Week 20 update

This week has marked some exciting adventures!  We spent the weekend after our anniversary as a family in the alps.  That trip is definitely one to remember!  More pictures on that below.  First, here's a brief pregnancy update:

Linderhof palace

Hohenschwangau Castle

Neuschwanstein Castle

Random waterfall behind Neuschwanstein

Peanut Butter Brownies

Yesterday, pregnancy smacked me in the face with a horribly strong craving for chocolatey peanut buttery brownies.  Of course, I HAD to make them, and I had to do at ASAP.   As with all things, a few problems arose.  Every recipe for peanut butter brownies I came across had at least one or two ingredients I didn't have on hand.  Because it happened to be nine o'clock at night, going out to buy these things proved impossible thanks to lack of walmarts and things open 24 hours a day in Germany.  Thankfully, this is where my creative ability to mix things as well as my dying need for peanut butter in some brownies took over.  I decided I'd mash my favorite simple brownie recipe with a random peanut butter brownie recipe in which I had all the ingredients for.  Here's what came out:

Ingredient Friendly Peanut Butter Brownies

Adapted from Hershey's Brownie recipe and this peanut butter brownie recipe.

Ingredients:

Chocolate Batter:

-1/2 c butter, melted
-1 c sugar
-1 tsp vanilla
-2 flaxseed 'eggs'  (or 2 regular eggs)
-1/2 c flour
-1/3 c unsweetened cocoa
-1/4 tsp baking powder
-1/4 tsp salt
-1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips  (optional)


Peanut Butter Batter:

-1/4 c (4 tbs) unsalted butter, melted
-1/2 c powdered sugar
-3/4 c creamy peanut butter  (I must admit, crunch peanut butter would definitely be interesting to use.  If you try it, lemme know!)
-1 1/2 tsp vanilla  (I liked the taste a little extra vanilla gave)



Directions:

Step 1:

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Prep your flaxseed eggs if using.  Also, grease a 9x9 baking pan.


Step 2:

Mix all the ingredients for the peanut butter batter in medium bowl until well combined.   Set aside.


Step 3:

For chocolate batter:   Mix butter, eggs, vanilla, and sugar in large-ish bowl.  Add baking powder and salt.  Mix well.  Next, add flour and cocoa.  Mix until smooth.

Step 4:

Pour chocolate batter into greased 9x9 pan.  Spoon peanut butter mixture on top.  Swirl the two together with a knife.   Bake in preheated oven for about 25-35 minutes.  Mine took 30 minutes.   Brownies are done baking when there isn't any chocolate batter coming out on the knife/toothpick used to check.  Every time I checked, I had peanut butter batter, but once they were cooled, the pb hardened enough to not run everywhere.  The chocolate batter cooked just enough to be perfect.

ENJOY!

By the way, the PB batter can easily be devoured alone.

Week 19 update

This week, there's no belly picture, but there is a twinkie cake.  Finally, I'm 20!