Peanut Butter Brownie Bites

One of my favorite things to do is bake. And even though I'm a planner by nature in every other part of my life, unless its for a party or holiday I never plan my baking. Typically when the mood strikes me I pull up my Pinterest "Sweets" board and scroll up and down until I find something that looks good. Its VERY rare that when I do find a recipe I like, that I have all of the necessary ingredients. So I look at recipes on Pinterest as more of an inspiration rather than exact directions.  I like to be creative! This recipe came from one of those moments.

There are millions of brownie variations out there. I think I've tried almost all of them, always in a semi-homeade kind of way. I honestly never find it necessary to make the brownies from scratch. Believe me, I've tried that route too lots of times. There are some good homemade recipes of course but I truly believe that none are as good as the Ghirardelli dark chocolate brownie mix. Or at least none are SO much better that I ever put the time into making them from scratch. I usually buy the brownie mix from Costco in bulk so I'm always ready when my "baking mood" strikes. One of my favorite combos is peanut butter and chocolate. So one day when I perusing my Sweets board I saw a recipe for a chocolate cupcake with a peanut butter frosting. For the past few months I've been experimenting with buttercream frosting recipes trying to find the perfect one. So when I saw that cupcake recipe I decided to try out a peanut butter version. I'm not a huge cupcake fan so I decided to try the frosting on my beloved Ghirardelli dark chocolate brownie mix, but of course with a twist. Instead of a pan of brownies (which you could do of course) I poured the batter into mini-muffin tins and added a few peanut butter chips to each one before baking. It turned out to be a perfect platform for an AWESOME frosting. If you like peanut butter, you will love this frosting. Feel free to use your favorite brownie mix, or make them from scratch if you're feeling fancy! Or just eat the frosting on a spoon- its really that good.

~Wendy

Peanut Butter Brownie Bites

Recipe Type: Dessert

Author: Wendy

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 16 mins

Total time: 31 mins

Serves: 36-42 brownie bites

Ingredients

• Brownie Bites-


• Ghirardelli dark chocolate brownie mix


• 1/3 c. vegetable oil


• 1 egg


• 1/4 c. water


• 1 1/2 c. peanut butter chips


• Peanut Butter Frosting-


• 4 c. powdered sugar


• 1 c. unsalted butter, softened


• 1 c. peanut butter


• 4-5 Tbsp. milk

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees


2. Line a mini-muffin tin with mini-cupcake liners or spray with cooking spray. Combine all of the brownie ingredients in a large bowl and mix until combined. Pour batter into prepared muffin tin, filling each muffin 3/4 full. Push 2-3 peanut butter chips down into the center of each brownie bite. Bake for 13-16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a brownie bite comes out clean. Set aside to cool completely.


3. While the brownies are cooling prepare the frosting.


4. In a mixing bowl fitted with a whisk attachment, combine the butter, peanut butter and powdered sugar until all are combined. Then add milk, one tablespoon at a time until the frosting is smooth and light. Transfer the frosting to a ziploc bag with one corner snipped off. Pipe 1-2 Tbsp of the frosting onto each brownie bite. Garnish each with chopped peanuts or chocolate sprinkles.

Notes

This recipe can also be used to make normal cupcake-sized brownie bites. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and bake them for 25-30 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

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