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Triple Layer Brownies
1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts, chopped
1 cup quick or old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 package (19-21 ounces) fudge brownie mix (plus ingredients to make brownies)
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
Additional chopped peanuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Combine oats, brown sugar, flour, baking soda, and peanuts in a small bowl. Add butter; mix well. Press oat mixture into bottom of baking pan. Bake 8 minutes. Remove from oven.

Meanwhile, prepare brownie mix according to package directions. Gently spoon batter over partially baked crust; carefully spread to edges of pan.

Bake according to package directions for brownies (28-30 minutes). Cool completely.

Combine chocolate morsels and peanut butter in a small microwaveable bowl. Microwave, uncovered on HIGH 1 minute. Stir until smooth. Spread chocolate mixture evenly over cooled brownies. Sprinkle with additional chopped peanuts, if desired. Cool until chocolate mixture is set. Cut into bars. Store in tightly covered container in refrigerator.

The youth at our church gather on Wednesdays after school for homework and open gym. No way are young people going to meet without some type of food around. Our Next-Gen Pastor, Trask Murphy, provides snacks for them and I’ve helped out a few times by providing some kind of sweet. It was Wednesday morning and I needed to decide what to prepare for the youth.

After looking in the cabinet and seeing a brownie mix, I thought I’d make bite size brownies, but after looking through the Pampered Chef Delightful Desserts cookbook for the recipe, I found one I thought would be better.

This recipe would involve a few more steps than the bite size ones, but I hoped they would be a hit. I preheated the oven and got the base layer for the brownies into the pan; it went into the preheated oven for exactly 8 minutes. While that was baking, I put the brownie mix together by following the directions on the box. As soon as the crust layer was done, I gently poured the brownie batter all over it and used a spatula to smooth the batter to the edges of the pan. The brownies went into the oven and after 30 minutes I hoped they were done. I left the brownies on the counter to cool.

Once the brownies were completely cool, I put the chocolate morsels and peanut butter into the microwave for 1 minutes. The chocolate wasn’t completely melted so I just stirred the mixture and in no time, it was melty and smooth. I poured the chocolatey peanut butter over the brownies and gently spread the chocolate to the edge of the pan. It wasn’t going to be long before I’d needed to get these brownies to church, before the office closed and I’d have no way of getting in to leave them for the afternoon’s get together so I put them in the refrigerator to let the chocolate set-up. After 30 minutes I was ready to cut the brownies into bars.

The brownie mixture was soft and chewy so I had to be a bit careful getting them out of the pan and into a container. All but 4 of the brownies fit into the container which meant Brad was going to get to sample for me.

I was finally ready to head to town and off I went. When I got to church the doors were locked and so I just started knocking on the door. Thankfully the custodian heard my knocking and let me in. I asked if Trask was still there and the custodian said yes and let me into the office area.

Trask was at his computer with his back to the door when I arrived so I said hello so I wouldn’t startle him. He thanked me for the brownies and I put them in the refrigerator till he was ready for them.

The next day I went back to the church to retrieve the empty container, Trask showed up at the front desk (he’d heard my voice talking to our church secretary, Elaine). He said something had come up right before the youth were to arrive and he completely forgot to give the kids the brownies. I let him know that was not a problem but he needed to get rid of those brownies because I wasn’t taking them home. He put out some for the church staff and asked if he could take some to a young family in our church whose wife/mom had been in an accident recently. Of course, that was a great idea.

Before I left the church, Trask came back to the lobby and let me know the brownies were delicious.
Brad liked them so much that after eating one he said I had to get rid of the other 3. I took those to our neighbor Rachel and her cryptic text said “… they are so gooey and yummy, soft, and comfort. Best before bed treat everyone should have.”

Since I don’t like chocolate and didn’t take a bite of these brownies I can’t give an opinion, but with everyone else’s blessing I’ll have to chalk this one up to a NAILED IT!

Local culinary guru Sarah Condley contributed this recipe to the Winchester Sun.