Baking in Brazil...

Sometimes baking can be a bit of challenge here in Brazil.  I appreciate any recipes that are completely from scratch so I can adapt them to the ingredients I have available to me.  Recently I found a yummy recipe online for peanut butter filled brownies baked in cupcake tins.  See recipe here: http://www.bakedperfection.com/2009/07/peanut-butter-cup-brownies.html

I decided to revamp this recipe using a wacky cake recipe for the brownie part.  Here is my version of Peanut Butter Cup Brownies:



3 cups flour
2 cups white sugar
8 tablespoons cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons vinegar
12 tablespoons oil
2 cups water

Combine all into a large mixing bowl and beat until thoroughly combined.  Pour into 24 muffin tins lined with cupcake papers.  Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes until the centers are set but still wet looking.  Fill a ziplock bag with peanut butter that has been softened in the microwave for about 1 minute.  The amount of peanut butter you use will depend on how much of a peanut butter filling you want in the cupcake.  Snip one corner of the bag.  With a toothpick dig out a little hole in the middle of each cupcake while they are still warm.  Poke the snipped corner down into the cupcake and squeeze peanut butter until it is level with the top of the cupcake.  You can drizzle peanut butter across the tops and some chocolate.  For the chocolate, just melt several tablespoons of chocolate chips in the microwave with 1/2 teaspoon of shortening for 30 seconds and then stir until smooth.  Repeat the same process in the ziplock bag with the chocolate.  Cool completely.

mmm...somebody's ready for a taste test!