Peanut Butter & Jelly Brownies

For those of you who don't know me, I work on the Lunchables brand for Oscar Mayer in marketing. We recently launched a new Lunchables TV commercial and the song in the commercial has been reverberating in my head for MONTHS. It's peanut butter jelly time! It's peanut butter jelly time! I'm sure you know it. But just in case you don't you can see the new Lunchables ad HERE.......And I'm sure it's in your head now. I often find myself turning random phrases into the Peanut Butter Jelly Time song. For example, giving my dog her pills (with peanut butter, of course) begins with a song that sounds like "It's peanut butter pill time! It's peanut butter pill time!" My husband is quite appreciative of my musical talent.

So, combine my spontaneous eruption into the Peanut Butter Jelly time song (or a variation thereof) with my new found addiction to Slack's Red Raspberry Jam and a recent blog post by one of my favorite blogs for this recipe, and you get Peanut Butter & Jelly Brownies.

Sing it with me - It's brownie brownie brownie time! It's brownie brownie brownie time!

This is pretty tasty and a nice twist on a traditional brownie. Honestly, the flavors of the jam and peanut butter chips don't come through as individual flavors....what you pick up on as you eat these brownies is the tartness of the raspberry and the saltiness of the peanut butter. It's an easy from-scratch brownie recipe that comes together quickly.

Here's the recipe from Beantown Baker:
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 cup + 2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp cocoa
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp espresso powder, optional
• 1/2 Tbsp vanilla
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1 cup peanut butter chips
• 1/2 cup red raspberry jelly

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9x9" pan
2. In a saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat briefly, just until it's hot, but not bubbling; it'll become shiny looking as you stir it. Heating this mixture a second time will dissolve more of the sugar, which will yield a shiny top crust on your brownies.
3. Transfer the sugar mixture to a medium-sized mixing bowl, if you've heated it in a saucepan. Stir in the cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder, and vanilla.Whisk in the eggs, stirring until smooth. Add the flour and chips, again stirring until smooth. Spoon the batter into a lightly greased pan.
4. In another pan or microwave dish, heat the jelly until warm and melted. Spoon warm jelly on top of brownie batter. Use a knife to swirl around to mix into brownies. Bake the brownies for about 30 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it. The brownies should feel set on the edges, and the center should look very moist, but not uncooked. Remove them from the oven and cool completely prior to cutting.