Fudgy Peanut Butter Bites

 This is such an easy "cheater" dessert.  If you love the chocolate and peanut butter combo, you might just be thanking me with this one (and it's feasibly done within 15 minutes!)  Of course, you could make it more from scratch, but half the fun is how easy this is.

My ingredient list:
1 pkg. peanut butter cookie dough (I could only find it with chocolate chips, but who hates those?!)
1 C sweetened condensed milk
1 C semi sweet chocolate chips
1/4 C of chopped peanuts (more or less, optional)

My cookies were pre-cut into 24 squares.  I chopped each in half and dropped the half into a Pam sprayed mini muffin pan.

Bake at 350 for 9 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned and the cookie is firm.

The great thing is that in the oven, your squares become circles and puff.  Once you take them out, they cave to make the perfect little cups.

Cool for a minute or so before removing from the pan.

While they are cooling, this is the perfect opportunity to make your fudgy filling.

Fill a 2 C (or more) microwaveable measuring cup with 1 cup of sweetened, condensed milk and 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips.  Microwave from about 1 minute, stopping halfway to stir.  Once the chips are completely melted, stir the mixture and place a dollop in each cookie cup.

Move quickly when filling the cookie cups because your fudge will set fairly firm as soon as it cools.  I would try to do the filling all in one setting so you don't have to reheat the fudge and compromise it's makeup.

I wasn't going to chop any peanuts to put on top, but the cookies seemed so plain, and I really wanted people to realize that there were peanuts in the cookies, so I quickly chopped some lightly salted peanuts and sprinkled them on top.  I lightly pressed some into the fudge so that they wouldn't just keep rolling off.

I had a hard time convincing people that I made them myself.  And I really {kind of} did, so I totally deserve the credit.  As does BHG for the original recipe that I only vaguely modified.

Peanut Butter Brownie Truffle

 Here's a very simple, fake/home made recipe that will impress EVERYONE.

For Serious.

First off, make a box brownie mix of your choice.  If you want thick brownies with lots of peanut butter on top, make an 8x8 or 9x9 pan.  I was going to feed the masses, so I made a thin brownie layer in a 9x13.

The original pictures look more scrumptious because they're just plain bigger.

While that is baking, mix up your peanut butter mixture.   Butter, PB, milk, and powdered sugar. Very similar to making the PB cups/eggs, but this has a creamier overall consistency.  Much more spreadable.

Then, BEFORE you start the next step, put it in your fridge to harden up.

I didn't think about that step before I continued on.

It's an important step.  Trust me.

 The reason it should harden is that you have all of this peanut buttery goodness all over you pan.  See the picture?  It's like a soft frosting.

If you don't wait for it to harden, like some of us I know, the chocolate will just make a mess when layered on top.  It becomes more of a peanut butter and fudge swirl effect than a solid three layered one.

This isn't a bad thing, it's just, well, a thing.

And it makes for really bad photos.

However, the dessert is delicious, and I highly recommend it.  I used a double fudge brownie recipe with chocolate chips included. Well worth it!