Experimenting: Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie Cupcakes

The other day, when we went grocery shopping, I got a good deal on Betty Crocker Fudge Brownie mix. I decided to look and see if they could be made in a cupcake pan because I really don't like to cut brownies. I've never mastered the art. I found the instructions on Betty Crocker's Website and I was thrilled with the results! I have vowed never to make another "pan" of brownies if I can avoid it.

So now to dress it up. I'm sure you've heard of Slutty Brownies where it's a layer of cookie, a layer of Oreo's (or Reese's Peanut Butter Cups), and then a layer of brownie mix. They are very good, but I had no cookies or candy on hand. I decided to try making a peanut butter cookie and bake it inside of the brownie cupcakes and see how it came out.

Ingredients:

• Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe
• Betty Crocker Fudge Brownies (13x9 Family Size)
• Ingredients for both
• Cupcake pans (enough to make 18)

Step 1: Mix both the cookie recipe and the brownie mix separately. For the cookies I used 1/2 crunchy peanut butter and 1/2 creamy. This was only because we were low on creamy peanut butter. I skipped the sea salt.

Step 2: Grease the bottoms of 18 cupcake tins (discussion on cupcake liners below).

Step 3: Put about 2 tablespoons of brownie batter in each of the 18 cups.

Step 4: Roll peanut butter dough as you would for cookies, then flatten them in your hands and put them on top of the brownie mix.

Step 5: Top cookie dough with remaining brownie mix. You will need to be careful with your brownie batter to make sure you have enough for all 18 cups. I had to steal some batter from some of the more full cups to finish off the last two. You will have some cookie dough left, so plan on baking those next (I had enough dough for 12)

Step 6: Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until done (mine took 22 minutes).

Cupcake liners: The first batch of plain brownie cupcakes I made, I used cupcake liners. The brownies were sticking to the liners. So, for this recipe, I skipped the liners and the cupcakes stuck to the pan, even though I greased them. So, it's up to you which way you go.

These turned out okay, although I think they would have been better with a Reese's Cup inside... :) I'll probably make them again in the future...and having bonus peanut butter cookies is a plus.