~Peanut Butter Brownie Cups~

Tomorrow is July 4th, and its always crazy in Daytona Beach from the Pepsi 400 race. Inspite of all the extra drivers clogging up our roads, I love July 4th! It gives me an excuse to make up a new dessert for me and Nathan while we avoid the traffic at home! Nathan's favorite dessert combination is chocolate and peanut butter. Who could blame him?! So, I found a recipe online for a peanut butter pie, which I completely changed. And since I've been craving brownies for a while, I figured I might as well put them together! :) I was excited! This is a super simple recipe and it tastes really yummy!

Peanut Butter Brownie Cups

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray or grease 40 mini-muffin cups.

• Prepare boxed brownie mix as directed.
• Spoon batter evenly into muffin cups (about 1 heaping teaspoon).
• Bake for 13-15 minutes or until top is set and a toothpick inserted into center comes out slightly wet.
• After brownies are out of the oven, press down brownie centers. I used a measuring spoon to press the centers enough to fill with peanut butter filling.

While those are cooking, mix up the peanut butter filling.

Filling

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup white sugar (I used 1/2 powdered sugar & 1/2 white sugar)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whipped cream topping (Or you can whip your own with heavy whipping cream)

• In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar, butter, and vanilla until smooth. (I had consistancy issues, it was too thick to blend so I added 1/4 milk and some vanilla yogurt until I thought it was creamy enough. (You don't want it to be runny.)
• Fold the cream into the peanut butter mixture.
• Gently spoon your filling into brownie bowls. Garnish with chocolate or cookie crumbs if desired. (I used mini semi-sweet chocolate morsels and some powdered sugar). Refrigerate until ready to serve.

TaDa!! :)

Hope you enjoy! Happy baking! :)