Cuppies

We've been pretty busy doing birthday activities for my youngest son.  I took a half day off work to meet him after school.  He really likes to cook, so I thought we would make a special treat together.

I had just read about a really yummy looking recipe on Sweet Magnolia Way for peanut butter crunchy fudge brownies.  I felt inspired by this recipe, but I have a hard time not improvising when I cook.  I decided to let my kids pick out their favorite candy to melt onto the brownies.

Problem:  When we got to the store, my kids could not make up their minds. 

So we got them all.  Milk chocolate, dark chocolate, marshmallows, toffee, butterscotch chips, caramel, white chocolate, and a few different candy bars.

When we got home, I made the brownies in cupcake tins so that the kids could put different toppings on each one.  They had a great time. 
  
We couldn't decided whether to call these things cupcakes or brownies.  My older son suggested brown-akes, but no one really liked that name.  Then he suggested cuppies, which everyone liked.

As you can see, a few had disappeared before I managed to take pictures :)

How about you?  Do you like to follow a recipe when you cook, or do you like to improvise?  Do recipes ever inspire you?