Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

Over the weekend, Howie's parents were in town, and we thought of taking them to a picnic lunch at Huntington Beach since they had never been there before.  It was also 72 degrees, sunny and the leaves were beginning to change...that perfect combination just doesn't happen in Cleveland!  We planned on picking up some subs along the way, but I wanted to pack a quick dessert to bring so we can have something sweet at the end of lunch.  I was planning on just throwing a quick batch of box brownies into the oven after my morning boxing class, but I spontaneously invented peanut butter cup brownies!  

 Experimenting is one of my favorite parts of cooking!  I tweaked the recipe for the peanut butter center of my homemade buckeyes - peanut butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, salt and milk - and sandwiched it in between the layers of box brownie mix.  Three extra minutes of time for a dessert that tastes homemade...and they look like a brownie version of everyone's favorite candy!  The only thing that would've made it better is if I had crumbled Reese's cups on hand to put on top!   Yummmm.

I put the sliced brownies into cupcake tins so it would be easy to transport them to the beach, and I wouldn't need to bring any cutting utensils that I would have to clean later.  They had also come out of the oven about a half hour before I had to leave, so it was a way to cool the brownies faster too!

Huntington beach was absolutely beautiful!  Such a perfect day with great company!