44º and rainy in May isn't all bad...

...if you get to bake. And bake I did.

Up until this week, we've been very spoiled by gorgeous weather. Most of April and the first week of May were in the 60s and 70s, dry, sunny and just beautiful. Then a couple of days ago a low-pressure system stalled over us and it's been cool and rainy ever since. A bit depressing, but a good excuse to bake - something I don't much care to do when it's sunny and warm.

Photo from Pillsbury

I often check out what Anna's up to over at Cookie Madness. The other day I spied a very unusual recipe that she had tried - Peanut Butter Crunch Brownies - from the Pillsbury Bake-Off. This recipe is not normally something I would try. First of all, it sounds a bit odd and second of all it uses a boxed brownie mix (I have yet to meet a boxed brownie that doesn't scream "box") and a sugary cereal (something we don't like to keep around the house). In the end, though, I was fascinated and intrigued and decided to give it at try.

At first glance, I was afraid it might be one of those recipes that sounds simple enough but can turn into a disaster. You know the type - the layers are really hard to spread or you don't have enough of each layer to cover and you end up with a uneven, jumbled mess. I'm happy to report that each of these layers worked very easily and just as they should. Even getting them out of the pan wasn't too bad - though the top cracks, but it does at least stay in place for the most part. I did use aluminum foil to line the pan, but I didn't try lifting them out of the pan - these brownies are quite heavy!

These are good, but maybe bordering on too sweet for me. Very filling and I cut them into much smaller squares than the recipe - more like 40 instead of 24. I keep thinking that they'd be good with maybe just the PB layer or just the caramel layer but maybe not both. I definitely like the PB layer best. I also don't like the chocolate chips in the brownie layer but I should have known better since I usually don't like chips in my brownies. The only thing I did differently was to use Ghiardelli's 60% bittersweet chocolate chips and Ghiardelli brownie mix. Even with the Ghiardelli mix, I'm still not a big fan of brownie mixes and would possibly try this recipe again with a homemade brownie layer.

The main downside to this recipe is that it dirtied up 4 bowls (not bad, but not exactly easy clean-up either) and is a little pricey to make. But the worst part? Waiting 2-3 hours before getting to try one!

Check this out...............................

By the way.....for those of you who missed it, Anna was on Oprah last week!!! How cool is that?? You can check out the video here - it shows most of the segment.

Rain, rain, go away..................