Peanut Buttercups with Peanut-Penuche Icing

There have been a lot of parties happening this week so that means lots of baking for me. That's okay because I've been wanting to try out some new recipes I've found on other blogs I've been reading.

If you haven't already guessed it by reading this blog, I really like peanut butter and chocolate. So this recipe for peanut buttercups with peanut-penuche icing from the Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats blog caught my eye.

This was a fairly simple recipe that tastes like a peanut butter cookie. I did have some difficulties that were probably my own doing. The chocolate in the middle of the cupcakes didn't really melt so it was a hard center of chocolate to bite into. I used a chocolate bar I had but mini chocolate chips or something that melts quickly would probably be a better idea.
Also, my icing wasn't very spreadable. I followed the directions exactly. Next time I might decrease the powdered sugar in the icing from 2 cups to 1 or 1 1/2 cups. For the original recipe, please click here. The recipe made just over a baker's dozen regular sized cupcakes.

Double-Baked Brownies

When walking down the grocery store isles the other day trying to think about what to take to church, this recipe I saw somewhere once came to mind. I don't remember where I found it but I thought, this is something I'll have to try some time. So, when my husband thought we should take brownies for our small group, I thought, why stop with just brownies, why not make something more? So here it is, my recipe for "something more".

Double-Baked Brownies

1 box brownie mix

1 box cookie dough mix or tube of refridgerated cookie dough

Make brownies according to mix. Spread batter in a greased 9x13 pan. Drop spoonfuls of cookie dough on top of brownie mix. Bake according to brownie mix but I had to at least double my baking time.

On a side note, I ended up making to pans of brownies but used 2 brownie mixes & 1 tube of cookie dough. I'm not sure if this would be the same if you used the cookie mix or if you made the brownies & cookie dough both from scratch.

Secondly, I made one batch of brownies the recommended way & the other the low fat version. Both were moist & delicious. The applesauce I used had a lot of cinnamon & added a little hint of it to the brownies.