recipe: peanut butter cookie dough brownie bites

I'm not a huge peanut butter fan but when it's paired with chocolate, I have a hard time refusing. And this recipe combines both things beautifully. This is another recipe on my "to do" list but oh my, it's pretty close to the top :) You can also read Hayley's full recipe.

Ingredients
1 box fudge brownie mix, baked and cooled
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp smooth peanut butter, divided
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
About 2 cups flour
1 pkg white chocolate bark (like Candiquik)
Peanut butter chips, optional

Directions

1. "Beat together the butter, 1/2 cup peanut butter and sugars until creamy. Add the milk and vanilla; beat to combine. Lastly, beat in the flour until a soft dough forms.

2. On a foil-lined baking sheet, drop rounded, tablespoon-sized balls of dough. Freeze the cookie dough balls for about an hour to firm up.

3. Cut the brownies into small squares, about 1″ in size. Pick up a square and gently flatten it with your palm. Fudgy brownies will flatten easily and retain their moisture which is why it’s important to make sure you use a fudgy brownie mix rather than a cake-y one.

4. Place a cookie dough ball in the middle of the flattened brownie and very gently, wrap the brownie around the cookie dough ball. If the brownie cracks, that’s okay; just kind of roll it in your fingers until the brownie completely surrounds the cookie dough. Repeat until all cookie dough balls are covered, then return to the freezer for 30 minutes or so.

5. Prepare white chocolate bark according to package directions; once melted, stir in the remaining Tablespoon of peanut butter to combine.  Using a fork, dip each brownie truffle into the white chocolate mixture, coat completely, and allow excess to drip off. Return to the foil-line sheet and sprinkle the tops with the peanut butter chips, for garnish. 

*Note: this works best when using brownies from the middle of the pan.  I don’t like using brownies from the edges because the edges are far crispier and don’t mold around the cookie dough as well.*"