peanut butter fudge brownie trifle

hello again. remember me? i have been a total blog failure as of late. i'm not even going to make excuses (insanely busy summer, school year starting, not enough hours in the day, k enough said.)  i have lots of things to share with you....a delicious green bean recipe and lentil soup (yes, soup already) and others, BUT today is about this: a peanut butter fudge brownie trifle. it's from pinterest (originally from this blog: howsweeteats) you may have seen it. yes, it really is as good as it looks and i recommend you make a plan to have lots of friends over  before making it so you're forced to share this divine little treat with others.

this is sinfully rich (and not at allllll good for you) BUT it's so worth it. promise.

ingredients:

1 batch of your favorite brownies, boxed or from scratch, cooled and cut into cubes (i used ghirardelli dark chocolate with chocolate chips)

1 large box (5-ounce) of instant chocolate pudding, prepared and chilled (this will most likely call for 3 cups of milk)

1 bag of peanut butter cups, chopped (I used Recess mini cups)

2 cups heavy cream

3-4 tablespoons granulated sugar, depending on your desired level of sweetness (3 for me and it was plenty sweet!)

1 cup of creamy peanut butter

1 cup of powdered sugar

2 tablespoons milk

8 ounces of whipped cream cheese, at room temperature

what to do:

Using a hand mixer (or in the bown of an electric mixer), beat heavy cream and sugar on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form.

 Transfer the whipped cream to an separate bowl and stick in the fridge until ready to use. I did not even clean the bowl of my electric mixer and just began mixing the peanut butter mixture.

Add the peanut butter and cream cheese to the bowl and beat at medium speed, scraping down the sides a few times until mixture is creamy.

 Add in powdered sugar and mix until combined, then mix in 2 tablespoons of milk.

Remove the whipped cream from the fridge and add 1 cup of it to the peanut butter, folding it in until the mixture turns lighter in color and is mostly combined.

Grab your trifle dish (I got one that I really like from Walmart for $6...score! :) ) and begin to layer your ingredients however you’d like.

 I did a layer of brownies, then peanut butter, then a handful of chopped peanut butter cups, chocolate pudding, whipped cream, and so on. I repeated it until I got to the top, then piped the remaining whipped cream on top and sprinkled the candy on.

You really can’t go wrong with layering – just use a long spoon to serve!

we had some friends over last weekend. we packed on our front porch. the girls drank wine and talked. the guys grilled. it was a lot of fun. then the trifle happened. the most social of the social butterflies were quieted by this dessert. "it's like heaven in my mouth.", "shhh don't talk to me right now, i just want to be alone with my trifle" -emily...i mean anonymous :)

make it, you're friends will love you for it!

enjoy.