Easy Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

First things first: on keeping up with the resolutions - I actually woke up an hour early yesterday morning and this morning to work out. I have also been diligent with taking a vitamin daily. Obviously I have been keeping up with my one post per week goal as well. Lastly, I hit up Amazon for a Photoshop Elements guidebook and have slowly started to read through it (there are seriously like 100 pages of how to crop things - super intimidating!). I realize its only the third week in January, but lets be honest, in years past I have given up by this point already!

So in going through my post topic archive, I came across these Peanut Butter Cup Brownies.

These pics have been in my computer so long I had to look up the date on my calendar to remember what I made them for. We hosted JJ's Christening in late August (after a case of HFM disease forced us to cancel the original date) and while I had our post ceremony lunch catered, I made a couple desserts. The idea came from this original pin:

Source

 

that linked back to Risa's post in 2009 on her blog Baked Perfection. Once again, I failed to read the recipe before starting, and in this case it actually turned out to be so much easier than I thought. I figured I would be making some sort of major adjustments to the brownie batter and then making some fancy peanut butter frosting, but it really just turned out to be basic brownie mix baked into cups, with some peanut butter and chips on top.

 

Mixing up the brownie batter

Brownie "Cups" with their centers smooshed down



Dollop of warmed peanut butter

All finished

 

I decided to use a little chocolate frosting (the canned variety) in case someone didn't want peanut butter. A couple sprinkles finished them off.

 

 

The Verdict: Ridiculously easy. I overcooked them a bit (I always seem to when making brownies in a non traditional form) so they were a little hard, but still tasty. They are the sort of treat that is so easy to pop that you can wind up eating a bunch before you even realize it. And who doesn't love the combination of peanut butter and chocolate??

 

Things to Consider: The middles of my cups never really fell, which I think can be attributed to by overcooking. Other than that though they were pretty foolproof. Now that I am reminded of these - I might have to make them again!

 

 

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies, from Baked Perfection
Recipe adapted from Nestle’s Very Best Baking

Makes 40 brownies as adapted

1 box of your favorite brownie mix
1/2 cup peanut butter chips
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray or grease 40 mini-muffin cups.

 

Prepare boxed brownie mix as directed. Spoon batter evenly into muffin cups (about 1 heaping teaspoon). Bake for 13-15 minutes or until top is set and a toothpick inserted into center comes out slightly wet. After brownies are out of the oven, wait for centers to fall. This will happen upon cooling. If not then tap the centers with the back of a teaspoon to make a hole for the peanut butter.

 

Place peanut butter in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 45 seconds then stir. While brownies are still warm spoon about half a teaspoon of peanut butter into the center of each brownie. Top with semi-sweet chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. Cool completely in pan.