Adorable. Take it to work; chat with it until you need a snack. Then become one with your Bite-Sized Peanut Butter Crunch Brownie.
For the recipe, follow the directions for Girl Scout Tagalong Brownie Pie, except use a mini-muffin pan to bake your brownies.
Mini-muffin pans can do double-duty as mini-brownie pans!
Do I really need to say anything more than: Tagalong Brownie Pie? This recipe features Girl Scout Tagalong cookies, a ridiculously gooey peanut-butter-caramel layer, and toasted walnuts. And it’s one of my easiest recipes! PS – When Girl Scout Cookies are out of season, you can substitute another (preferably chocolate-coated) peanut butter cookie…like Little Debbie Nutty Bars or even Nabisco Nutter Butter cookies.
INGREDIENTS
With ingredients like this, how can you go astray?
So wonderful, but there are only 15 in a package. And, for me, that means 5 for Monday morning, 5 for Monday lunch, and 5 for Monday dinner. Woeful Tuesday. With this recipe, you can have enough to serve all week!
If Girl Scout Cookie season is over and you can't get Tagalongs, here are two fabulous peanut butter cookie alternatives! Little Debbie Peanut Butter Crunch Bars or Little Debbie Nutty Bars.
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 F. Toast your walnuts on a cookie sheet for about 5-6 minutes, until they’re slightly golden brown. Set aside to cool.
Make brownie mix with eggs, oil, and water, according to the directions on the box. I like to use the “extra egg” recipe, which is sometimes in fine print next to the “regular” recipe. That extra egg adds a little more loft and cakiness to the brownie. But that’s just my preference; you should build your own brownie world the way you like it. Pour brownie batter into two (2) well greased 9-inch pie pans.
This recipe makes two 9-inch brownie pies. One for me, one for you.
Since you’re using 2 pans, your baking time will be much shorter than the box instructs. (My box mix suggested a baking time of 35-40 minutes, but my brownie pies only needed 22-24 minutes to bake.) When a center-placed toothpick comes out nearly clean, that means your pies are done.
Yum. This is a happy moment.
When pies have cooled, put about 1/2 cup of peanut-butter-caramel dip on the surface of each pie. Spread it evenly. I intentionally avoided covering the outermost half-inch of brownie, the part where a pie would normally have a “crimp” in the crust. I thought it looked cute that way, plus it helped make serving a little easier.
Spread the love.
Using a walnut as a “stand,” prop up your cookies. This will make it easier and cleaner for your guests to grab those cookies and eat them with their fingers.
Who knew you could use a walnut as a cookie stand? (I did.)
Since there are 15 cookies in a Tagalong box, I put 8 cookies on one pie and 7 on the other. Add 1/2 cup of your toasted walnuts to each pie. I chopped my walnuts into large pieces.
This Tagalong Brownie Pie recipe would make any Girl Scout proud, and I’m sure your troop will love ‘em!
Here's another supah-delish take on this recipe. Use a mini-cupcake pan to make tiny brownies, "frost" with the peanut butter caramel, top with nuts, and garnish with a piece of peanut butter cookie. Finger-sized perfection!
Seriously. How cute is that? It's the best thing to have at work and just POP in your mouth. YUM!
According to This Site, today is National Peanut Butter Day.
I can think of 4 mouthwatering ways to celebrate:
1) Order some of those peanut-buttery Girl Scout Tagalong Cookies, which I will feature in a recipe next month, when the cookies arrive. Gotta plan ahead!
The glory of the Tagalong Cookie -- soon to be featured in an OutOfTheBoxBrownies recipe on this very site! Stay tuned.
2) Make my LunchBox Brownies, but use Peanut Butter slice-n-bake cookie dough instead of the Tollhouse Cookie dough that the recipe calls for. Any kid (or happy adult) will be tickled by these.
Behold, the key to all childhood dreams and to all adult wishes for world peace: The Lunchbox Brownie
3) Make my Elvis Brownie, which honors The King with a pan-fried peanut-butter brownie that is fit for Rock-n-Roll Royalty.
The last step in the Elvis brownie is to PAN-FRY IT in banana batter and melted butter. Uh-huh-huh!
4) Make my Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownie, which is a delicately balanced treat of perfection that you can stuff in your face with grace and style.
Having shared these 4 fabulous ideas for what to do on National Peanut Butter Day, I have just 4 more words for you: HOORAY FOR PEANUT BUTTER!
EARLY WARNING ALERT: I am *SO* going to make some recipes using Girl Scout cookies as ingredients.
Recipes for Samoa Brownies and Tagalong Brownies are already forming in my head. Stay tuned.
Don’t have time to make a batch of brownies? Look no further. Check out this amazing, crispy, chocolatey, peanut-buttery snack delight that I found on the shelf this fall. I’m in love! (You’re welcome, in advance.)
I chomped on this bag in two sittings. Gone, Daddy, Gone. (After I hit "submit" on this post, I'm off to the store to get another bag.)
INGREDIENTS
Boxed brownie mix (plus eggs, oil, and water as directed on box) 3/4 cup peanut butter (your choice of crunchy or creamy) About 3 T. water 5 twin-packs of MallowCups, a total of 10 cups (please be aware: they have coconut in them) If you can’t find MallowCups, substitute about 1/2 c. marshmallow fluffDIRECTIONS
First, you really should be playing Viva Las Vegas while you work on this recipe. And maybe Jailhouse Rock and Burning Love.
Next, prepare your brownie mix as directed on box. Pour it into a greased 8×12 pan.
Mix peanut butter with water, adding a little water at a time. Add water until it is a little thicker than your brownie batter.
Thin your peanut butter (crunchy or smooth) with a few tablespoons of water until it's easy to mix and a little thicker than your brownie batter.
Add tablespoon-sized dollops of peanut butter mixture on top of the brownie batter. (Is the word “dollop” EVER used for something that is NOT completely delectable?)
Add peanut butter mixture by tablespoon-sized dollops to the top of your chocolate brownie batter.
Swirl the peanut butter and brownie batters together with a knife, but not too much. Keep it chunky and funky, just like the King would’ve wanted it.
Use a knife to swirl it up. But not too much. Keep it chunky and funky.
Bake the swirly delightful mess as directed on the box mix.
While you’re waiting for the brownies to bake, cut those sweet little MallowCups into bite-sized chunks.
Any time I use the phrase "bite-sized chunks" on this site, I begin to salivate uncontrollably. Do you do that, too?
When you remove the brownies from the oven, while the crust is still warm and soft, push the MallowCups deep down into the crust. If you can’t find MallowCups in your store, take half-teaspoonfuls of marshmallow fluff and push them down into the warm crust. Not too much, just a bite of fluff for each brownie.
Put those lil' guys right into the crust. Don't be shy. You'll want to push the MallowCups pretty deep down into the brownie. When you get to the pan-frying stage, you'll want to keep all that chocolate and mallow from sticking up the pan.
Let cool until the brownies are set enough to be cut and served. Some people will want to stop right here and serve a really delicious peanut-butter-and-mallow brownie. Let’s call that The Graceland Elvis.
This next step is not for the faint of heart–and it will lead you to The Vegas Elvis.
In a blender, place banana, milk, flour, and vanilla and buzz it for just a few seconds until you get a lumpy batter. Pour into a small pan or dish. This is your Elvis Dipping Pool. You’re getting excited, aren’t you? Stay focused.
Preheat a skillet on medium to medium-high. Melt butter in the skillet. Cut a square serving of brownie. Dip your Elvis brownie into the dipping pool batter. Make sure The King gets a good swim.
Give that Elvis brownie a little dip in his banana batter. He's gonna love you for it.
Fish it out and pan-fry that bad boy for maybe 45-60 seconds on each side (side A and side B — you younger bakers are probably not going to “get” that one).
The pan-frying step is going to make you crazy -- because you're not yet eating that brownie. Hang tight, Colonel, you're almost all the way to Vegas.
Serve hot, just like Momma Presley woulda done. You might even want to sprinkle a little confectioners sugar on there for good measure. Lawd Almighty, I feel my temperature risin’…
Who says, "There's only ONE Elvis?" I count two of them: The Graceland Elvis (left) and The Vegas Elvis (right, pan-fried in banana batter).
It's like a molten explosion of peanut-butter lava.
INGREDIENTS
DIRECTIONS
Follow box instructions using oil, 3 T. water, and 1 egg to mix chocolate batter until smooth. If desired, mix in peanuts. Pour into greased pan. Set aside. Lick spoon if necessary, and be sure to wipe your mouth in case spouse enters the kitchen later.
Mix cheesecake batter according to box using 2 T. water and 1 egg. Set aside. This is getting good. It’s like the part in a movie when someone is loading bullets into a gun. You don’t know what’s about to happen, but you know there’s gonna be mayhem. And you can’t wait to see it.
Put peanut butter into a small bowl and thin it slightly with water or milk — adding just a dribble at a time. Mix thoroughly until it is about as thick as the cheesecake batter. Contain yourself. Seriously.
On top of the chocolate batter, drop spoonfuls of the cheesecake mix alternately with spoonfuls of peanut butter mix. Space your spoonfuls so you have enough to cover the whole pan.
Scrumptious spoonfuls, waiting to be swirled.
Use a knife to swirl batters together. Lucky, lucky knife.
Swirl the 3 batters together slightly by drawing a knife through them. Mmm, pretty as a prom picture. Bake this delectable swirled mess as the box directs.
While baking, chop Reese’s Cups into bite-sized chunks. When fully baked brownies emerge from the oven, use fingers to firmly press Reese’s chunks into the still-soft top crust layer. Let cool.
When you’re done, the surface will be rough and chunky, like a rocky canyon of peanut-butter boulders swimming in a burbling cheesecake river. This brownie dessert should be deemed a National Park for all to enjoy.
