Peanut Butter Stuffed Brownie Cookie Bites

This recipe is ridiculous. Probably the most ridiculously over the top dessert I've made in awhile. It is not for dieters. It is not for sugar-phobes. It is for special occasions or really bad days. I normally stick to from scratch recipes, but in this case I didn't, yes, that's right... I used a box mix for brownies and refrigerated cookie dough. AND I'm not sorry, cause these were delicious. And easy. And everyone loved me for making them. So without further ado... I present Peanut Butter Brownie Bites. Take a delicious candy (I used PB cups and caramel filled hearts) stuff them into a brownie and surround the whole thing with peanut butter cup cookie dough. 'Nough said.

Peanut Butter Brownie Bites

From Betty Crocker

1 box (1 lb 1 oz) brownie mix

Water, vegetable oil and egg called for on brownie mix box

36 unwrapped mini chocolate-covered peanut butter cup candies (from 8-oz bag)

*Note, I used fun size PB cups and some caramel filled chocolate hearts. If you use fun size candy, the cookies will turn out really big.

2 rolls (16.5 oz each) refrigerated peanut butter cookie dough, at room temperature (I used a peanut butter cup studded dough that came in a square not a roll. Worked fine though).

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 9-inch square pan with cooking spray. In large bowl, stir brownie mix, water, oil and egg until well blended. Spread in pan. Bake 33 to 36 minutes or until toothpick inserted 1 inch from edge of pan comes out almost clean. Cool completely.

Cut into squares.

Flatten each square and place a PB cup or whatever candy you are using on top.

Work the edges up around the candy to completely cover it I smooshed and rolled between my palms. Line cookie sheet with cooking parchment paper. In large bowl, stir cookie dough and flour until blended. Divide dough into pieces.

Flatten each portion of dough and place 1 brownie ball in center; press dough around brownie, completely covering and reshaping to form a ball.

On cookie sheet, place balls 1 inch apart. Bake 13 to 15 minutes or until set.

Remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack...

Let cool completely (ya, not possible)

Fanfreakingtastic

This is one of the caramel filled ones.

Have a sweet day!

Linking to Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays, The Weekend Wrap Up Party, and the Sunday Showcase

Chocolate Quick Bread/Cake

oh my goodness! It has been too long since I blogged, life's pace is definitely picking up! Despite the craziness of life, I have still found time to bake, I made this cake yesterday after a particularly hectic day at work, and it turned out lovely. Decadent and chocolaty, all those work stresses went right out the window! It's topped with fluffy frosting and mounds of marshmallows and I finished it off by grating dark chocolate over the marshmallows. I actually poured half the batter into the pan, sprinkled on a layer of marshmallows, and topped it with the rest of the batter. I don't recommend this, it really didn't make any difference in the cake, the marshmallows just melted and got sticky. Cake was still good (really good) but a bit sticky around the edges. If you make it, just leave them out, as I did in the recipe below. Next time I make it I'm going to throw a few handfuls of chocolate chips in for an even more intense chocolate flavor. For the frosting use canned or homemade whichever you prefer. I used homemade buttercream leftover from some cupcakes I made for valentines day. I had saved the extra in February by freezing it, all I had to do was thaw it and rewhip it, no problem!

Chocolate Quick Bread

Recipe from Thatsmyhome.com

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup cocoa

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 1/4 cups sour milk*

Topping

Frosting

Marshmallows

Chocolate shavings

*Sour milk: add 1 tbsp. vinegar to 1 cup milk at room temp. Allow to sit 5 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray a 9x5 loaf pan with nonstick spray and set aside.

Sift together first five ingredients. Add remaining ingredients.

Combine until just blended. Pour into sprayed 9 x 5 loaf pan. Bake at for about one hour or until a pick inserted in the middle comes out with just a few crumbs attached. Remove from oven, allow to cool completely. When cooled, remove from pan.

Frost with buttercream or other frosting and top with plenty of marshmallows and a sprinkle of chocolate shavings.

Have a great weekend!

Linking up at Tatertots and Jello, Under the Table and Dreaming, Rook 17, and Funky Junk Interiors.

Fudge Brownie Cookie Bars

As you may have noticed I have not been blogging as much as usual lately... and believe me I MISS IT! I miss all you wonderful people who read my blog, encourage me, and try my recipes... SO I'm back! The reason for my absence? Christmas craziness! Between work, having to bake for numerous holiday potlucks and the gym (I needed it after all those potlucks!), I have had NO time for ANYTHING in between... including sleep, so excuse me if I sound a bit incoherent! But the silver lining to this busy busy cloud is the BAKING part, and don't you worry, I took pictures GALORE and now that I am back to my semi-normal paced life I would love to share them (and the delish recipes) with all of you :) Sound ok? Thus begins Holiday Baking Posts Part I. Easy recipe, delicious results, gone from the dessert table in a matter of minutes. Fudge Brownie Cookie Bars. I love recipes that take two fabulous desserts and seamlessly merge them into one decadent delight. I love them even more when they are super quick but look impressive and elegant. Basically, this recipe involves a layer of rich chocolate brownies topping off a layer of crunchy (and it stays crunchy doesn't go mooshy) sugary cookie. I topped it off with a layer of chocolate ganache fudge ice cream topping. I wasn't sure how that would turn out since it didn't harden up but I loved the finished product. Cookie, brownie, fudge topping... hard to go wrong!

Fudge Brownie Cookie Bars

Adapted from Taste of Home

Cookie Layer Ingredients

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 egg

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling Ingredients

1 package fudge brownie mix (13-inch x 9-inch pan size)(*blush* I am a bit embarrassed that this recipe uses both a boxed cake mix and a jar of ice cream topping... but when the results are so tasty... taking the easy way out is just fine).

1 egg

1/3 cup water

1/3 cup canola oil

Topping

1 package (11-1/2 ounces) milk chocolate chips, melted

OR 3/4 jar Chocolate Fudge Ice Cream Topping

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the first five ingredients.

Press onto the bottom of a greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan.

Bake at 350° for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the filling ingredients.

Spread over hot crust.

Bake for 15 minutes or until set. Cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes.

Spread melted chocolate OR Ice Cream Topping over filling. Cool completely.

Cut into bars.

More holiday baking to come...

THESE cookies may just change your life

I am SO excited about this post! What do you get when you cross a peanut butter cookie and a brownie and then stuff it with a snickers bar????

A little bite of earth quaking, life shaking, HEAVEN, that's what! How did these cookies come about, you may ask? Well, I made brownies the other day, mixed m&ms in them and poured the batter into muffin tins. For some reason the m&ms sunk to the bottom of the brownies and the brownies stuck to the muffin tin liners. So instead of throw out the brownies, I cut off the stuck on bottoms and threw the perfectly good (but ugly) tops in the freezer. Luckily, I ran across a recipe for brownie peanut butter cookies on the bakingbites website. But why stop there? I had leftover Halloween snickers bars just looking for a good use, thus, snickers-stuffed, brownie-chunk, peanut butter cookies! I really can't do these cookies justice with words.... they are THAT amazing! On its own, the PB cookie is perfect, chewy, my go to pb cookie recipe (Love the texture from the chunky PB!). Now take those great cookies and mix them with crumbled, fudgy, homemade brownies. NOW take those brownie studded bites of perfection and STUFF them with Snickers and roll em in sugar.. Oh. My. Gosh. Carmelly, peanutty, chocolaty... DANGEROUS!

I melted snickers on top of some of them, which worked as well, but I prefer the snickers stuffed cookies.

When you bite into them the caramel oozes out and you may just black out for a few seconds... that's how amazing it is... seriously. If you aren't convinced by now that these cookies will change your life... well, I can do no more.

Snickers Stuffed Brownie Chunk Peanut Butter Cookies

Adapted from Baking Bites and the Baking Blonde

Ingredients

1 cup + 2 TBS peanut butter

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

2 TBS milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 - 2 cups brownies, crumbled

7 Fun Size Snickers bars, cut in half (so 14 Snickers pieces)

Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, cream peanut butter and butter. Once combined beat in the white sugar, and brown sugar until well blended.

Beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Gently add to creamed mixture and mix until almost combined.

Fold in brownie chunks. Chill dough for at least 15 minutes (I chilled mine overnight).

Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into balls, push a Snickers piece into the middle of each ball, seal the dough around the ball (make sure you cover up the Snickers).

Gently roll the dough balls into sugar and place on parchment lined baking sheets. Carefully press each ball with fork tines to create a criss-cross pattern (do this very lightly so you don't uncover the snickers!).

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are lightly browned.

Remove from oven and cool on baking sheets for 5-10 minutes until sturdy enough to be transferred to a wire rack to cool completely.

Have a fabulous weekend!

SPECIAL brownies...

black bean.... brownies??? Yes! Call me crazy but these suckers are GOOD! I was very skeptical when I first heard about these, but brownie mix is pretty cheap, so I figured what the heck, worst case scenario they are gross and I throw them out, best case scenario - they are awesome and I finally get to feel less guilty about indulging in one of my all time favorite desserts. So, I threw caution to the wind and whipped up a batch. I added in a cream cheese layer and a candy topping because hey, they are still dessert and all the healthiness of the beans cancels out the unhealthiness of the candy/cream cheese right, right?? These were sooo good! Not even a hint of beany flavor. They were denser than usual from mix brownies with a rich, fudgy texture. I took them to work and forced everyone to try them BEFORE I divulged the secret ingredient, everyone thought they were great and they were FLABBERGASTED when I told them that they were made with beans. I sprinkled the top of the brownies with m&ms and Junior Caramels then drizzled them with caramel sauce. yum, yum, YUM!

Black Bean Brownies

Recipe from: ??? I don't remember where I first heard about these from...

Ingredients

1 Box of your favorite brownie mix

1 Can unseasoned black beans

Thoroughly rinse beans. Put beans back in can, cover with water. Pour beans and water into blender.

Puree until smooth.

Add black bean puree to packaged brownie mix and make according to directions on box. OR if you wanna make your brownies a little more decadent, see below....

Optional Cream Cheese Filling and Candy Toppings

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened

4 teaspoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup sugar

2 regular size packages M&Ms

1 box Junior Caramels

1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping (not pictured)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 inch baking pan and set aside. Make brownie batter according to above instructions, just don't bake quite yet!

In a separate bowl mix together cream cheese, flour, sugar and vanilla until smooth.

Pour 2/3 of the brownie batter into prepared baking pan.

Pour cream cheese mixture on top of brownie batter and use a spatula to spread.

Top cream cheese layer with remaining brownie batter. Put in oven and bake for 25 minutes.

Remove brownies from oven (they won't be done quite yet) and sprinkle with m&ms and caramels. Return brownies to oven and continue to bake for 10-12 more minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with a few fudgy crumbs stuck to it.

When baked, remove from oven and drizzle with caramel topping.

Allow to cool, prepare to be blown away by the deliciousness that is BLACK BEAN BROWNIES!!

Lemme know what you think!

Real Food Wednesday