I’ve been making lots of peanut butter recipes recently. Even more so than usual.
But I doubt you’re complaining.
I’m on vacation and make things that I know will turn out and that we like. This isn’t the time I want to experiment.
And I’ll never say no to peanut butter and chocolate, especially by way of dense, fudgy, rich, one-bowl brownies.
I have three main brownie base recipes on my site, that all others are derived from.
They’re each one-bowl, no-mixer recipes, that you can make in less than 5 minutes. As fast as using a boxed mix and they include:
Three eggs with melted chocolate in a 9×9 pan
Two eggs with cocoa powder in a 8×8 pan
Two eggs with cocoa powder in a 9×9 pan
I went for option two because the smaller the batch size, the better. I’m getting into a swimsuit daily.
Also, I tend not to keep chocolate bars on hand here in Aruba because they melt, whereas I always have cocoa powder stashed.
I melted the butter in the micro, whisked in the rest of the ingredients, and since I didn’t want to be bothered with having to frost them after baking, I swirled in peanut butter before baking.
I’m a big fan of peanut butter swirls and swirls in general. They’re a time-saver and they taste good. A win-win.
There are two major turnoffs for me with brownies, cakey and dry, and these are neither. They’re thick, dense, rich, ultra-fudgy, with zero traces of cakiness nor dryness.
Although cocoa powder sometimes gets a bad rap compared to melted chocolate, thousands of people love these cocoa powder brownies as I wrote about. You’ll change your mind about cocoa powder after trying them.
They’re not too sweet, very chocolaty, and I amp the chocolate intensity with a splash of coffee and espresso granules to bring out and enhance the chocolatiness, but they don’t make the brownies taste like coffee.
The peanut butter adds a touch of saltiness and balances the chocolate intensity.
And everything is better with peanut butter.
Pin This Recipe
Enjoy AverieCooks.com Without Ads! 🆕
Go Ad Free
Peanut Butter-Swirled Fudgy Brownies
Ingredients
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, 1 1/4 sticks, melted
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 tablespoons brewed coffee, leftover from the morning brew is fine, optional but recommend to enhance chocolate flavor and does not make brownies taste like coffee
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 tablespoons brewed coffee, leftover from the morning brew is fine, optional but recommend to enhance chocolate flavor and does not make brownies taste like coffee
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process, I used Hershey’s natural
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso granules, optional but recommend to enhance chocolate flavor and does not make brownies taste like coffee
- ¼ teaspoon salt, optional and to taste
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil leaving overhang on the sides, spray with cooking spray; set aside.
- In a large, microwave-safe bowl, add the butter and heat on high power to melt, about 1 minute. Allow butter to cool momentarily so you don’t scramble the eggs.
- Add the eggs, sugars, optional coffee, vanilla, and whisk to combine.
- Add the cocoa powder, optional espresso granules, optional salt, and whisk to combine. If your cocoa powder is lumpy, it could take a couple minutes of vigorous whisking.
- Add the flour and stir until just combined, don’t overmix.
- Turn batter out into prepared pan; set aside.
- In a small microwave-safe bowl, add the peanut butter and heat on high power to melt, about 45 seconds.
- Drizzle peanut butter over batter to create swirls. To create the marbled pattern shown, drizzle peanut butter over batter in 5 wide, evenly spaced, parallel lines, each spanning the length of the pan. Like 5 rows of long train tracks. Rotate pan 90-degrees. With a toothpick, starting at the top of the pan, “draw” 4 or 5 evenly spaced lines through the peanut butter. You’re dragging the toothpick perpendicularly through the first set of lines to create the marbling.
- Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until done; don’t overbake. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out mostly clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. Allow brownies to cool in pan for about 1 hour before lifting out with foil overhang and slicing.
- Brownies will keep airtight at room temperature or refrigerator for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 6 months. I prefer to store them in the fridge and serve them slightly chilled.
- Adapted from The Ultimate Fudgy Caramel Brownies
©averiecooks.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited.
Related Recipes
The Ultimate Fudgy Caramel Brownies
Homemade Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies
Fudgy Nutella Brownies with Cream Cheese Frosting
Oreo Cookie-Stuffed Brownies with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
Banana Bread Brownies with Vanilla Caramel Glaze
Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache – The best, fastest, and easiest chocolate cake
Soft and Chewy Brownie Cookies
Frozen Chocolate Pudding and Wafer Cake (No-Bake, 3 ingredients)
Chewy Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cereal Bars (no-bake, vegan, GF) – Tied with two bars below as one of my top 3 favorite bars this year
Nutella-Swirled Peanut Butter Chip Blondies
My cookbook, Peanut Butter Comfort
What’s your favorite brownie recipe?
This is so painful to read while I’m in the throes of eating Paleo! Ugh.
This is crazy. Two secs after I read this, my dear friend Marla’s post popped up and you’re in serendipitous luck!! https://www.familyfreshcooking.com/2013/08/14/flourless-chocolate-brownies-recipe
Suh-weet! Thanks =)
These sounds fantastic! Who doesn’t like chocolate pb combo!
I love a good, dense, rich FUDGY brownie. I actually made my own favorite brownie recipe at the beach and it just hit the spot. With a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side, of course.
Great thinking to just DIY with your own recipe!
Peanut butter swirl brownies sound amazing! Love pb desserts of all kinds. There are lots of days when I make things I know will work. Of course there are days when I experiment. When the recipes work it is super rewarding but when they don’t …
I am all about things working, with the least amt of ‘wondering if…” when on vacation!
Nice and classic combination: peanut butter and chocolate. Yum! I love making bars, but I’ve actually never made brownies before- thank for you posting this and saying how easy these are to make!
So easy! ALL of my brownie recipes are EASY – I don’t do mixers or anything complicated for brownies!
Bring on the PB recipes!! I can never resist them. Chocolate and peanut butter is my very favorite combo!! These brownies are insane and I love them. They look fudgy and just down right amazing!
I am still thinking about your cupcakes from yesterday (and I saw them on EVERY food site too – congrats!)
What a delicious looking brownie! I keep an open mind with recipes, so cocoa powder sounds just fine to me.
I love your Aruba photos. I have never been and it looks like paradise.
It’s gorgeous, yes – thanks! And I was skeptical about the cocoa powder til I tried it and am so happy I did!
No complaints here about more PB recipes! I’ve used brownie recipe option #1 so many times and they’re so perfect. Need to try your other go-tos! Oh, and can you please come swirl my PB for me? Mine always looks like a hot mess!
Option #1 was what every brownie in my cookbook is based off – so you are on the right track :)
These brownies are gorgeous Averie! Lovely recipe – I’m definitely saving this!
Your brownies look FANTASTIC! Peanut butter and chocolate is simply divine – and you added coffe to the chocolate – oh my – talk about partay in my mouth! :)
I’m so excited about these – and I’m glad you’ve been all about the pb recipes lately!!! These look so moist and out of this world!!!
Even after writing a cookbook about it, I still don’t get sick of it! So I roll with it :)
I am ALWAYS in support of swirls in my brownies! Yet another amazing looking recipe. I love how fudgy and dense these are!!!!
Super fudgy & dense which is why I love them. Nothing cakey or dry here!
Amazing and looks like the perfect brownie! Fudgy, quick, AND peanut buttery = WINNER. :)
Amen, and yes!
I love the PB swirls baked right in (and of course the fudginess too)! I know my husband would like these because whenever I make plain brownies, he always smears PB on top. Plain PB is always his “frosting” of choice. I tried your caramel apple white cc bars last night. One of my patients gave me some homemade applesauce so I wanted to try it in something. The apples she used were more of a tart variety but it worked so well in the bars and was balanced out by the white chocolate and caramel. YUM!!
Oh gosh, I haven’t made those bars in a long time but fall is just around the corner (sniff, I’ll miss summer) and those bars are a great way to use apples. Thanks for trying them and so glad you liked them! Homemade applesauce sounds so good!
And if your hubs like plain PB on brownies, he’d love these. I have a PB-frosting topped brownie recipe I once guest-posted on another lady’s site that’s really good but for just fast, easy, and PB, this is the way to go!
They look great! loving the swirl on the top, makes it so pretty but i still love crackly top brownies better ;). Fudge, melting belly goodness is were brownies should always be at.
These must be fantastic, the pb + chocolate combo is a wonderful one! I have to try this recipe soon, because I hate it too when I get dry and cakey brownies yuk. But these look perfect!! c:
Thanks & yes try these for FUDGY brownies – they are anything but dry or cakey!