Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie Bars

My friend Trina brought this dessert to a potluck last week and after everyone raved about them I told her I would veganize them. Wanting to stay true to the original recipe, I used the dry ingredients from a vegan chocolate cake recipe my friend Jamie gave me and modified this vegan pudding recipe. I originally planned to use cornstarch and then completely forgot about it and they are still tasty, perhaps next time I will use it!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie Bars (makes 12-16 bars)

1/4 cup soy milk
1/4 cup buter, melted
Scant 1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
Scant 1/2 cup cocoa powder
(1 1/2 Tbls. cornstarch - what I intended to use and then forgot about)
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
3 oz. semi-sweet baking chocolate
1/2 cup peanuts
1/2 cup peanut butter

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Grease an 8x8 or 9x9 pan. 

In a large bowl combine all of the ingredients except the baking chocolate, peanuts, and peanut butter. Beat until fully combined. The dough will be dry and crumbly at first but keep beating, it will work!

Divide the dough in half. Take one half and place it between two large sheets of parchment paper or wax paper. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough in between the papers into a shape roughly the size of your pan. It's kind of hard to roll a square, so just do the best you can.

I found it easiest to hold down the paper with one hand and roll with the other.

Remove the top paper and, keeping the flattened dough on the bottom paper, set aside.

Take the other half of dough and use your hands to press it into the bottom of the pan so that it evenly covers the bottom. If it goes up the sides a bit that's fine.

Bake for 10 minutes.

While the bottom layer is baking, chop up the peanuts and chocolate. 

Sprinkle half of the peanut/chocolate mixture evenly onto the layer of dough.

Next, melt the peanut butter and pour on top.

The next part's a bit tricky. Take the slab of dough you rolled out at the beginning and, with it still on the paper, flip it over so the dough is on top of the peanut butter. 

Carefully remove the paper on top and press the dough gently so it covers the peanut butter.

Press the remaining peanuts and chocolate on top of the new dough. Bake for 15 minutes.

Cool on the counter for a bit and then in the fridge before cutting into bars.