We needed a special treat and found an awesome recipe for Sea-Salted Peanut Butter Brownies on CraftBeer.com! It’s Idaho Craft Beer Month so of course we used an Idaho Beer. We picked up a bottle of County Line Brewing’s Barnwood Brown Ale at the local bottle shop but you can use whatever brown ale or even porter you would like from your local Idaho brewery. 

Couple notes from the wanna-be Chef:

• We used fresh ground peanut butter from City Peanut Shop (Boise). With the natural peanut butter, we did find adding a splash of oil helped with the consistency and made it a little easier to spread. 
• Make sure to let your butter come to room temperature! Seriously. If you don’t you’ll end up with a chunky kind of mix that just won’t work for baking. 
• Bonus: You will have beer left over. It makes for a great pairing when enjoying the fruit of your labor! 

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature, divided + 1 tablespoon
• ½ cup white granulated sugar
• ½ cup honey
• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup brown ale
• 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract + 1 tsp
• ⅓ cup cocoa powder
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp fine sea salt
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 Tbsp heavy cream
• 1 package (12 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
• coarse white sea salt for garnish

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat your oven to 375°F and line an 8×8 baking dish with parchment paper. Spray the parchment paper with a non-stick spray and set aside.
2. In the bowl of your stand mixer, with paddle attachment fixer, cream together ½ cup of butter, sugar and honey. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix to combine completely after each one.
3. Add your Idaho Brown Ale and a tablespoon of vanilla extract. Beat until creamy and all ingredients are completely incorporated.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, flour, fine sea salt and baking powder. In ½ cup increments, add the dry ingredient into the wet. Mix until completely combined.
5. Pour the brownie batter into your prepared dish and bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool completely (about 1 hour).
6. Meanwhile, prepare your peanut butter filling. In the bowl of your stand mixer (with paddle attachment fixed) cream together the remaining ½ cup of softened butter and the peanut butter. Once smooth, slowly mix in the confectioners sugar until creamy and incorporated. Add in the cinnamon, nutmeg, and heavy cream.
7. Once the brownies have cooled, spread the peanut butter filling on top of the brownies (all the while leaving the brownies in the baking dish). Cover and refrigerate over night or until peanut butter has slightly hardened.
8. Once cooled and slightly hardened, remove from the refrigerator, and remove the parchment paper (along with the brownies) from the baking dish. Transfer to a cutting board.
9. In a small dish, melt your semi-sweet chocolate chips along with a tablespoon of butter via the microwave oven. In increments of 30 seconds, stir in between each increment until all of the chips have melted.
10. Drizzle the brownies with the melted chocolate (optional) and shake some coarse sea salt on top. Cut the brownies into 1½ in x 1½ in squares and keep refrigerated or store at room temperature until ready to serve. Enjoy!