Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle

My mom makes fruit trifles. My Rugby LOVES them!! They are probably his favorite desserts. I am a sucker for peanut butter and chocolate. So, when I saw this post this week from another blog, I knew that I had to try it!! I mean does ANYTHING say I Love You better than that?? But, being me I couldn't leave well enough alone...lol! I used a baby cookie cutter (that Granny sent the kids for V-Day last year) to cut the brownies to heart shapes and used that. I also used neufchatel instead of regular cream cheese and I also use light cool whip.

Oh, and brownie mix was on sale this week, so I cheated and used that instead.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle

Brownies
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup baking cocoa
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 tablespoons water
3/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla

Peanut Butter Filling
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup peanut butter
2/3 cup milk
16 ounces Cool Whip
4 peanut butter cups, chopped
chocolate syrup

Brownies:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Combine dry ingredients in large mixer bowl; stir. Add wet ingredients and stir well.
Spread into prepared baking pan. Bake for 18 to 25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out slightly sticky. Let cool completely.

Trifle:
Mix cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth. Add in peanut butter and milk. Combine. Fold in Cool Whip until combined.
Take half of the brownies out and crumble in large glass bowl, if you have one, or in a 13×9 pan. You can also divide up between tall parfait glasses as well. Add a layer of the peanut butter mixture. Take the other half of the brownies out and crumble on top of the peanut butter mixture. Put the last half of the peanut butter mixture on top. Drizzle chocolate syrup on top.
Add the chopped peanut butter cups on top. Refrigerate until serving time.
Enjoy!

Rolled Out Brownie Cookies

As if the name isn't enough! Riley and I were cruising the blog-o-sphere this morning and ran into this picture. So he thought we should make them. To get the recipe we had to go here. Totally worth it! I think I rolled them too thin, but once I got the timing right they were pretty good, even if we did accidentally O.D. on the cocoa. Enjoy!

Here's the recipe copy and pasted here for you:

Brownie Roll-Out Cookies*
Recipe from Deb’s mom

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup lightly salted butter, softened (Deb note: I don’t really see “lightly salted” much these days, so I used one stick salted, one stick unsalted)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa (I used the “good” stuff–Droste or Galler–but I can assure you that my mother only used Hershey’s growing up, so your choice)

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Whisk dry flour, salt and baking powder in bowl and set aside. Mix butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and cocoa in mixer. Gradually add flour mixture, and mix until smooth. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least one hour.

Roll out cookie dough on floured counter. Cut into desired shapes, brushing extra deposits of flour off the top. (It does disappear once baked, though, so don’t overly fret if they go into the oven looking white.) Bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 8 to 11 minutes (the former for 1/8-inch thick cookies, the latter for 1/4-inch cookies) until the edges are firm and the centers are slightly soft and puffed. (Note from me: 4 minutes was long enough)

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

* According to my mother’s recipe, they’re called chocolate sugar cookies but I do not feel that it does them justice.

**I've been playing with my camera the past few days, so that kind of explains the picture being taken outdoors....