Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

Aka Chocolatey Peanut Buttery Heaven.

 

Yum.

 

May I divulge a little secret to you?  ((I’ve been known to use a boxed mix from time to time)) GASP!   I know, I know. But I like to think of myself as a lady of convenience. Some days you need cake/cookies/brownies STAT. That, or I just don’t feel like making a ginormous mess out of my kitchen. It happens.

These little delights came from a boxed brownie mix. By all means you can use your favorite *from scratch* brownie mix, but like I said, I’m all about convenience.

 

Side note?  Two adorable little neighborhood girls knocked on our door the other day. Apparently we live next to some budding bakers/entrepreneurs. Anyway, we had the offer of purchasing candy or cupcakes. Ever a cupcake fan, hubs and I went for 2 cupcakes. Please, take a gander at our purchase…

Exhibit A.

Exhibit B.

 

Pretty huh? They apologized for the icing, they cupcakes were so hot, it melted. We’re honestly not quite sure what the chunkiness on top is. Mystery globs, I assume. We give the girls an A for effort, hopefully they raised enough money for whatever it is kids these days want. ((God, I feel old!))

 

At lease I had these bad boys to cleanse my palate….

Hello my loves!

 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Brownies (makes about 24 mini brownies)

1 boxed brownie mix (or your favorite brownie recipe)

24 (approx) fun sized reese’s peanut butter cups, wrappers removed

 

Prepare brownies according to package instructions, don’t forget to preheat your oven! Using a mini cupcake pan, spray each cup with cooking spray. Fill each cup 1/2 to 3/4 of the way full. Smoosh (that’s the technical term) a reese’s cup into the center of each brownie cup. It does not have to be covered by the batter. Place brownies in the oven and cook according to package directions. While brownies are baking, whip up the peanut butter frosting.

 

Peanut Butter Frosting

6 T. butter, softened

3/4 C. powdered sugar, sifted

1 C. creamy peanut butter

1/4 C. milk or cream

 

In an electric stand mixer, beat softened butter and peanut butter together until creamy, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk/cream until the desired consistency is reached. I made mine a little on the dryer side, so I didn’t use all of the milk. That’s up to you! Once the brownies are cooled, pipe icing onto brownies using a pastry bag and the tip of your choice. I didn’t use a tip, just kept it wide open. If you’re feeling extra fancy, you could crumble some extra peanut butter cups onto the top of each.

Make sure you have friends and family to pawn these off on. Or go out and buy bigger pants.

 

 

Source: frosting adapted from here

 

 

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Chocolate Lava Cake

This very first recipe is one of my favorites! The pictures don’t do it justice (damn that cooking at night!)

Warm. Chocolatey. Gooey.

Heaven.

Seriously, you can’t go wrong with a combo like that! I found this recipe on an amazing site Peas and Thank You. One of the first food blogs I ever stumbled upon, and what a life changer it was! Now, I am by no means a vegan. In fact, I love steak. And butter. And cheese.

I’m drooling already.

Anyhoo, here’s my adaptation of this recipe. I love the fact that, because there are no eggs in it, I can guiltlessly eat as much cake batter as I want. And the applesauce makes me feel like this might actually be good for me.

Apples, right?

Chocolate Lava Cake (makes approx 4 ramekin cakes)

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1 t. vanilla extract

1 cup chocolate chips +1-4 T (for the ooey gooey centers)

1/2 cup flour

2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

powdered sugar or fresh fruit for garnish (if desired)

Gather your ingredients and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Mix your applesauce, syrup, vanilla, and 1 cup of chocolate chips in a bowl or saucepan. Heat it up, either over the stove, or by microwaving the bowl in 30 second intervals, stirring in between until the chocolate is completely melted. I opted for the microwave….ever a slave to convenience!

Add in your dry ingredients and mix until well blended. Butter or use cooking spray to grease 4 ramekins or custard cups (or more depending on their size.) Fill each ramekin about 3/4 of the way. Don’t overfill! This leads to a hot mess. Literally.

Now poke the remaining chocolate chips into the center of each ramekin. Mine are oblong, so I ended up putting about a tablespoon into each. You can use more or less depending on the severity of your chocolate addiction. Mine is obviously pretty far gone. I think I need an intervention. The chocolate chips don’t need to be completely covered, the cake will fluff up around it as it bakes.

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Aw yeah! So delightfully perfect. The outer edges will be crispy, the centers will be soft and gooey. Mmmm!

Sprinkle the tops with powdered sugar and/or fresh fruit and chow down. Sharing optional.

Hope you enjoy as much as I do!

Source: adapted from Peas and Thank You

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