One of the wonderful attractions here in San Diego is the Roar and Snore Safari at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. I still refer to this as the Wild Animal Park ‘cuz old habits die hard. My friend Susan’s 60th birthday falls on the night of one of these Safaris’ and she just couldn’t pass up the chance to sleep with the animals. She is such an animal lover!
This is an Adult Only overnight-er so the only scary sounds you will hear are from the animals themselves, not any children. Lions and Tigers and Bears….Oh my! There is something about camping that brings out the kid in all of us. I thought I’d send her off with a dessert sure to capture the heart of any adult and help bring out the kid in her! Who doesn’t love a good PB & J Brownie sandwich? Peanut Butter, Jelly and Chocolate! How yummy will this be?
I am sending a little container of these gooey bite size treats so she can share with her friend. A childhood friend of mine moved into the neighborhood and her clever Mom sent her daughter across the street with a plate of cookies so she could make new friends. We are still friends to this day! Maybe Susan will make a few new friends when she comes baring gifts. I understand they serve adult beverages with dinner and we all know how great chocolate and red wine are together for dessert! No matter what, at least her stomach won’t be growling….or wait, was that a tiger you heard?
Spoon half of brownie mixture into a greased 9 x 13 pan. A little lick just to be sure.
Warm the jam slightly in the microwave for about 20-25 seconds and whisk until smooth. It’s easier to drizzle it over the brownie layer when it’s warm.
Pour the raspberry jam over the brownie mixture.
Pour the remaining brownie mixture over the jam. More licking….clean spoon, clean fingers!
Place peanut butter in a small plastic freezer bag and massage the peanut butter in the bag to warm it up. Snip off the tip and pipe onto the batter, in stripes, from short side to short side of pan.
Run a table knife in the opposite direction of the stripes (lengthwise the long way), from right to left starting at one end of the pan and the next row from left to right until you reach the other end of the pan. Alternating the direction you run the knife with each row to create an arrow pattern. Looks kind of like animal stripes to me…a zebra of the chocolate species!
One last lick of the spoon and bowl. This is part of clean up, ya know! Time to bake the pan of brownies!
Bake at 325 F for 42-45 minutes. Cool on wire rack. When completely cool, cut into bite size squares.
Quality Control! I know there’s been a lot of licking but freshly baked is a whole different taste! The raspberry blends into both layers of the chocolate which is a great combo of flavor and then the peanut butter jumps up to say don’t forget about me! Oh, these are so rich and decadent! Perfect for a 60th birthday treat!
Insert Line Below
- 2 packages of Brownie Mix, prepared according to the box (I used Ghirardelli Triple Chocolate)
- 1/2 C raspberry jam (I used an organic seedless preserve) or any favorite from childhood
- 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
- Plastic freezer bag
- Spoon half of brownie mixture into a greased 9 x 13 pan.
- Warm the jam slightly in the microwave for about 20-25 seconds and whisk until smooth. It’s easier to drizzle it over the brownie layer when it’s warm. Pour the raspberry jam over the brownie mixture.
- Pour the remaining brownie mixture over the jam.
- Place peanut butter in a plastic freezer bag and massage the peanut butter in the bag to warm it. Snip off the tip and pipe onto the batter in stripes from short side to short side of pan.
- Run a table knife in the opposite direction of the stripes (lengthwise the long way), from right to left starting at one end of the pan and the next row from left to right until you reach the other end of the pan. Alternating the direction you run the knife with each row to create an arrow pattern.
- Bake at 325 F for 42-45 minutes. Cool on wire rack. When completely cool, cut into bite size squares.
