Oreo Peanut Butter Brownies

Can you believe it's the last day of 2011? This year certainly had its ups and downs in our household. I am ready to move on to a fresh start with a new year. I am looking forward to celebrating New Year's Eve with good friends and good food tonight. I hope you kick off 2012 right!

Before all of those healthier eating resolutions kick in, I had to share this delicious recipe. My sister-in-law has recently started a blog, Sunday Dinner and then Some. After reading about these treats on her blog, hearing her talk about them, and seeing numerous Facebook friends make them, I caved. These were the dessert at back to back dinner parties we attended. Everyone loved them. A great go-to recipe for a last minute dessert since we usually have most of these ingredients on hand, except for Oreos. Those are not welcome in the house unless we have a use for them!

You will need:
*24 Oreo cookies (this is the one time double stuff will not work! They'll be too big)

*smooth peanut butter

*brownie mix and all the ingredients the box calls for

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line or grease a 12-cup muffin pan.

2. Spread peanut butter on top of an Oreo, press an Oreo on top, and spread more peanut butter on the top of the two Oreos stacked together. Place into the muffin tin. Repeat until you have a peanut butter Oreo stack in each muffin well.

3. Make your boxed brownie mix.

4. Spoon the prepared brownie mix into the muffin wells. Be sure to cover the cookie stacks and get down and around them. This should require about 2 tablespoons of the mixture for each Oreo stack. (I ended up making a few more because I had leftover batter and a second muffin tin!)

4. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Allow the brownies to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before transferring to baking racks to cool completely. You can also eat them warm. I highly recommend that!