peanut butter brownie cupcakes

ah yes. for close buddy of BOOF's, Sho's, final happy hour, the other treat I decided to make besides the White Chocolate Lemon Truffles, I also decided to make something peanut buttery and delicious. Or at least, I was going to attempt to.

I know that one of Sho's favorite desserts are brownies, so I definitely wanted to play up to that but do something a little different then just a classic brownie (even though they are very delicious). I am definitely believer that a little peanut butter goes a long way ;-) so I got to tastespotting and searching for a good peanut butter brownie recipe. there were many options to choose from but I wanted the peanut butter to be the highlight of the brownie, and not just a light swirl as an afterthought. Thus, I was prepared to make a more "blondie" brownie and also because I am a firm believer that making things in muffin/cupcake pans makes it so much easier to divide, I decide that I was definitely going to down the more cupcake "path" in making these.

Recipe adapted from: http://bunsinmyoven.com/2010/05/05/peanut-butter-brownies/

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 36 mini peanut butter cups (Reese’s are the best!)
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

Directions

1 ) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease Muffin/Cupcake Pan

2) In large mixing bowl, beat together sugar, peanut butter, regular butter, vanilla and eggs for 3-5 minutes until well blended.

3) Mix in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and continue to mix for another few minutes

4) Stir in chocolate chips for a minute or so

5) Pour mix into cupcake pan

6) Cook for about 20-25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean

7) Remove from oven and immediately press peanut butter cups into the top of the brownie cupcakes.

8) Allow to cool and enjoy and Share!

Additional Notes: From what I gathered, everyone enjoyed these little treats. I feel like somewhere along the line, the eggs might not even be that necessary because peanut butter is such a binding agent. You can clearly not put these in a muffin/cupcake pan and just bake them similarly in a 9x13 pan. :-)