpose flour
2 TB cornstarch
1/4 ts salt

white chocolate dipping:
1 and ¾ cups good quality white chocolate chips
a couple dashes of heavy cream

extra lime zest for sprinkling (I forgot this part)

Cook Notes:
I used key limes for the juice part and regular limes for the zest. The key lime juice is much sweeter and tastier, and the skin of the key lime isn’t that great so that’s why I used regular limes for zest.
Keep in mind the thinner you cut/slice the cookies the more fragile they become, so I stuck with ½ inch thick. If you’re not dipping them in white chocolate then go ahead make them thinner if desired.
The tops of the cookies do not brown, but the bottoms will—you should not bake cookies past the 15 minute mark.

In a medium bowl, sift the flour, cornstarch, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl beat butter and sugar on medium high speed until light and fluffy. Add the lime juice, zest and vanilla and beat the mixture until fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add the flour mixer to the butter. Mix until just combined—once you add the flour do not overmix.
Ready a two 8"x12" pieces of waxed paper or parchment. Divide the dough into two equal portions and roll into two 1.25" diameter logs. Wrap the dough tightly in the waxed paper or parchment. Chill for at least an hour before baking.

Heat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment. Slice the cookies ½ -inch thick and place on the baking sheet.
Bake for 15 minutes, rotating halfway through baking, until the bottoms take on some color. The tops of the cookies will not brown, but the bottoms will.
Let cookies cool completely before dipping.
Temper the white chocolate chips with the heavy cream over a double boiler or whatever method you prefer and works. I do not recommend melting white chocolate in the microwave.
What I do is heat up (barely warm means heat up in this case), over very low heat, the heavy cream, in a small heavy duty sauce pan; add in the white chocolate chips and keep stirring with a spatula. As I’m stirring I take the pan on and off the heat and look for almost all the chips to be dissolved then I take it off heat. Keep stirring till I get a nice glossy, almost thin, taffy like texture. Best thing to do if you’re not sure about tempering white chocolate? Keep stirring and take off heat frequently. You can easily fixed undermelted, but cannot fix overmelted.
Dip one end of the cooled cookies in the white chocolate, place on wire cooling rack to let chocolate harden and excess drip off. Sprinkle them with lime zest for decorations if desired.

Should make 25-35 cookies depending on how thick/thin you slice them.

quarter pound pb and jelly cookies

What was it, a year ago when I was on my quarter pound cookie obsession?
And vowed that a peanut butter version was next?
I finally got around to doing just that.
Actually I'm kind of glad I waited so long--it made me think of adding a jelly center to the cookie.
Genius right?
I mean if you're going to have a 1/4 pound peanut butter cookie then one should have a touch of jelly in it.
They are almost a 1/4 pound cookie and definitely each cookie is a meal in of itself.



I was going to write a story up along with these cookies, but I don't think anyone is going to read it.
Be honest, I know I wouldn't; I would skip right to the recipe and see if I have the ingredients to make these cookies tonight.
But that's just me.... :-)



Fairly easy to make.
You just have to make a good well in the middle of the cookie for the jam.
Then make sure the edges are well sealed.













Easy right?


quarter pound peanut butter & jelly cookies
print recipe

8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold & grated (use European butter for best results)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 ts vanilla
1 cup chunky peanut butter (you can use creamy)
3 ¼ cups all purpose flour
3/4 ts sea salt
1 and ¼ ts baking powder
½ ts baking soda

¼ cup more/less of grape jelly (or whatever jelly your prefer)
coarse sugar for rolling the dough balls in

Cook notes:
Why use European butter? It has a higher fat content and lends a better taste/texture to this kind of thick cookie.
I highly suggest rolling your cookie dough balls in coarse sugar before baking. I forgot this step and it was sorely missed.
Keep in mind this is a very dry dough, and is a little hard to mix, so I used my hands for easier mixing.
Keep this dough cold. If you work in hot kitchen, just keep placing it in the fridge to firm up.

In a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer (or by hand, which I prefer), beat butter and both sugars just until creamy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat just until incorporated. Then add in the peanut butter.
In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. When thoroughly mixed, add to the wet batter and stir just until blended. Do NOT overmix at this point. Cover bowl with plastic wrap (really well, we cannot have air getting into this) and chill for a few hours or overnight.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees; divide dough into 12 – 13 big 4 oz lumps. Cut doughball in half, using thumb press down on one side making a little cup/indentation to place the jelly inside. Place a teaspoon or less of jelly in there. Take other half of cookie dough ball, place on top, crimp edges to seal up nicely (see photos).
Once cookie dough ball is stuffed, keep it in a giant golfball shape size; do not press flat!
Roll cookies in coarse sugar.
Place on parchment lined cookie sheets.
If it’s hot in your kitchen you might want to chill the dough balls before baking (chill 20 minutes)
Put the cookies in a 375 degree oven and set timer for 8 minutes. When timer rings, reduce oven temp to 365 degrees, rotate pans and bake another 9-10 minutes.
You know cookies are done when the middle of the cookie appear set. Cookies will still be slightly soft.
Do not look for golden brown edges—this means you overbaked them; only the bottoms should be golden brown. This is a dry cookie and can overbake fast. The cookies will crinkle a bit this is normal.

Makes 12-13 cookies

peanut butter sandwich cookies filled w/ bacon-cream cheese

Peanut butter + bacon, always a winning combo no matter what form it's in. It could be in a cake, pie, sandwich, pancake, muffin, cookie, candy, cereal, parfait, etc...possibilities are endless. But the outcome is always positive. I don't think I've ever seen a bad creation made with pb & bacon. Think about it.....
I've made the peanut butter and bacon cookies, this time wanted to up the ante a bit by adding a creamy filling between two peanut butter cookies.
Don't have to tell you how decadent these are?
They are super easy to create too--just a matter of baking the cookies and whipping up the filling, then assemble.










Ready to make them? Easy peasy I promise.

peanut butter cookie sandwiches filled w/ bacon-cream cheese
print recipe

pb cookies:
1 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour
2 ts of baking soda
½ ts baking powder
1 ts salt
1 cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
1 ts pure vanilla extract
1 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter (I used chunky)

cookie filling:
½ stick butter (1/2 cup), softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
¾ - 1 cup confectioners sugar
giant pinch of salt
¼ cup + cooked bacon, chopped

Cook notes: you should have “just” enough filling or not enough for two sandwiches; If you use the filling moderately.

Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl, set aside
In the bowl of an electric mixer or by hand, (I don’t have a mixer so I do this by hand or with my hands) beat the butter and sugars together until creamy/well blended.
Scrape down the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated.
Add in the vanilla and peanut butter, combine.
Next add in half of the flour mixture, and mix till just combined, then add in the remaining flour mixture and mix till just combined. (Remember: Once you start to add in the flour you don’t want to overmix).
(If you wanted to add in chips, this would be the time—I did not.)
Cover the bowl well and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. (I left mine overnight, it was fine).
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Drop the dough by rounded oversized-tablespoons (or medium ice cream scoop) onto the prepared baking sheets, at least 2 inches apart.
Do not press down, leave them as balls.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until the tops of the cookies just begin to brown. Let these cool completely before filling.

For the cookie filling:
Using a handheld mixer or regular mixer, beat the softened butter, cream cheese until just mixed; add in the ¾ cup of confectioners sugar., along with a giant pinch of salt. Do a taste test and see if it’s sweet enough for you, if not add in another ¼ cup until you are happy.
By hand, add in the chopped bacon bits. Place in bowl, cover and let set up in fridge for a bit.
When ready to assemble sandwich cookies, simply place a tablespoon +/- of filling on one side of a cookie (flat side/bottom), spread a bit, then place another cookie on top (flat side/bottom).
I would store these in the fridge, not at room temp.
Should make about 15-18 sandwich cookies.

cookie butter-peanut butter cookies

Something like months (and more months) before I finally broke down and bought a jar of cookie butter? I was way behind. Had no clue with the heck this stuff was. Honestly? I thought it was like an applesauce type butter--all gooey and overly sweet with not much to do with it.
Then one day, while at Trader Joe's, they had these chocolate bars stuffed with the cookie butter. That filling was so good! It was nothing like I thought it would be. It was like someone had grinded up peanut butter with a bunch of cinnamon cookies, and added a hint of salt. Super tasty and cheers to the person (or company) that started this craze. The uses for this butter are endless.....trust me I have more recipes coming.

So with these cookies I used the base recipe, my 'go-to' recipe for the 'almost flourless' peanut butter cookies and used peanut flour instead. If you can't find peanut flour, you can use regular flour, just not as much.
I went ahead and drizzled some melted chocolate on the cookies, but in all honesty, they didn't need them--they were so good on their own. Tasty little creatures.





cookie butter-peanut butter
print recipe

1 cup all-natural chunky or all natural smooth peanut butter (oily is OK)
¾ cup cookie butter
½ cup dark brown sugar
1 large egg, room temp
1 ts baking soda
3 TB peanut flour if no peanut flour then use 2 ½ TB of flour
1 ts sea salt

semisweet chocolate chips, melted for drizzling over cookie tops (optional)

Cook notes:
This recipe makes a small batch (about 12-15), if you want more, just double all the ingredients. I used semisweet chocolate instead of milk chocolate. Milk chocolate was just too sweet.
The cookies have to sit in fridge for at least an hour to come together; don’t let them sit in fridge overnight as they become very dry. Since this is a dry cookie it will be a tiny bit hard to roll in balls. Also they are delicate and tend to break apart if you make them too big. So try not to make the dough balls bigger than a tablespoon size.

In a small bowl add the peanut flour, baking soda, and salt; mix, set aside.
In a small bowl crack egg open and beat.
In a mixer or by hand, combine peanut butter, cookie butter and dark brown sugar until well combined.
Add egg to the cookie mixture, mix well.
Add in the flour mixture, by sprinkling it over the cookie dough, not just depositing it in one large dump. Mix till just combined.
Cover bowl and let it sit in fridge for about an hour. Do not let this sit overnight as the dough becomes very dry!
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll into tablespoon (or smaller) sized balls and place on non-stick cookie sheets or greased cookie sheets.
Bake for 10 minutes, until lightly browned. These cook up very fast, so I really wouldn’t go past the 10-12 minute mark. Cool on a baking sheet for a while. The cookies are very fragile and tend to break if you take them off the cookie sheet too early.
When cookies are completely cooled and harden, temper some semisweet chocolate and drizzle over cookies—optional of course.
Should make about 12-15 cookies (small batch). If you want more, just double all the ingredients.

double chocolate-coconut cookies

There are days when I do not want to wait for the darn butter to come to room temp. I just want to melt it, throw it in some double chocolate cookie dough, bake, and devour!
This post is the result of one of those days.
I just love a chocolate cookie that an overload of chocolate--like give me a chocolate overload buzz kind of cookie. Add that to my constant craving for coconut and we have the birth of this cookie.
A thick, dense, very chocolatey cookie with a hint of coconut flavor in the background, plus the crunch texture of the toasted coconut. Tasty indeed.




And the best part? The dough is a snap to put together. Love quick and easy cookies. Read the recipe, you'll see.







double chocolate-coconut cookies
print recipe

1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 ts baking soda
¾ TB baking powder
4 and ½ TB double dutch cocoa powder
½ ts sea salt
1 and ½ sticks (12 TB) unsalted butter, melted
½ cup + 1 TB light brown sugar, packed
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
½ ts pure vanilla extract
¾ - 1 cup toasted coconut
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Cook notes: make sure to let the melted butter cool a bit. When you are ready to use the butter give it a good stir to incorporate the butter solids and fats back together. You could use semisweet chips in this, but they might be too sweet. I love to use ice cream scoopers to make the perfect, round size cookies. I adore large cookies so I used a regular sized ice cream scoop. If you want smaller size cookies, use a smaller ice cream scoop but remember to reduce the baking time a few less minutes! I like to chill my dough before baking—makes a more uniformed cookie. It will be hard to tell when the cookies are done because they are so dark, but you’re looking for crisp edges and non-jiggly cookie tops. I used a regular size cookie scoop, you can use a smaller one but you have to watch the baking times.

Whisk all the dry ingredients together; set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, either by hand or using a mixer (I don’t have a mixer so I did this by hand) mix butter & sugars until thoroughly combined. Add in the egg and egg yolk and vanilla extract, mix well. Then add in the dry mixture, mix until just combined, do not overmix. Next FOLD in the chocolate chips and toasted coconut. Cover bowl and let chill in fridge at least an hour or longer.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees, line four cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Using an normal (not small) ice cream scoop, and making sure to compact the dough in the scooper as much as possible, scoop out on baking sheets about 1 & ½ inches apart.

Bake about 11-15 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. You’ll know the cookies are done by crisp edges and slightly puffy middles. Don’t try and take them off the cookie sheets, they will just break.

Should make about 15-18 large, if using a smaller scoop then you’ll have a few more.

raspberry-white chocolate filled chocolate thumbprints

Remember back when we had the guest post of Scary Mommy? Turns out she had asked me for a kicked up recipe for one of her book signing parties. A sweet treat of some sort. She wanted a red treat to go with her logo and new book Scary Mommy. I didn't have exactly red on my mind and was scared she would say "red velvet something or other". Thank goodness she let me go forth and be creative. I said "I have a nice raspberry filled choc...." "SOLD!" she said! I didn't even get to finish what I was saying.
She loved them so much she even featured them on her blog. Bless her. I do love her. With all the fame she has going now, tour dates, press junkets, today show appearances, etc...she is still the same down-to-earth person. She hasn't let fame go to her head. Thank God because I told her I'd kick her ass if she did. ;-)
She's on her book tour right now. You should meet her, she's a love.



This is what the cookies look like before the white chocolate-raspberry filling has set. And the first photo shows what they look like when they do set up.



It's a very dry dough. A touch or two of milk helps it come together.



Before baking make sure to give the cookie dough balls a little well. After baking you might have to do this again, ever so gently.





raspberry-white chocolate thumbprints
from vanilla sugar blog
print recipe

cookie
1 cup + 2 ½ TB all purpose flour
1/4 cup Dutch processed cocoa
1 & ¾ sticks (7 ounces) unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 and ½ ts pure vanilla extract
2 TB (or more) of whole milk
¼ ts salt

filling
½ cup + 2 TB good quality white chocolate chips or chunks
¼ cup (more or less) raspberry coulis (see below)

raspberry coulis:
1 pint fresh raspberries
2 TB granulated sugar, or to taste
1 TB fresh lemon juice, or to taste

Cook notes: The raspberry coulis can be made a couple days ahead of time. Simply keep it in the fridge, tightly covered until ready to use. When ready to use, please let it come to room temperature before using. The melted white chocolate will seize up if you add a cold coulis to it. If you don’t want to make the coulis you could easily just fill the thumbprints with melted white or dark chocolate. Or even any flavored Hershey kiss would work. It is hard to tell when the cookies are done because of their dark color. They won’t brown, but look for dry cookies or cracked. Don’t bake them any longer than 10 minutes! Mine were done in 8 minutes.

for the coulis:
Put all the ingredients in medium sauce pan and cook over medium (not high!) heat until fruit is mostly dissolved and mixture has reduced a bit as well as thickened up; about 30 minutes or more. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, pushing down on the solids. You might have to let this sit for a while to finish draining—it takes a while. Don’t forget to scrape off the bottom side of the sieve for all the juicy, thickened pulp. Discard the seeds. Taste and add more sugar or lemon juice if needed; it shouldn’t need anything. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Sift flour and cocoa together into a medium bowl. With a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Add the vanilla and salt; continue beating until blended and smooth, about 1 minute more. Add the flour-cocoa mixture and mix on low speed until a soft dough forms, about 1 minute. Then add in the whole milk—it might not need the whole 2 tablespoons, but use enough to help it come together. This is a dry dough, so don’t add in any more than 2 TB. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator until firm enough to roll into balls, about 60 minutes (or longer).

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment or nonstick baking liners. Using your palms, roll heaping teaspoonfuls of the dough into 1-inch balls. Or 2-inch balls. Arrange them 2 inches apart on the lined sheets.
With a lightly floured thumb or index finger-tip, press straight down into the middle of each ball almost to the cookie sheet to make a deep well. (Or use the end of a thick-handled wooden spoon.)
Bake one sheet at a time until the tops of the cookies look dry, 8 to 10 minutes.
Gently redefine the indentations with the end of a wooden spoon.
Let the cookies cool on the sheet for 5 minutes and then let them cool completely on racks. If you’ve made the coulis ahead of time, now is the time to take it out of the fridge and let come to room temperature.

For the filling:
Put the white chocolate over a double boiler over low heat. Melt slowly and keep stirring until melted. Once melted add in the raspberry coulis, slowly, a bit at a time, all the while stirring. You can use as much or a little raspberry coulis as you like. The coulis is strong, so a ¼ cup is plenty.
Using a small spoon simply fill each cookie with a teaspoon amount of filling. You could also pour the chocolate mixture into a pastry bag or plastic bag and pipe in the filling. I found a small spoon to work wonders. Cool completely before serving or storing. Should make: if you rolled them into 1-inch balls about 34-36 cookies; if you rolled them into 2-inch balls about 16-19 cookies.

deep dish chocolate chip cookie pie

Why? Why is this in a cast iron pan?
Oh that's very easy to answer, and I think once I answer this you'll agree.
Well, almost all of you will agree; there might be a 3% of you that won't agree because well, maybe you have been living under a rock or something?
So you want the answer?
You sure?
It's really a simple answer.....
CRISPY THICK EDGES with gooey cake-like middle.
Swoon.......



So when I say crispy thick edges, I mean edges that are really thick, like two inches thicker than a normal cookie. As the Barefoot Contessa herself says "how bad can that be?"


Make sure to grease up your cast iron pan reallyvwell with non stick spray.







deep dish chocolate chip cookie pie
adapted from eat live run
(I changed things around a bit)
print recipe

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 egg yolk
1 ts pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 ts baking soda
1 ts salt
1 & ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips

Cook notes: if you don’t have a cast iron, you can easily put this in little ceramic ramekins. Just don’t preheat at 400, only preheat at 325 degrees. Make sure you use a clean cast iron; we don't want your cookies tasting like dinner. *Cooking times vary GREATLY! Please check at the 25 minute mark!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Grease up your cast iron skillet with cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt and baking soda.
Cream the butter and sugars together. Add in eggs plus egg yolk, then mix. Add in vanilla and mix until just combined. Add in your dry ingredients, mix, then add in the chocolate chips.

Press the cookie dough down into your greased skillet evenly; using wet hands make sure the corners are good and even with dough.
Place in preheated 400 degree oven, then turn temp down to 325 degrees and bake for about 25-40* minutes. Might want to rotate pan halfway thru baking.
You are looking for golden brown edges and slightly cakey crumbs come thru when a cake tester is used.
Make sure to let this rest for at least an hour before slicing.

peanut butter cookie crusted brownies

Pet peeve #307 Soggy bottom brownies.
You know those brownies with that nice crisp layer on top, then a disappointing soggy bottom? Oh I hate those. I need to have a crispy top, crispy bottom, with a semi-gooey/fudgy center in my brownies. Is that why the end pieces of brownies are so popular? Because they have both crispy top and bottom AND sides? Probably.
Well, if you're like me, I have solved this problem. Use an almost or completely flouress cookie dough--this should yield a nice crisp bottom. Makes all the difference in the world.

This Baked brownie mix is hands down one of my favorites. It's like a high-quality chocolate bar. Well, in essence it is since it has chocolate from Guittard and Callebaut in there. If you're going to have a brownie have one that has high quality cocoa in there--better taste wise and mood wise (higher quality chocolate really does improve your mood).
Have you tried this brownie mix from Baked yet? You really should. To be honest, I was kind of blown away at how rich, dense, and fuggy it tasted since it comes from a box. I truly thought it would be just another boxed brownie mix; one naturally assume when it comes from a mix it's going to be OK.
I was so dead wrong. This mix literally tastes like those fancy brownies that take a while to make--you know the ones you see on food network or PBS that have a 1000 steps?
Very easy to make. All you have to do is add butter and eggs.


I've always wanted to create a cookie/brownie mix. And for me, peanut butter and brownie go so well together, why not put them together. Sure you've seen this combo before, but this one really tastes good as we used a lower flour peanut butter cookie--just like my "almost flourless" pb cookies.

If you want to try these brownie mixes, (deep dark chocolate, blondie, and peanut butter), head over to Williams Sonoma.

I think we all should convince the Baked guys to offer up a giveaway for these fabulous brownie mixes? Don't you? Tell me and I'll tell them.

peanut butter cookie crusted brownies
print recipe

for the peanut butter cookie base:
3 cup all-natural chunky or smooth peanut butter (not too oily though, drain some out)
1 ½ cups + 2 TB dark brown sugar (not packed)
3 eggs
2 ts baking soda
6 TB flour
1 ¼ ts sea salt

for the brownie base:
1 mix of Baked deep dark brownie mix (or your own favorite brownie mix; enough for a 9x13 pan)

For the pb cookie base:
In a small bowl add the flour, baking soda and salt; and mix, set aside.
In a mixer or by hand, combine peanut butter and sugar until well combined.
Crack open eggs in a small bowl and beat.
Add egg to the cookie mixture, then add in the flour mixture, by sprinkling it over the cookie dough, not just depositing it in one large dump. Mix till combined.

Grease up a 9 X 13 inch pan; using either Pam nonstick spray or butter and flour method. Press the peanut butter dough mixture into pan, making sure to get all the corners as well. Place in fridge and chill, until ready to use.

for the Baked brownie mix:
Follow mixing instructions as stated on the back of the box.

When the brownie batter mix is mixed and you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Take out the peanut butter pan from fridge, and pour the brownie mixture on top. Smooth out batter, evenly, over the top, making sure to get the corners. Gently tap the pan to remove any air. Bake in oven for about 55-65 minutes; making sure to rotate pan a few times during baking. If you don’t want fudgy brownies, you can bake a couple minutes longer.
The brownies will be fudgy, dense, thick and a bit gooey; this is good. Look for a nice crisp/crusty top on the brownies. Inserting a cake tester in middle, will yield a few small crumbs, not complete dough.
You need to cool brownies in pan for at least 45 minutes, then transfer to fridge to help set up the brownies. I left the pan in the fridge for about an hour.
Using a sharp knife, loosen edges and slide out mixture onto wooden board. Cut into squares. Should yield about 24+ squares, depending on how you cut them.