Saw It On Facebook....

Every once in a while there are meme-like pictures that people put up on Facebook and pass around like hot cakes that are food with their recipes attached.  Y'all already know I am a sucker for food, but this pregnancy has been especially hard on me and my body...and most likely my family.  So, when I see something that claims it is "easy" I am ALL over it like white on rice!

The most recent few piqued my interest because I could keep most of the treat dairy free.  It was simply cookie dough with a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup in the middle and topped with brownie batter.  Sounds simple right?  It was.  I made these with the Sprout.  Although, in the original post the person baked the treats in a Wilton brownie pan...I made mine in a regular sized cupcake tin.  My mistake of the day....  We'll talk more about that and the conclusion I came to about this recipe later.

Brownie Cookie Surprise
1 tube of store bought chocolate chip cookie dough
OR
1 recipe of your fave dairy free chocolate chip cookie dough 
12-24 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
1-2 boxes of your favorite organic dairy free brownie mix

Preheat oven to 350 F

If you choose to use store bought cookie dough, this will go a bit quicker, but honestly...it doesn't take much more than 5 minutes to whip up a batch of cookie dough (even with a 3 year old!) in a bowl with a hand mixer or in a KitchenAid stand mixer.  So...I recommend fresh cookie dough for this.  **If you click on "dairy free chocolate chip cookie dough" up there in the ingredient list, it will take you to my recipe for the dough.

Spray your wells with non-stick cooking spray before putting anything in them, you'll thank me later.  The Sprout & I used my Pampered Chef medium scoop to measure out the perfect amount of dough.  It is also a perfect way to include the children without worry about them putting too much dough in the cups.  Just tell them "one scoop" and you're golden!.  Just 1 scoop in each well and the rest of the dough went in the fridge for the Mister to nibble on.  Raw cookie dough is his favorite...

It is best to mix up your brownie batter before you start putting the peanut butter cups in the wells, that way you can keep the children occupied with scooping while you mix the brownie batter.

But...TOTALLY enlist them to help put the cups in...make sure you have extra in case they decide to "try" one. 

 
Next come the Reese's Peanut butter cups.  Put one peanut butter cup in each well, upside down, so when you look at the wells you see the bottom of the peanut butter cup.

After you finish adding the peanut butter cups, you're ready to put the brownie batter over the top.  For the batter I used my Pampered Chef small scoop and did TWO scoops of batter per well.

Then you toss this in the oven for about 25 minutes.  The original directions on Facebook called for only 18 minutes, I quickly peeked in the oven and my brownie batter wasn't even close to being baked through at the 18 minute mark.  So...watch your brownie batter for the "shine" to be gone off the batter and you'll know they are done or very close to it.

This is where I will tell you that using the square welled pans rather than a regular cupcake pan is going to make all of the difference.  I got two or four of 24 of these suckers out of the tins without the tops busting off a bit.  **This is why I told you to use non-stick cooking spray.  (The Facebook directions didn't call for it.  Now, it MAY be simply the shape of baking tin I used.  But, until I have a square welled pan, I can't tell you that for sure.)  Let these sit for at least 10 minutes before you attempt to remove them.  It totally depends on the material that your pan is made out of.  Silicone pans will most likely release the bars before a metal tin will.

 

These are how they look on the inside.

Now, these tasted mostly marvelous.  The problem my taste buds encountered was the fudgy brownie flavor trying to marry with the milk chocolate on the peanut butter cup.  Same thing with the cookie dough on the bottom trying to marry with that milk chocolate.  It just didn't work for me.  I had the Mister try them and...same thing.  The chocolates just didn't mix.  But!...to me the brownie/cookie dough combo on its own would have been total MAGIC in my mouth.  Which is awesome to me...because then THAT particular treat would indeed have been completely dairy free.  So...SCORE one for the dairy free team!!  New treat discovered.

Okay, so from now on when I tell you that anyone can cook AND that everyone makes mistakes and learns in the kitchen....I'm not fibbin'.  I'd most likely not make these this way ever again, unless someone who knows the recipe and LOVES it to death requested it.  But, brownie cookies...heck yeah!  I'll be makin that some time in the near future.  Sometimes being a kitchen guinea pig has its perks.  You find new favorites where you least expected them.  Happy cooking everybody!