12 Days of Christmas Recipes: 4 Layer Brownies

These brownies happened by accident (or perhaps necessity).  And they are pretty delicious.  Four layers of chocolate, oats, and peanut butter.  These babies are super sweet.  Rich.  A little goes a long way.  Well, not that long if you find yourself carving off little slivers all day long as I may have done.

I was planning on making some buckeye brownies (think brownies, peanut butter filling, more chocolate) that caught my eye in one of my Christmas cookbooks, but when I got around to reading the recipe I realized that it called for a boxed brownie mix which I, of course, did not have on hand.  So, in my search for a brownie recipe I came across a recipe for 3 layer brownies (think oat layer, fudgy brownie, chocolate topping).  So I combined them together to make some mighty 4 layer peanut butter brownies.  Perfect for sharing with my awesome student teacher after a crazy Monday.

4 Layer Peanut Butter Brownies
adapted from taste of home and gooseberry patch

Oat Layer
1 c. quick cooking oats
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/3 c. flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 c. butter, melted

Brownie Layer
1/2 c. butter
2 squares (1 oz. each) semisweet chocoate
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 c. milk
2 tsp. vanilla
2/3 c. flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

Peanut Butter Layer
1 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. butter
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter

Chocolate Layer
3 Tbsp. butter
1 c. chocolate chips

In a small mixing bowl, combine the ingredients for the oat layer and mix on low speed until blended.  Press into a greased 9 inch square baking pan.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan over low heat, melt butter and chocolate.  Remove from heat; stir in sugar, eggs, milk and vanilla.  Combine flour, baking soda and salt.  Gradually stir into chocolate mixture until smooth.  Pour over crust.

Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.  Cool.

Mix together the powdered sugar, butter and peanut butter.  Spread over cooled brownies.  Chill about 1 hour.

Melt the chocolate chips and butter over low heat, stirring occasionally.  Spread over brownies.  Let cool and cut into squares.