Peanut Butter Cup Brookies
Last week I shared a basic recipe for brookies – the smash-up recipe swirling brownie and blondie batters into one delectable treat, perfect for when you are not sure which dessert you’re craving more. But what if you decide you have an equal craving for both brownies and blondies but you want something a little less basic, a little more indulgent, extravagant, maybe even decadent? In that case, these peanut butter cup brookies are definitely your answer.
Start with the same basic brownie and blondie recipes, but this time load both batters up with chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and peanut butter cups. Then, as if the salty-sweet combination of peanut butter and chocolate mix-ins weren’t enough, we push these bars right over the top by creating an ooey-gooey swirl of creamy peanut butter, luscious hot fudge and rich, buttery caramel. I challenge you to name a dessert craving that these treats fail to satisfy (well, okay, they won’t hit the spot for a cold, creamy sweets craving, but serve them up with a scoop of ice cream and we’ve got you covered 🙂).
I love the combination of peanut butter with chocolate and caramel (or, even better, salted caramel), but you could absolutely go in any number of different flavor directions with these:
- You could create a Ferrero Roche or Toffifay inspired bar by swapping out the peanut butter for Nutella. Replace the peanut butter chips with either more chocolate chips or caramel chips and use chopped up Ferrero Roche or Toffifay in place of the peanut butter cups.
- Try replacing the peanut butter with cookie butter, swap the peanut butter chips for caramel chips and instead of peanut butter cups, chop up Twix bars or Biscoff cookies.
- If you can get your hands on (or make) some white chocolate spread, you could swap the peanut butter for the white chocolate spread and leave out the caramel entirely. Then replace the peanut butter chips with chopped Cookies ‘n’ Creme candy bars and the peanut butter cups with coarsely chopped Oreo cookies.
- Maybe a caramel latte is your thing – Drop the peanut butter from the swirl topping, increase the espresso powder in the brownie batter to 1 or 1 1/2 teaspoons, replace the peanut butter chips with caramel chips and swap the peanut butter cups for your favorite coffee flavored candy (such as caramel cold brew M&M’s, Coffee Crisp, or caramel macchiato Hershey’s Nuggets), espresso chocolate chips or cappuccino baking chips.
The possibilities are truly endless – get inspired by your favorite dessert or candy, or get creative and experiment with new flavor combinations. Whether you go with my peanut butter cup option, one of my suggestions above or something entirely new and unique, I’m sure you will love this decadent take on a brookie!
Peanut Butter Cup Brookies
Equipment
- As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.9”x13” baking pan
- medium microwave safe bowl or double boiler
- mixing bowls
- medium saucepan
Ingredients
Brownie
- 226 g bittersweet chocolate chopped
- 165 g butter
- ½ tsp espresso powder
- 80 g flour
- 16 g cocoa powder
- 2 g salt
- 3 eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 134 g sugar
- 74 g brown sugar
- 15 ml vanilla
- 80 g peanut butter chips
- 80 g semisweet chocolate chips
- 80 g peanut butter cups chopped
Cookie
- 224 g butter
- 16 g dry milk powder
- 165 g brown sugar
- 150 g sugar
- 15 ml vanilla
- 2 g salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 240 g flour
- 80 g peanut butter chips
- 80 g semisweet chocolate chips
- 80 g peanut butter cups chopped
Swirl Topping
- 120 ml caramel ice cream topping
- 128 g creamy peanut butter
- 120 ml hot fudge
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line a 9″x13″ brownie pan with non-stick foil.
Brownie Batter
- Place the chocolate, butter and espresso powder in a medium, microwave safe bowl. Use the melt chocolate function on your microwave, or heat for 1 minute, stir, and continue to heat in 30 second intervals (stirring in between) until fully melted and smooth. (You can also use a double boiler for this step)226 g bittersweet chocolate chopped, 165 g butter, ½ tsp espresso powder
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.80 g flour, 16 g cocoa powder, 2 g salt
- In a large bowl, on low speed, beat together the eggs, egg yolk, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is a thick, glossy, syrup.3 eggs, 1 egg yolk, 134 g sugar, 74 g brown sugar, 15 ml vanilla
- Stir the melted chocolate mixture into the egg and sugar mixture until uniform in color and consistency.
- Add the flour mixture and fold just until no more dry ingredients are visible.
- Fold in the peanut butter chips, semisweet chocolate chips and chopped peanut butter cups. Set the brownie batter aside.80 g peanut butter chips, 80 g semisweet chocolate chips, 80 g peanut butter cups
Cookie Batter
- Add the butter and dry milk powder to a medium saucepan. Cook over medium low heat until the milk solids are golden brown and have a rich, nutty aroma. Immediately transfer to a large mixing bowl.224 g butter, 16 g dry milk powder
- Add the brown sugar, sugar, vanilla and salt to the browned butter, whisk to combine and start the sugar melting. Let rest until cooled to room temperature.165 g brown sugar, 150 g sugar, 15 ml vanilla, 2 g salt
- Beat in the eggs and egg yolks on low speed until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is thick and syrupy.2 eggs, 1 egg yolk
- Stir in the flour until no dry ingredients are visible.240 g flour
- Fold in the peanut butter chips, semisweet chocolate chips and chopped peanut butter cups.80 g peanut butter chips, 80 g semisweet chocolate chips, 80 g peanut butter cups
Assembly
- Add alternating scoops of brownie batter and cookie batter to your prepared pan, attempting to get roughly equal distribution of the two batters. Pipe the caramel, peanut butter and hot fudge in thick lines or zig-zags over the surface of the batters. Use a butter knife to lightly swirl the batters and toppings together (the mixture may clump and drag a bit rather than smoothly swirling, that is ok, it well melt and merge in the oven). Gently tap and shake the pan to settle the batter more evenly in the pan.120 ml caramel ice cream topping, 128 g creamy peanut butter, 120 ml hot fudge
- Place the pan in the preheated oven for about 34 minutes. The edges will be set, the top will be dry and slightly glossy in between the swirl topping, the swirl topping will be tacky and may bubble up at the edges, the middle will appear a little loose if you shake the pan – be careful not to overbake or the brookies will be dry.
- Allow the brookies to cool completely before slicing into 24 large or 40 small bars.
Nutrition
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