SINFULLY TASTY RASPBERRY BROWNIES WITH ALMOND AND PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE

SINFULLY TASTY RASPBERRY BROWNIES WITH ALMOND AND PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE
This is my entry for Purva Daawat’s Christmas Feast Event at http://purvasdaawat.blogspot.com/2008/12/christmas-feast.html
I make these types of desserts rarely since my husband and I are watching our carbs. This time I had an occasion to prepare a decadent brownie. We were invited to our friend’s place for dinner. I wanted to prepare something sweet for their kids and came up with this one. I have used a regular brownie recipe here, just tweaked it a little bit by adding some frozen raspberries and using cashew nuts with the walnuts and icing the brownie with a simple almond and peanut butter fudge sauce. These brownies tasted awesome with ice cream. Chocolate and raspberries! How can anything go wrong with that :)

INGREDIENTS:
FOR THE BROWNIES:
All-purpose flour, 1 cup.
Unsweetened cocoa powder, ½ cup.
Sugar, ½ cup.
Vanilla essence, ½ teaspoon.
Eggs, 2.
Butter, 1 stick.
Cashew nuts, ½ cup.
Walnuts, ½ cup.
Raspberries, fresh or frozen 1 cup.
Baking powder ½ teaspoon.

FOR THE ICING:
Almond and peanut butter or regular creamy peanut butter ½ cup.
Heavy cream, ½ cup.
Sugar, 1 tablespoon.

PREPARATION:
Chop the walnuts and cashew nuts into small pieces and keep aside. If frozen raspberries are used, thaw them overnight in the fridge. Mix the all-purpose flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, and baking powder together. Melt the butter and put it into a bowl. Add the sugar, vanilla essence, and the eggs to the butter and keep beating it together until a creamy consistency is obtained. Add the flour mixture to the bowl and mix everything well. Now add the chopped nuts and raspberries and mix once without mashing the berries. Grease a baking dish with any nonstick cooking spray and pour the brownie mixture into the dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the brownie, if the toothpick comes out clean, it means the brownies are done and they can be removed from the oven, if not bake them for 5 more minutes and remove.

Meanwhile for the fudge, microwave the almond-peanut butter for 30 seconds. Add the heavy cream to the butter along with the sugar and keep mixing it until a creamy consistency is obtained. If needed, more cream can also be added. Pour the fudge over the brownie while it is still hot and let it cool for an hour. Cut them into big pieces and serve with ice cream.