I realize that you might have been expecting something green, rainbow-ed or four-leaf clover-ed or filled with beer, cabbage and potatoes today. But sometimes life presents bigger exigencies, needs that must be addressed tout de suite, wrongs that cannot wait for the ideal slot on the calendar to be righted. What I mean is: I really wanted a chocolate and peanut butter brownie the other day and realized I’ve never, in 10-plus years of showing up here a couple times a week, made time for these. This is reprehensible.
I found a version I’d worked on a few years ago in the mines of my disorganized laptop. I’ve always thought that peanut butter is perfect complement for cream cheese; the sharp creamy flavor brings out everything that often puts peanut butter to sleep in other recipes. But I hadn’t noted why the recipe had underwhelmed me, only remembered that it had so I had to — woe is me — make them again. They weren’t right; the peanut butter was too muted. So, I made them again sans cream cheese and they were better, but there were marbling issues. And then, fully drowning in chocolate peanut butter brownies but unable to quit now, I made them one last time and now I need you to come over and take these away. No human being should have to face down dozens of sea salt-flecked crisp-edged, fudgy-centered peanut butter swirled brownies every time they open the refrigerator — these are amazing cold, by the way, just do it — to get a grapefruit or avocado or apple, any of the other foods I used to sustain myself with before this week began.
You will, however, have to get through my husband and kids first. They did not consent to sharing them.
Previously
One year ago: Chocolate Peanut Butter Tart
Two years ago: Black Bottom Oatmeal Pie
Three years ago: Double Chocolate Banana Bread
Four years ago: Coconut Bread
Five years ago: Carrot Cake Pancakes
Six years ago: Sally Lunn Bread
Seven years ago: Breakfast Pizza and Irish Soda Bread Scones
Eight years ago: Layer Cake Tips and The Biggest Birthday Cake Yet
Nine years ago: Almond Biscotti and Roasted Acorn Squash and Gorgonzola Pizza
Ten! years ago: Mediterranean Eggplant and Barley Salad
And for the other side of the world:
Six Months Ago: Chocolate Pavlova and Homemade Merguez with Herby Yogurt
1.5 Years Ago: Zucchini Rice and Cheese Gratin
2.5 Years Ago: Cauliflower Slaw
3.5 Years Ago: Fudgy Chocolate Sheet Cake
4.5 Years Ago: Roasted Apple Spice Sheet Cake
Peanut Butter Swirled Brownies
I realize that the sugar level seems high here but promise it won’t taste excessively so. Unsweetened chocolate requires a lot more sugar than sweetened would, and the peanut butter volume here is substantial enough that it needs to be sweetened as well. Don’t forget the salt, however; it brings out the flavor of the peanuts and adds a great accent to the whole pan.
- 3/4 cup (190 grams) smooth peanut butter
- 2/3 (135 grams) cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extra
- A few pinches of flaky or coarse sea salt
- 3 ounces (85 grams) unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup (115 grams or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, plus extra for pan
- 1 1/4 cups (250 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon flaky or heaped 1/4 teaspoon of coarse sea salt
- 2/3 cup (85 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup (40 grams) semi- or bittersweet chocolate chips
Peanut Butter Batter
Brownie Batter
To finish
Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment and coat the bottom and sides with nonstick cooking spray or butter.
Make peanut butter batter: Whisk all ingredients in a bowl until smooth.
Make brownie batter: In a medium heatproof bowl over gently simmering water, melt chocolate and butter together until only a couple unmelted bits remain. Off the heat, stir until smooth and fully melted. You can also do this in the microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring between each. Whisk in sugar, then eggs, one at a time, then vanilla and salt. Stir in flour with a spoon or flexible spatula.
Assemble brownies: Spread a thin layer of brownie batter (about 1/3 of total batter, but no need to be exact) in bottom of prepared baking pan. Dollop peanut butter batter all over in big spoonfuls. Dollop remaining brownie batter in pan, aiming, if you can, between the peanut butter dollops. Use a butter knife to swirl the batters together in loose figure-8s. Sprinkle chips all over.
Bake: For 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out batter-free.
To keep: Brownies keep well at room temperature, in the fridge or freezer.
……and I just thought of a reason why I should go to the gym……later.
Thoughts on if coconut oil or another non dairy fat would work for these?
I made them yesterday replacing the butter 1:1 with coconut oil, and they turned out beautifully! I baked them for 28 min rather than 30-35 (for reference, I live at sea level – I know altitude can affect baking temps). Also, I chilled them in the freezer afterwards for cutting. For baked goods containing coconut oil, they can feel runnier/softer when hot, and then become incredibly hard when frozen — but are perfectly normal when slightly chilled or at room temp. Hope that helps!
Oh man, deffo gonna give these a try this weekend! Baking with peanut butter is such a mess but so totally worth it. Beautiful!
An easy way to deal with peanut butter, instead of mucking up a bunch of spoons and cups and spatulas, is to put the bowl you are putting the peanut butter in and put it in a scale that you can tare. Simply spoon the amount of peanut butter you need by weight directly into the bowl (which is on the scale) and when you hit the magic number you are done. And have a spoon to lick :)
Maybe everyone else already knew this wonderful tip, but it has never occurred to me. Thank you, Aimee!!!
I made mine with natural peanut butter. Should I compensate with a little extra oil since the consistency is different without the added ingredients?
Great idea! Thank you!
Is this missing a leavening agent?
These look awesome! I made your cocoa brownies the other day (my go-to for a treat when I don’t have anything in the house but the basics) and swirled in tahini- it was great but I wanted more tahini and I think it would have messed up the consistency of the brownies to add too much. I guess I’ll have to experiment. . . :)
I was thinking of trying these with tahini!! I much prefer that combo to PB and chocolate.
Ottolenghi has a fantastic tahini and halva brownie recipe. I think it was in his Guardian column. So rich, so delicious, and not too sweet.
I finally made the gluten-free peanut butter cookies that I had been hearing about, which are only peanut butter, sugar, and egg, and was crossing fingers you had come up with a peanut butter batter that was similar, because the peanut flavor shines better without other stuff. And you did.
No leavening agent? Is that intentional? I really want to make these!
Absolutely. Brownies are not cake, should be dense and fudgy.
Deb. You’re cracking me up! This happened to me when I was figuring out dulce de leche, 4 cheese macaroni and cheese, and most recently YOUR broccoli (and various riffs on broccoli) pizzas! To make matters worse, my husband is a vegan which has me eating way more of my test recipes than any one person should. These look amazing! Way to take one (or 2 batches) for the team. Happy St. Peanut butter Patty’s Day.
It’s St. Paddy’s not St. Patty’s! Oh, and Deb, a shamrock has only 3 leaves. It is not the same as a 4 leaf clover. ;-)
I was so confused by this post because I could have sworn you already had a peanut butter brownie recipe on your site. Then I realized that I’ve been adapting the pumpkin brownie recipe for so long I just assumed it was official! Excited to try this one though as I could never get the texture just right when using the other one. Thanks!
https://smittenkitchen.com/2007/10/peanut-butter-brownies/
^^^there’s no way these can beat the old recipe! But I will try it anyway, for research.
I’ve always thought of those as blondies, to the point that I just realized they’re called “brownies” (!) and they’re delicious but can run a little dry (why the ganache is nonnegotiable). These are more like chocolate brownies with a lot of pb swirled in.
These look marvelous, Deb! Brief typo note, in the second paragraph of the head notes, you say “Unsweetened chocolate requires more a lot sugar…”
Thanks, now fixed.
For my PB allergic household, would these work with almond butter or tahini,perhaps?
I’d say either. Tahini might have more flavor coming through. Does anyone like sunflower seed butter? I think that’s my favorite peanut-free option.
Thanks. Haven’t tried it, it will see if it’s available here in my rural corner of the world.
Word to the wise – sunbutter is a great pb replacement in many applications, but it turns green when you cook with it! The reason behind the color change is on the sunbutter website, as are recipies that won’t turn green
It won’t in this one. It is baking powder that makes it green up!
Whoops! I meant soda!
I make my own. I dry roast raw sunflower seeds and run them in my food processor’s mini chopper while still warm. It takes a few good minutes and you might need to scrape down a few times and make sure the machine doesn’t overheat, but that’s all it takes to get fresh, 100% sunflower seed butter. It’ll smell so good you’ll never want to let the pot go for as long as there is butter left in it.
I adore sunflower seed butter! Many people say sunflower seed butter tastes savoury to them, but even in their case it should work in this recipe, where salt is essential.
I want to keep these in the freezer, and sneak a (small, if I can manage) piece every night right before bed. Not sure I have that much self-control!
These look amazing- I can’t wait to try them! Is it possible to use cocoa powder instead of the melted chocolate? Thanks so much!
I was wondering the same thing! Would love to know if this is an option so I can make them immediately! :-)
You can sub in cocoa powder, but you have to add fat. Betty Crocker says 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate = 3 Tablespoons cocoa + 1 Tablespoon butter. I typically just add the cocoa to the dry ingredients and the butter to the fat already called for in the recipe. Hasn’t failed me yet!
You might then start with these cocoa brownies. I find that brownie batter (good brownie batter, at least) likes to firm up quickly in the bowl, so I have us make the peanut butter here first so you use the chocolate batter right away. I’d do that with the cocoa brownie batter too.
If you used the cocoa brownies recipe, would you make the full recipe, and still bake in an 8×8 pan? Or would you (a) scale down the recipe or (b) bake in a larger pan?
OMG. Making this NOW.
My goodness… here I sit, taking a break from doing my civic duty (sitting on a jury), and now I’m going to be thinking about making these when I get home.
(Even though I already have plans to cake a birthday cake tonight for my boyfriend. Sadly, his traditional cake-the one grandma always made him- is lemon. Here is to celebrating Birthday Week instead of just one day. )
Yum! I noticed you did another chocolate peanut butter recipe a year ago. ;) Any idea how much sugar you would use if you only have dark chocolate? Thanks!
I only had dark so halved the sugar for the brownie batter and it is glorious 😊
Can’t wait to make these! Do you use sweetened smooth (like good ‘ol Skippy’s) or unsweetened natural peanut butter?
Ahhh and of course right after I press send I see your note on the recipe about using commercial peanut butter…. thanks!
You can use either but I’m a Skippy loyalist. Some kid tastes don’t change. ;)
Thanks! So very true :)
Well. Now we’re fighting. #JIFFTW
With you on the Skippy. The best pb (imho) has rich roasted notes, and Skippy has it more than Jif and all of the natural ones I’ve tried.
Team Jif here. BTW these were excellent with Jif extra crunchy. Even better the 2nd day! I used a Fiesta 8X8″ and it took about 15 minutes longer to bake than the recipe said. Maybe because of the thick ceramic?
The peanut butter batter ingredients say “1/4 teaspoon vanilla extra,” which sounds DELICIOUS and magical, but I think you mean vanilla extract! :)
I was just thinking that extra vanilla is alway welcome!
Amusing that “one year ago” is chocolate peanut butter tart. :-)
Well I had been successfully ignoring the tub of TJ’s dark chocolate peanut butter cups in my snack drawer today, but now I see that resistance is futile.
I seriously saw the title of this post and teared up (tears of joy of course). My neighbors have already lined up to taste test tonight. How kind of them. Thanks for being awesome Deb.
Oooh… I see what you’ve done here… brownies that are swirled with, basically, the batter from the flourless peanut butter cookies. Brilliant! I might just be the only person alive who does not think peanut butter and cream cheese are good together, so this recipe makes me extremely happy!
you weren’t the only one who noticed that!!! it’s one of my fav GF things to make for friends and I almost always have some dough got it in the freezer.
I was going to make your lasagna bolonese tomorrow. Forget it, I’m making these instead.
This looks INCREDIBLE!
Too of my favourite things combined!
Brownies look so delicious, thanks for sharing, you’ve made me so hungry 😁
You’re killing me, Smalls!!! OMG!
In the name of research, I will try these. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t share these, which are the best brownies I’ve ever had. I use 3x the pb recommended. I suppose having my children gone visiting grandparents for the weekend will require that I make both…for research.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/peanut-swirl-brownies-recipe
I totally agree about cream cheese and peanut butter…which is why my favorite breakfast is plain Greek yogurt with a tablespoon of peanut butter…and a drop of honey :) can’t wait to make these brownies! Nothing I love more than peanut butter for breakfast and dessert!
Ooh, good breakfast idea!
Strange question I’ll admit, but can I skip the chocolate chips on the top? I’m a purist and don’t like chips in my brownies.
Yes, absolutely. They’re mostly decoration, like confetti.
First fries, then this?! I live in a climate where people are already shopping for bathing suits! 😝 That said, I’m putting these ingredients on my grocery list stat.
This looks gorgeous! I wish I could take a bite. My son’s birthday is coming up and I will be trying your recipe. Thank you.
DEB ! DEB DEB DEB DEB DEB ! You don’t have a ceviche recipe !!!!
If you want to make one, there’s this cool nicaraguan guy that makes one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ictSgHfqaCM). Also should I suggest you to try out:
– the tielle sétoise: it’s a spicy tomato baby octopus pie
– the shiro and doro wat: they’re ethiopian stews. Shiro is a chickpea stew with berbere and doro wat is a delicious rich chicken stew that you should have at an ethiopian restaurant
– the yemeni grilled fish
I just made these and my peanut batter was quite stiff and borderline crumbly. I think I measured everything correctly… I’m at high altitude (colorado) and it’s dry here so maybe that has something to do with it. They just went in the oven!
I just made this and found the peanut butter mixture quite stiff and crumbly too. Thought it was BC Australian pb is different. Ended up more spreading/mixing instead of swirling, but the end result is delicious nonetheless.
I’m in Aus but used American peanut butter (from Costco). Texture of the PB batter was very crumbly so I added an extra egg because I thought maybe the problem was that my eggs were regular rather than large size. We’ll see how it turns out!
I also used Costco peanut butter (just peanuts + salt) and found the batter to be really crumbly and not all swirlable . I’m guessing this is a natural peanut butter issue–sometimes the bottom of the jar is thicker if the oil isn’t thoroughly mixed in.
I also used the Costco natural PB, and would definitely describe the mixture as crumbly, and I certainly couldn’t get them to swirl. It doesn’t matter. My ugly brownies are totally delicious, and I will definitely make these again!
I always use TJ’s roasted salted PB. When I bake with a recipe that’s designed for “conventional”PB, I add melt in a slight tablespoon of coconut oil to loosen it up a little and help it act like the emulsified kind.
You’re a genius, Kate! :)
Yep, ditto on the stiff, crumbly peanut butter mixture, and since my natural peanut butter didn’t have salt in it the flavor was funky. I tried adding more but just couldn’t get the flavor I was hoping for. I think the commercial pb is the only way to go on this recipe–I didn’t notice that note until it was too late.
Same here, the peanut butter batter was like wet sand, crumbly, not smooth. Baking now, but does not look good. I suppose as long as it tastes good, but I’m frustrated bc I need them for a birthday party tonight. :(
I used Skippy, and my PB dough was pretty thick too. Definitely turned out delicious & fudgy, but not perfectly swirled! Maybe it’s just my swirling technique though.
Same here. I used Trader Joe’s Organic Creamy Salted, plus a little Jif when I ran out of the natural. I couldn’t really swirl the brownies, they ended up mooshed looking.
Also, I found these never got to the point where no batter remained on the toothpick; I ended up taking them out after 40 (!) minutes, and the edges were more done than I like, but the inside was still a little gooey. Could be my oven, it runs a little colder, I think.
These were tasty but I don’t think I’ll be making them again; I forgot in my excitement that about 1/3 of our family is not keen on peanut butter in general. My five year old accused me, in a stern tone, of “putting peanuts in brownies,” and asked for chocolate chip cookies. I liked them well enough, but family consensus is the Best Cocoa Brownies are still the way to go.
I had the same issue with the bake time, it took til almost 50 minutes to be batter free! My swirl was nice and my friends loved them but I prefer deb’s spiced brownies. These were far prettier tho.
I had the same problem! After 40 minutes my edges and the bottom and crunchy, butths middle is still borderline runny. I don’t know why.
I’m also in colorado and had the same problem with the PB batter. Also, my brownies never firmed up in the oven. I kept adding five minutes more and five more and I think I might have kept them in the oven too long as eventually I ended up with a big oily gooey mass. I literally had a bubbling layer of PB oil on the top of the pan. I let them cool, but no luck. They went in the compost. :( Brownies at altitude have been a challenge since I moved out here! More experimenting!
I made these today and had the same problem! I used Skippy. I tried to microwave the peanut butter batter to loosen it up a bit but it didn’t really help. I was wondering about an extra egg (ours in Scotland run a bit smaller than back home in USA) or maybe some water. Even though it was more like chunks of PB, the brownies are still delicious! A tad salty though with Maldon salt so I’ll lower that a wee bit next time. And there will be a next time…
Hi,
I make a peanut butter swirl brownie, but my peanut butter layer is one cup of Skippy and one can of sweetened condensed milk, warmed up in the microwave for about one minute. Works really well. :)
I used Skippy, and am in NYC (not high altitude). Mine was also crumbly and dry. I’ve also noticed that the “large” eggs I recently bought are a little on the big side, if that makes any diff. The recipe as a whole didn’t really work for me.
This is not the year I should have given up chocolate for lent.
It’s delicious
These look amazing! My baby has a dairy protein allergy and I’m wondering how to adapt these to be dairy-free. Do you think shortening would work? Coconut oil? Thanks in advance!
Janessa, my (now 20 year old) son also has a dairy protein allergy. Over the years I have found Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks to be the best substitute in baking for butter. Coconut oil is good for some things but for baking, I rely on the Earth Balance sticks. Hope this helps.
Thank you Jen! I think he also has a soy allergy and it’s hard to find the soy free sticks, but this is a good reason to try :)
This is the dairy-free brownie recipe I use – it’s my favourite since having to cut dairy out! Possibly could be used as the base and just use the peanutbutter topping from Deb’s recipe?
You can replace the coffee with some other liquid if you don’t want to feed coffee to kids :)
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/deep-dark-fudgy-brownies-recipe
What a coincidence! I got a hankering for peanut butter brownies today and did a google search. I recognized the blog “smitten kitchen” … it wasn’t until after I checked out your recipe that I noticed that you posted this today!!! I am GF, so I used teff flour and i did not have unsweetened chocolate, only bittersweet, so i cut down on the sugar. My peanut butter is probably more natural than yours because it didn’t really make dollops. After all that … these were quite incredible. Also, for whatever reason, i got just a hint of that chewy brownie texture that is illusive with GF brownies. So thanks for the recipe and for the awesome, trustworthy blog!
Deb’s “best cocoa brownies” recipe only calls for a 1/2 cup of flour. I have made it several times with cup4cup and they turn out very close to the original. My gf friend loved them!
In case anyone else is feeling lazy or looking for an easy dairy-free/gluten-free modification: I made this PB batter and swirled it into a store-bought gf brownie mix (Trader Joes) as I didn’t feel like risking a failed recipe tonight. Delicious! (…though less peanut-buttery than I was imagining; could that be my modification?) I also cut PB batter sugar down to 1/2c.
Holy cannoli these look incredible! I’m kind of not caring about the sugar or salt content because I’d prefer to eat them and live in ignorance… just because they look soooooo darn good! YUM
http://www.thislifeisbelle.com
Followup question on the smooth commercial peanut butter– those usually contain a lot of sugar as well. Does yours? Maybe with natural peanut butter (which I normally buy) one should add extra sugar too? Re: salt, some natural peanut butter is salted and some isn’t, so check the label.
Attach this one directly to my butt and thighs – they won’t stand a chance against these brownies. I’ll let my husband know that the diet won’t start until NEXT MONDAY!
My daughter turns 2 tomorrow and loves both chocolate and peanut butter. She has helped me and after I put her to sleep I secretly tested it 😍😍 Thanks to her the marble-effect is sort of diminished, but the taste and texture is so good!
Let’s just say I was not in the mood for something green yesterday. This is just the thing I craved. Thank you -Hanne
Looks like a reason to turn on the oven.
Mine are in the oven now, and I had the same issue as some others – my peanut butter was more crumbly and grainy and did not integrate as smoothly as yours in the photograph. So, it did not have the beautiful swirls as yours. Any suggestions? (I’m sure they are delicious despite this aesthetic). Thanks!
p.s I did use Skippy!
Oh boy. I have been addicted to the blondies and made two doubled batches in 73 hours. They disappeared. Now, I have to try these.
Keep? Brownies…… keep? (I’ve gotta make these! Soon!)
maybe you’ve been looking for something like this, Deb:
http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/peanut-butter-and-chocolate-cheesecake-swirl-brownies
Recipe commenters tend toward the superlative but…best brownie ever.
I have a crowd of teenagers to feed tomorrow so I doubled the recipe and put it in a 9×13 pan. Worked a treat with no baking time adjustment. I used natural peanut butter, including some of the dry stuff from the bottom of the jar. My pb batter was stiffer than yours looked to be and resisted swirling. I wound up with more of chocolate/peanut butter Holstein look. :)
How long did you bake the doubled recipe?
Made these today and they didn’t really turn out for me :(. I think a stick of butter is too much, the chocolate batter was very greasy and would never really set up. So sad!
Was very excited about these bc a) I’m pregnant and b) they’re basically a mash-up of my favorite brownie recipe (Molly Wiezenberg’s), and my favorite peanut butter cookie recipe (3 ingredient). Used natural peanut butter and, like others, found the peanut batter fairly crumbly, though this is exactly what it’s like when I make cookies regardless of whether I use natural or conventional peanut butter. Made it pretty impossible to swirl, but plopping random chunks into the brownie batter here and there basically accomplished the same thing (maybe slightly less marbled). I have heard Jiff brand is the best for baking so maybe it would make it more swirlable? I have never been able to try it as I don’t think we get it up in Canada. Also am at high altitude and mine needed 39 minutes to be done. Anyhow, finished brownies did not disappoint! Definitely prefer them cold from the fridge rather than room temp, but that’s how I do plain brownies too! Thanks for a great recipe!!
I used Jif and had the same problem with the swirling. I am a natural peanut butter gal but Jif is the best to bake with.
FOLLOW UP: Made these again using Jif (I found some!), and also made sure my peanut butter and eggs were at room temp and left mixing the peanut butter batter until right before putting it on top of the brownie batter. It was totally swirlable! Still took longer than recommended time to bake, but I’m still attributing this to altitude… and my pyrex pan probably contributes too.
Noticed a lot of people are commenting on wanting to cut the butter in the recipe; 1/2 cup of butter is a pretty standard amount in fudgey brownie recipes that yield an 8″x8″ pan. Maybe they’re all more into cakey brownies? (Though why????? Cold fudgey brownies all the way!!)
What did I do wrong?! They looked perfect going in. Followed directions exactly. After 35 minutes, still very raw in the middle. Another 5 minutes, still raw. Another 10 minutes, still a bit gooey but OK. Took them out and the top is totally hard and chewy and the center is still not fully cooked! I have an over thermometer so the temp was accurate. Can’t figure out where I went wrong!
I had the same problem. Also, the chocolate batter was extremely greasy. When I cut the brownies oil pooled out :(
I also had the same problem with the oil pooling.
I just made this. Omitted the chips in the interest of not over-egging the pudding. They’re a hit. Only issue I had was that they took an hour to cook. Of course, this may be my oven. Thanks for another terrific recipe.
O M G!
These shroud taste heavenly. My favorite candy bar is Reese’s peanut butter cups!
These are amazing. My peanut butter swirl (I used Skippy) was quite thick, but I wouldn’t call it crumbly. The brownie batter has been my go-to for ages, but the layered-then-swirl technique is genius!! Much better mix of flavors than I usually achieve. Previously I had combined the PB swirl from a brown eyed baker recipe and the SK one-bowl brownies, but I love the addition of an egg to the peanut butter swirl here. Also it seems more peanutty!
#grabsSpoon #eatsAllTheRawBatter #Yum
I made these, but with a layer of brownie and a layer of PB, topped with brownie. I ended up with goo covered by a crispy brownie layer. Any idea what I’ve done wrongbesides spreading the peanut butter and not blobbing it about?
I made these yesterday. Only problem was the peanut butter batter was far thicker than the brownie batter, so I couldn’t really swirl it at all. I had to kind of nudge it around as best I could. The peanut butter was (spouse insists this was the only kind Target had in small jars…) the Target store brand and it was labeled “peanut butter spread”, do you think that’s why? It seemed to have the same texture as Skippy when I opened it, although the taste wasn’t as peanutty. They are tasty, even if not as beautiful as the swirly ones. My advice to anyone making this is go to the store yourself to get the peanut butter! And maybe add a tsp of milk to the peanut mix if looks like it’s going to be too solid to swirl.
I made these the other day. They’re delicious but I encountered a couple problems. As others have noted the peanut butter part is pretty thick. I had a hard time making a “swirl” and it all sort of ended up being mushed together a little bit. I also found the chocolate part a little greasy. But, they taste good. I think if I made this again I’d cut the butter in the chocolate part a little bit.
Deb these looked absolutely delish so had to make them! Just put them in the oven for a dinner party tonight and the peanut butter batter came out a little thick and sort of crumbly so couldn’t make the beautiful swirl pattern. Could I have over mixed it? Or did I not mix it enough? Thanks for the help!
AMAZING. I’m wrapping up a super stressful week and there you go for the nth time, giving me a recipe for exactly what I was craving before I realized it myself. Made these last night and my PB-obsessed toddler deemed them officially “dee-WISH-iss”. Batches will need to be made and frozen, as my family includes a long line of chocolate-PB lovers. Thank you once again for such a terrific recipe!
Just made this today (for a play date, but really because I wanted to eat them) and I have to say these are some of the most glorious brownies I’ve ever made. Maybe it’s the sudden craving for PB but the chocolate PB combo is awesome! Like some of the other comment’s my PB batter was a tad stiff. Probably to do with the PB brand. Rather than swirling the batters together, I was mostly’cutting through. I didn’t mind because it more like a PB cookie in the middle of my brownie yummm! Maybe I’ll try again with another brand of PB and see if it’s any different. Thanks Deb for answering my taste buds prayers!
Or you could try what we do at the bakery… cocoa brownies, minus the cocoa, split the batter in half and add peanut butter to half and Dutch cocoa to the other half. Swirl heaven.
Interesting, i have been making a peanut butter swirled brownie for years, and assumed i’d got the recipe from you Deb! Mine uses icing sugar (confectioners sugar i think you guys call it?) mixed with the peanut butter, and no egg, so will have to try this version for a comparison!
For those who can’t eat dairy, I made a dairy-free version of these that were delicious. Instead of butter in the brownie portion, I used 92g of refined coconut oil + 23g of cold water (to match the fat/water proportions of butter). I melted the coconut oil with the chocolate before adding the cold water, and then continued with the rest of the recipe as-written. The final product is perfection. Thanks, Deb!
For starters: this is my first comment ever after YEARS of reading and cooking. I’ve literally made hundreds of your recipes and have had startlingly few disappointments.
My question: When using salt in a recipe, we’ve all seen the wide variances between different types of kosher or flaky salts. Could you please include gram weights or maybe a volume measurement using plain ol’ table salt for us heathens that really don’t keep so many salts in our kitchens? I can usually come close using 1/2 table salt = 1 kosher salt, but it would be nice to have a little more definition.
Thanks bunches and thank you so much for so many hours of enjoyment reading your writing, the community comments, and the wonderful food! This site is a blessing!
Deb has a salt conversion under ‘tips’ on the ‘more’ tab at the top of the page from June 29, 2010.
Made these today – SO yummy and SO rich. I feel like the PB layer cooked more slowly than the chocolate, so it’s still a bit loose while the chocolate is just right. I used Trader Joe’s creamy salted PB.
Upon further research (aka scarfing), it seems that the edges are more done than the center, but both batters did cook pretty evenly. I guess I could’ve left them in a tad longer, but I’d rather have a brownie a bit undercooked than overcooked.
I’m curious what the reasoning is behind unsweetened chocolate + sugar, as opposed to, say, 80% dark chocolate + less sugar? The darkest chocolate at my local grocery store is 85%, I think – hard to find totally unsweetened chocolate. Thanks!
Where are you from? Here on the west coast of the US, it’s pretty easy to find bars of unsweetened chocolate in the baking aisle, usually close to the chocolate chips. I use Baker’s brand because it’s cheaper, but I’m sure the fancier brands are delicious. I find that the chocolate flavor is more intense if I use unsweetened and add the sugar to the sweetness I want. I usually don’t use as much sugar as Deb does because I prefer a more bittersweet brownie. You can always just use a bar of the darkest you can get, use a bit more, and cut the sugar in the recipe.
These did not swirl at all. Hmmm not sure if using natural peanut butter was the issue but laying down a 1/3 of the batter and adding splooges of pb mixture resulted in too much batter for 2nd layer and the pb mixture was covered completely and definitely not swirly. I would have suggested 50% batter on the bottom. Will use Skippy next time. They tasted great and were super light but were not anything remotely as pictured.
I made these yesterday with smooth peanut butter and the batter was fine; looked like the photo.However, they took much longer than 35 minutes to bake. I might try a 9 x9 pan next time. They’re delicious!
Yes I kept adding 7-8 min increments to the time and probably ended up at about 55 minutes. The glass pan stayed pretty hot so I’m thinking they kept cooking after I took them out. The toothpick finally came out clean ish but it was a guessing game for sure. How do we get the pb mix to be swirlable? Do you add liquid? Another egg?
Me, too! I even set my oven for 355 since I know it runs colder than Deb’s, and it still took 50 minutes.
I’m so sorry for the uneveness in baking times; I will need to recheck. I actually had been having problems with my oven temperature (!) but it was running cool, not warm, which is even more confusing. I’m glad they ultimately baked and at least tasted good. More on baking times soon.
Thank you Deb, I so often *think* about how much I love your voice (spoken and culinary) and dependably excellent recipes but rarely tell you directly. My family has been increasingly obsessed with the British bake off, and these brownies remind me of how awesome it is to be American. We’ll be baking them asap.
The peanut butter batter is lovely — sort of like a peanut butter cookie in texture — but the brownie itself is fair at best. It seems counterintuitive, but baking chocolate almost never yields that rich chocolate flavor you think it should. I almost always opt for cocoa powder varieties: much gooier, much darker, and no bitter aftertaste. If anyone tries combining the peanut butter with Deb’s Best Cocoa Brownies (still the gold standard!), please report back!!!
This was a delicious birthday cake for my husband. I used Planters (Mr. Peanut!) peanut butter, and found the batter a hit dry. I added a mix of cream cheese and buttermilk (1/4 cup) and it was perfect!
I saw this posted and knew it had to be made TONIGHT. The only things holding me back were (1) a lack of unsweetened chocolate, and (2) my 8×8 pan had been lent to a friend. I wasn’t about to let this stop me, so I made the following adjustments:
(1) subbed ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate chips (60% cacao) and reduced the sugar in the brownie batter by half (used 125 grams)
(2) baked in a 9×13 metal baking pan for 25 minutes
The brownies are very good (husband says he can’t imagine what would make them better), but I need to try them again when I have everything I need to correctly follow the recipe. For science of course :)
My only other comment is that, like others have noted, the peanut butter batter was somewhat crumbly and did not swirl well. It still tastes great, but I was hoping for more defined brownie and peanut butter segments. Maybe my egg was too small? Or the peanut butter was a different consistency (I used natural Jiff – not the kind you need to stir)? I’ll try it with Skippy next time and see what happens.
Follow up:
Just made this a second time and used Skippy. The peanut butter batter seemed more spreadable when it was first mixed, but by the time I had the brownie batter prepared, it had stiffened and become more crumbly like it was on my first attempt. So maybe try having all the ingredients in a bowl ready to go but don’t mix until the brownie batter is ready?
And wanted to add that the 2nd making of these (where I actually followed the recipe instead of subbing dark chocolate and lowering sugar) was definitely better than the 1st. Much richer and more fudge like, which I like in a brownie.
I made this this past weekend for friends— and it was a hit. The dark chocolate was perfect, the peanut butter delicious. I did not have a problem with the pb being too chunky— as some have reported. I used Trader Joe’s brand, but I also mistakenly left it on the stove while the oven was heating, so it was soft and creamy. This will definitely be an evil edition to my cravings. Thank you!
I went and made these on Friday night after the recipe was published. There wasn’t much left by Monday and everyone who ate one hoovered it and then promptly asked for more. This recipe is a keeper and great for making with kids.
These aren’t brownies, they are cookie bars. Not enough chocolate flavor
This looks delicious. My wife loves chocolate and peanut butter so I think she would love these. THis would probably be really good with some vanilla ice cream and a little chocolate sauce.
This only encouraged my chocolate/peanut butter craving. I am going to have to make these now!
Thoughts on if coconut oil or another non dairy fat would work for these?
See above, someone made them with coconut oil! ^^^^
I had a little trouble with this recipe. I used organic peanut butter and I found that my peanut butter batter was very thick. When I tried to swirl the spoonfuls of batter, the batter crumbled up rather than swirled. I essentially had to roll it into little logs and cover them with brownie batter. Help!
Oh my. I made these to bring to my grandchildren in DC . Although i have only tasted the edges that I cut off, I pronounce these divine. I think the key is to use Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter.
Why try to make them healthy using an organic or TJ’s or Whole Foods or any other peanut butter than the sinful Skippy’s. Brownies are never going to healthy. They are always going to be artery cloggers, so why not go all the way ?
Mine turned out beautifully and I had no problems with the peanut batter. It was smooth as silk. Thank you Skippy and thank you Deb. I am no longer a brownie virgin.
I baked these tonight, but they didn’t turn out. Any suggestions? The PB batter looks similar to yours, but the brownie batter looked a little light in color, and was much thicker than your photo. Even after baking for 45-50 minutes, they just didn’t set. I’ve been over and over the recipe and can’t figure it out.
Did you use unsweetened chocolate? Was it just baking time? I am definitely hearing from others in the comments that it’s taking longer than my estimate for them to cook through.
you had me at peanut butter!!!
My daughter tells me she made this with cookie butter. I died, because I was 200 miles away and couldn’t taste them. She tells me that the cookie butter caramelized, and that they were fabulous.
I made these, but halved the recipe and put it in a loaf pan. I intended to do half an egg for the peanut butter part but wasn’t paying attention and put the whole egg in and the filling seemed fine so I went with it. Baked at 325 for 25 minutes and they were set at the edges so I took them out. They were perfect, my whole family loved them.
I love, Love, LOVE peanut butter and these look amazing. My grocery list just got longer. Definitely making these this weekend. Thanks for the recipe!
I’ve seen a few people mention gluten free. . . will it work to substitute gluten free all purpose flour? It’s what I happen to have in the pantry right now.
Absolutely! If you have a scale, it’s always best to measure by weight rather than cups, but you can definitely make these gluten free!
Thanks, Karen!
I haven’t tried it but am fairly confident it would work here.
Peanut butter and dense gooey brownie/bars are some of my favorite words:) These look absolutely to die for!!!
Hi Deb,
I live in Germany, and can’t seem to find bars of unsweetened chocolate. They have chocolate for baking, but it has sugar in it. They do have unsweetened cocoa powder. Any suggestions? There are several recipes of yours that I would love to bake if I can find a solution to this. Thank you for your help! :)
I haven’t personally tested any of the unsweetened swaps out there (usually with cocoa powder and butter) so I cannot say with authority how we’ll they’ll work in my recipes. But I’d like to. Can you get anything really bitter like 95% or 90%? If you can get something almost more bitter than anyone would enjoy eating, I think it will work fine. The magic of unsweetened to me — I say this not to rub it in but to explain what I’m going for — is that I find the chocolate flavor way more intense without having to use as much of it or ending up with a really sweet baked good. For this recipe, however, you might try using the best cocoa brownies instead; they’re the favorite of at least half the people who read this site. :)
Thanks for you help! I’ll give the options a try. :)
I made my own peanut butter in the blender (dry toast a cup of peanut pieces in a frying pan then put in the blender with a pinch of salt, 1tsp honey and 1tbsp vegetable oil). Perhaps because it was warm from the toasting I found it easy to spread and swirl the peanut batter. Baked in a muffin tray (I got 11) because I like lots of chewy edge on brownies and because it’s faster – 20 minutes. They’re perfect! But then the brownie part of this is my most-used recipe on this site so I knew they’d be good.
could i nuke the PNB to soften before measuring? how about doing the PNB batter second and mixing while still soft?
For some reason I went to make these thinking surely I wouldn’t suffer the same problems as other folks who made them, but I found I am merely mortal, too : ).
My peanut butter batter was super stiff and crumbly (I used half Skippy and half Trader Joe’s organic creamy salted). I added maybe 4-5 tbsp vegetable oil to soften it and this made it swirlable. I used an 8×8 pan and it took 1 hour to cook through (at 35 minutes it was still soupy in the center…this might have been because of the vegetable oil I added), and the edges are a little burnt. Weirdly, my brownie batter was exactly to the recipe, but it was also stiff, at least not pourable like your photos! The taste is okay – kinda marred by being overdone on the bottom and sides.
I adore the idea of these brownies and am a huge fan of the one-bowl brownie, which are in regular rotation in our home. Will have to keep experimenting!
I’m sorry there have been so many problems marbling. I hoped my photo made clear that this isn’t a loose swirly batter. It’s a dolloped one which, for me, worked better because the brownie batter is also thick and they can be marbled together with a knife.
Hi! Thanks for answering but is it possible there is an ingredient missing in the list – swirling is impossible. I wish I had taken a picture. It’s not even a loose swirle and couldn’t call it a marble either. It looked the same in the first picture, globs of PB but it was dry and crumbly. So when you went to marble it chunked up.
Any insight would be great! Otherwise I loved them!!
Since so many people are having trouble with crumbly peanut butter batter, I’m wondering if a liquid sweetener, like honey, light corn syrup, or even golden syrup, would help the cause. Any thoughts/has anyone tried?
Deb, love your blog and have finally made something from it before you’ve posted the next recipe (so proud of myself)! These are just to die for. However, I did end up baking them for closer to 45 minutes, and the middle was still raw-gooey the next day! Do you think my oven is way off, I’m doing something wrong, or something else?
Thank you and it definitely sounds like it took longer for other people too. They’re definitely soft inside (intentionally) but should not be raw. I’ll make note of an adjusted cooking time if this is a consistent pattern.
Oh, oh, oh come on…the deliciousness is jumping out of my computer. What if you bring these brownies and I’ll bring the Madeleine’s?
Subtract 1/4 cup of sugar from the chocolate batter (down to 1 cup). You will not notice the difference . I also used half white flour and half whole wheat pastry ( a sub I make often). Brownies came out fine at 35 minutes. Need to work on my swirling technique, though!
No human deserves to see those delicious cakes and be told they won’t get a piece :((
I made this tonight! Very tasty. Some issues that have come up in the comments:
1. Oiliness: This is basically Deb’s “favorite brownie” recipe, with the addition of the peanut butter swirl. I always make that recipe with a half stick of butter instead of a whole stick–just as tasty but reduces the oily-greasy factor by a ton. I did the same here and highly recommend it.
2. Baking time: Mine took forever to bake too, and the edges were overdone when the middle was still liquid. I assume this is because, as above, this is two recipes crammed into one pan. This would benefit from using a larger pan or by shaving down all the ingredients by 1/3.
3. Peanut butter swirl: If you use a commercial non-natural peanut butter, it will be real thick but still swirlable. Do yourself a favor and don’t add any extra oil–the top can be swirled to be pretty but the brownies themselves are actually tastier when there are bites of mostly peanut butter and bites of mostly chocolate! No need to totally swirl the batters together.
Since I love peanut butter and brownies, this is surely a “heaven” for me. :) I’ll definitely try this and get back to you for updates. :)
Made these yesterday – absolutely delicious! Only had crunchy peanut butter (I used Kraft, an Australian brand that is creamier and less sweet than the American brands I’ve tasted) but I think that made it even better. The peanut batter was fine, easy to swirl. Mine took 10 extra minutes to cook. I’ve been keeping it in the fridge, cold fudgy brownie is the best.
Absolutely delicious. So fudge I wonder if I under baked them.
Made these today. I had natural style peanut butter so I fully expected that batter to be quite thick-which it was but it did still swirl with a knife. I skipped the chocolate chips on top. They baked up perfectly in 35 minutes. I ate three in a sitting. This is a problem 😊
I made these twice. The first time I measured the peanut butter using measuring cups. The second time I measured by weight and put it directly into the bowl (I tared the bowl first). The PB swirl was much creamier the second time! Even though I thought I was diligently scraping out all of the peanut butter from the measuring cup, I would definitely recommend weighing the PB as the mixture was far less crumbly the second time and swirled more easily. Like other commenters, mine also were a little raw in the middle at 35 minutes. Absolutely delicious!
I made these brownies over the weekend, following recipe exactly. I did make sure my eggs were room temperature, but still felt it necessary to microwave the peanut butter batter about 15 to 30 seconds to soften it for ease in swirling. It also took a full 45 to 50 minutes to bake and they came out very fudgy. Next time (oh, there absolutely will be a next time), I will use bittersweet chocolate and less sugar. As written, I felt the finished product was way too sweet. I prefer the depth of bittersweet. Also, I will top the brownies with additional flaky salt.
These were perfect (especially cold from the fridge). I even went a step further and sprinkled on some peanut butter chips I had as well. Never too much, right?
OMG are these delicious! PB and Chocolate are always a winning combination.
I have a theory on why some people’s PB mixture is more crumbly than swirly. I mixed together the PB batter and it was smooth and perfect. But I had a couple projects in the works and it was a little while before I actually made the brownie part and swirled them together, and by that point, it was much thicker. Sugar is hygroscopic, right? So it it possible that while the mixture sits, the sugar is pulling some moisture out of the peanut butter? Would it be advisable to make the brownie batter first, then the PB batter and swirl them right away? I guess someone will have to test this theory…
Full disclosure I bought Skippy creamy for these, but I did double the recipe and bake it in a 13×9. Baked a little longer than the recipe indicated but is absolutely delicious!
I suspect the crumbly-ness of the peanut butter portion is from the vanilla extract. This happens to me when I add vanilla to other peanut butter mixtures, like granola bars.
I made my batch without the vanilla in the peanut butter portion and it came out like a thick batter, not crumbly at all. I used a natural peanut butter, to boot.
First of all-THANK YOU SO MUCH for making an “I Made it” column!! LOVE THAT!!
Second-I Made these!! I agree the outside cooked much faster and the center is much softer BUT-as a combo scooped into a bowl (and topped with vanilla ice cream as my son did!) it’s total package. I would serve to company.
Yeah Really Delicious recipe..:)
Omg! So good. I did make a few tweaks to the recipe based on some of the reviews. Used a Jumbo sized egg in the peanut butter filling and added a little extra vanilla and salt. Also baked for an extra 5 minutes. They came out PERFECT!
I made these tonight using creamy Jif and everything spread/swirled fine. I used a Goldtouch 8″x8″ pan and it did take me a little longer to bake – about 42 minutes. These brownies are incredible!
I’m not sure why people are having trouble with this recipe. I followed it exactly and they were amazing. I weighed all my ingredients, so that may make a difference if you are not weighing. They are unbelievably delicious brownies!
Was concerned brownies were still raw after 35 mins but made the call to pull them out and not risk overcooking. They were very soft (sagging) and a bit oily-looking as others have noted. We ate a few and they were ok, but not great.
but then.. after a night in the fridge… WOW. All problems solved. Fudgey with an amazing flavour.
So my suggestion is cook until they are as done as they can be in the middle without overcooking the edges, let them cool, and hide them in the fridge.
I used Skippy and had no problems with that batter. Easy to work with. I wouldn’t use natural for these, it needs that silky commercial texture IMO.
Lord have mercy these are delicious. 😍
I just had a thought re: the crumbly pb batter. I’ve experienced this also while making Bakerella’s Coraline cookies, which are basically pb, brown & white sugars, egg, and maybe vanilla (doing this from memory). I remember that there is no flour in that recipe either (for the pb cookies). What I found is, if you put the eggs and vanilla in the bowl first and then the sugars, the liquid in the egg helps dissolve the grains of sugar and then it all mixes together with the pb much more smoothly. I wonder if that would help in this case. My guess is that the oil from the pb prevents the sugar from dissolving into the egg so it stays crumbly. This is my guess. (I’m not Christopher Whatsizname from Cooks Illustrated.)
These were amazing, and I didn’t have any issues w spreadability of the pb batter (maybe bc I used store brand pb?). I made these for my son’s birthday party and the adults and kids loved them. I did need to bake them about 40 min to set, and they were still plenty moist and borderline gooey in the middle, but perhaps I have a cool oven as I often find my baking times are longer.
Anyway, I loved these so much, thanks Deb!
I am sooooooooooooo into this. Perhaps my boyfriend and I will make these after our half marathon on Sunday! You’ve got to run for SOMETHING. ;)
i made a batch of these brownies and they were absolutely amazing!!! fudgy and the perfect balance of chocolate and peanut butter. fortunately i didn’t have any of the issues others have reported. this recipe is a winner!
Well damn if I didn’t surf my way over to SK to find a good brownie recipe…and here’s one that’s practically brand spanking new!
I don’t know why, but I’ve had a SERIOUS brownie craving lately. Don’t think I’ve had one in a decade but last week I impulse bought (and made immediately) a boxed mix. Didn’t cure my craving, so here we are. Thanks for anticipating my every need and craving, as always!
One can never go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter. Cheers!!
My batters looked just like your pictures and I”m an experienced baker, but my outcome was awful – nothing like your final picture. Timing was off. I did read many of the other replies so tried to adjust my timing, but after 45 mins, center was still gooey and outer edges were hard – and I mean like hockey pucks. I had to trim all of those off – not easy to do – and just use a few brownies from the middle. I used Jif pb and followed recipe to the tee. The taste from what i could salvage was good, so I might try again in a 9×9 pan rather than an 8 inch and perhaps lower the temp just a bit, or maybe try in my convection over.
This did not set up for me :( I ended up leaving it in for 45-50 min (checking every 3-5min past 35), and the toothpick never came out clean in the center. What did i do wrong?? I’m an experienced baker; the “favorite brownie” recipe, which seems to be the base of this one, is my absolute favorite (it is perfection and never fails me).
Do I need a new oven thermometer? (it read exactly 350) Were my ‘large’ eggs too big? I followed the recipe to a T and double checked everything after the fiasco. I know some prefer a softer, fudge-like brownie, but this was essentially raw, and the crinkly top turned into a thick crust from the extra time in the oven (though it looked splendid). Has anyone else had this issue? If not, can anyone think of what might have done me in?
oops, just now seeing the prior posts
God bless the comments section which make me less alone. My peanut butter was very crumbly and didn’t swirl. I did enjoy the taste though even though it was a peanut butter brownie mash and not a swirl.
I’m just wondering…I’ve been through the comments and didn’t see any. All of the peanut butter batter recipes i’ve used in the past have some flour in them but these don’t. Is that correct?
Thanks much.
Eric
It is correct. It’s not needed here.
I made them this weekend and they were amazing! My batters were both pretty thick, but it looks like your peanut butter batter was pretty thick too. They baked perfectly but the funny thing was they were even better the next day. They seemed to get “lighter” and a little more crisp over night. Even one of our friends made the same comment. So just as good if not better made a day ahead.
you mentioned you use a commercial brand of PB but that natural might work. Does your commercial one have sugar in it already? Some ‘natural’ ones do and some don’t so I’m confused about what to use. I have no problem using non-natural, just don’t want it to end up too sweet if I’m supposed to start with something unsweetened!
I use Skippy. Like, even when I’m not baking. :)
Not food related – I clicked on the link to your flickr account and OMG HER HAIR. It’s amazing. It’s exactly what I wish mine looked like.
Deb, you will not believe the tragedy that was sprung upon me when I made this recipe. I popped out to the supermarket to grab some eggs, came home and made the batter for these brownies, popped them in my oven and came back 25 mins later to check on them.. MY OVEN WAS STONE COLD… the element had blown after all that work. One day when I have recovered from the upset I will go in again for round 2 :(
These should be made illegal. Moist, rich, decadent, really peanut buttery with chocolate. I made them last month and we ate every bite. Now Im going back to grocery store to get more ingredients. I gave choice between your recipe for choc peanut butter cookies and these sweet delicious sinnies. These won hands down.
I made these and also had issues with crumbliness of the peanut butter batter–I used the whole foods brand creamy peanut butter (no sugar, just peanuts and salt), but I made sure to use the oilier part of the peanut butter (not the very bottom that is harder to mix in) after reading a lot of reviews that said that they thought it could be because the peanut butter wasn’t oily enough…so I guess it wasn’t that!
It was still quite good though–they baked up great, despite some issues with the swirling step! Looking forward to eating them!
Yum! Very peanut-buttery.
These brownies were devoured by folks even when the resident home chef forgot to layer the brownie batter and PB batter until the very end. Translation: I just put the PB bater layer on top and swirled, only using 1/2 to 2/3 of the PB batter. It was perfectly tasty and peanut buttery-enough for me and friends. I will be sure to try it again as written!
Hello i live in colorado is this for high altitude level?
It sounds like they’re taking a bit longer for most people including those at high altitudes, but otherwise, I understand them to work.
I’m in love.
So, I can’t seem to get the PB batter smooth … how “smooth” are we talking here?
Do you think this would work with Nutella, or is the texture too different? My husband and I will be living apart on our wedding anniversary and I’m looking for something that will echo our wedding cake flavors but do a bit better in the mail.
The texture is different but it cannot hurt to find out.
They obviously weren’t BAD, but I don’t know that I’d make them again with Nutella. The two batters were exactly the same color, so no swirly effect, and the Nutella taste is not very strong. I did love that they were super fudgy and crusty, though. I want to try the original PB version, but probably not for my husband since he’s allergic and that might be a bit rude!
In case anyone wants to reproduce anyway and hates using measuring cups like I do, I did the Nutella by volume and got approximately 245g, and I reduced the sugar in that portion to 100g.
We made this, but we substituted Speculoos spread (aka cookie butter) for the peanut butter and omitted the chocolate chips (and salt, because we never include the salt. Sorry!)
Result: mind blowing and life changing. They were ugly, though. But that’s not our specialty. Best brownies ever, but then again, Speculoos makes everything better.
Another Smitten Kitchen winner! My family raved about these! They did not let me take home the leftovers! No way! They insisted on keeping them for themselves… Oh, well, I’ll just have to bake another batch! Thanks, Deb!
I made these last night. I wish I’d have read the comments first. As said, the peanut butter mixture was totally crumbly, resulting in me “overswirling” (if you can call it swirling) the chocolate and peanut butter. I also didn’t realize they were going to be as dense as they are and I don’t like them very much. I’ll take them to my unsuspecting neighbors.
Another very nice recipe. My family is kidding me for being on a marbled kick. I had made the marbled banana bread last week (delicious and will make again) and now the swirled/marbled brownies.
Tx. Next up your thick and chewy oatmeal cookies.
Betty – Great minds think alike! ;) I made the marbled banana bread last week and have been eyeing all of the marbled brownie recipes (I have the ingredients for the cheesecake swirled ones, but now I’m thinking I’m going to have to try these too!).
I baked these a few days ago and they were amazing!! I found the recipe went to plan (I used Kraft peanut butter).
Thanks for a gorgeous recipe :)
Just popped these in the oven! Can’t wait to see how they turned out, especially since all the reviews are great! As others have mentioned, I used crunchy peanut butter, and swirlling was near impossible :-( I ended up just mixing it around in the tin so I wasn’t left with complete PB lump sections. They won’t look as impressive as the pictures here, but should taste ok all the same!
Thanks for posting this recipe, now hooked on your site!
Post-Oven Update: Cooked for 10 mins longer than stated here and still skewer not clean. Gave up waiting as I could’t wait any longer to try them! :-P
Taste great, not too heavy and not too sweet, despite the large amount of sugar added. Crunchy PB worked well too, though as expected, there’s lumps of PB which isn’t as plesant as a smooth and even spread.
In summary; great brownies, would bake again!
Baking from Toronto (Canada) with Kraft smooth peanut butter and sadly this recipe didn’t work for me either! My peanut mixture was crumbly and could not marble even after I warmed it in the microwave for 10 seconds on high. The brownie itself was not very chocolaty and was very moist to the point of looking undercooked.
I used just under 1/2 cup of butter and cranked the temp to 375° based on other reviews here. It took 50 minutes to bake in total. I won’t be trying this recipe again :(
Will not make again. I followed the recipe and the brownie batter was way to thin. Top of brownies were flakey and way to crunchy.
Tasted great mixed with vanilla ice cream though.
I’ve made these twice and both times they are an absolute hit. My bf said they are the best thing I’ve ever made and specifically said, “KEEP. THIS. RECIPE.”
My one issue is that they remain really oily to the touch, no matter how long they set/cool. It makes them difficult to pack up and store– I end up wrapping them each individually in foil and storing them in a plastic bag. Does anyone have any suggestions for what to do differently?
I’m sorry, but this is the worst brownie recipe I’ve ever tried, and I bake for a living! There is soooooooooo much sugar in this it drowns out the flavour of both the (extremely expensive) unsweetened chocolate and the peanut butter. Best off just eating sugar lumps!
Really no point switching to dairy free fat or coconut oil, the amount of sugar negates any stab at being healthy.
So disappointed that I wasted my time making this – I had even cut 1/4 cup sugar out of the recipe!
This might be a dumb question but..if you double the recipe, how long should you cook for?
It tastes good however I don’t know why the peanut butter batter is not incorporated with the chocolate batter :(
These are amazing with dark chocolate chips! 😋
Anyone else have an issue with it cooking through? At 40 minutes the middle was still mush and the top was so hard. I took it out at 45 and still mushy. The outsides are ok but I’m at a loss as to why it would harden so much on the top. Any thoughts?
I made these 2 nights ago while dinner was cooking. I substituted gf flour for the flour and a few extra choc chips jumped on top. Omg they are awesome and so easy. A new go to recipe for sure.
Umm these look divine like all your other recipes! But I don’t have any unsweetened chocolate and its too cold to drive out. Any alternatives?
Thanks Deb!
This was absolutely delicious. Although for some reason my peanut butter mix was not smooth enough to make pretty swirls ( It was more of a rough soil like mix and didn’t make clear swirls, I blame my own lack of patience not mixing the PB mix enough), it still tasted great. Adding PB is great but I think it would be still good even without the PB. Excellent texture and flavor. Do not be shy on the flaky salt. Thanks for the recipe.
This happened to me too! I can’t figure out why. I checked and double checked the recipe! Hmm
All I have on had is salted sweet cream butter. If using that would you suggest lessening the added salt? If so, by how much? Thanks!! Looking forward to making these ☺️
You can probably skip the salt except for a pinch or two.
I made this today and have to agree with everyone else about the cooking time. After 50 mins I finally took it out and found that after cooling it was still barely cooked in the middle. It was also SO greasy and the peanut butter didn’t swirl enough (my fault!). Unfortunately, the majority of this just wasn’t edible. I’ve been cooking SMK recipes for awhile now and this is the first that was a true bust! Not sure I will take another stab at this one or not.
Sigh — I wish I’d read all the comments before making this. Don’t get me wrong, unlike some commenters I don’t think this was a total disaster, but I too had the problem of stiff-ish peanut butter batter (and I used Skippy), and a raw middle even after baking for 45 minutes—I suspect the two problems are related. I’m thinking next time maybe I’ll try baking in a muffin tin or mini loaf pans, since the edges get plenty done.
I made these yesterday as my afternoon treat for the week. So delicious – cannot stop eating them! I added ground cardamom to the PB batter to see if I could replicate the flavor of a childhood peanut treat – it worked! I also used bittersweet chocolate (72%) and cut the sugar to 160 grams (50 g. light brown, 110 g. granulated) in the brownie batter.
Like many of the other commenters, my PB batter was stiff/crumbly and didn’t really swirl well with the brownie batter. Maybe because I used natural PB? Tasty nonetheless!
I bake regularly, but I couldn’t make this recipe work. The batter seemed fine, if a little too sugary, but as a few others have mentioned, I couldn’t get the middle to set–it was just a greasy, soupy mess. I pulled them from the oven after ~45 minutes because the edges were starting to seriously burn; after sitting on the counter over night, the middle finally dried out into a crusty, crystally mess–definitely not brownie-like. Not sure what the issue was, but seems like maybe too much butter/fat and too little flour? I weighed the ingredients. Sad about the waste of all that butter and peanut butter :(
My peanut butter batter ended up thick, like cookie batter consistency, definitely not swirl-able. I made it twice – same thing! What did I do wrong?
Tried to make these last night and it came out perfectly after 38 minutes in the oven. Like many others, I couldn’t get the swirl effect to work because of the difference in texture between the two batters, but I was instead rewarded with a uniformly brown, magnificent crackle top that contrasts beautifully with the soft, fudgy centre. Thanks Deb for sharing this recipe!
I have made these a couple of times, and they are delicious! The only improvement I thought of after making them the first time was to substitute cut up peanut butter cups for the chocolate chips- that really put these over the top!
Oh my goodness!! These are de-licious!!!😊😊😊
This is my favorite brownie recipe. It always turns out great! Moist and rich. My go to brownie recipe!
Could you use other course salt? I don’t have any sea salt!
Yes, just go easier on it.
Hi!! I just made these and haven’t baked them yet. My peanut butter mixture isn’t loose enough to “swirl” I checked and doubled checked. I’m not missing any ingredients. Is there something else I may be missing. It’s more “chunky.” I used smooth kraft PB, regular white sugar.
Thanks!
My son made this with peanut butter and with tahini (used like the peanut butter), and we found that we liked the tahini better. He made them again and took them to school where everyone loved them.
I made these a few days ago. Used Sun Butter as I had some in the fridge and it means that they can be taken to school which sadly is a nut free zone. I’m sure they don’t taste as good as they would have if they were made with peanut butter but they are really good. The peanut butter batter is quite thick, I left it over the oven vent to warm a bit while I was making the brownie batter which helped. The brownies are lovely and fudgy. They were done within the estimated bake time.
Love that they don’t require breaking out the mixer.
I’ve made these twice in the last couple of months, most recently yesterday. They are DELICIOUS! I followed the recipe exactly, and also made sure that all my ingredients were room temperature. They took about 33-34 minutes to bake. So good I’m going to have to freeze them so I don’t eat them all!
I made this with an alteration- I used box brownies and used the peanut butter mixture. Yes the pb mix was crumbly but absolutely delicious. I made them for a party and got asked to bring them to a party a week later!
I used skippy brand peanut butter.
I was really craving these for weeks and finally got around to making them this evening. I did run into the same problem which is that he peanut butter mixture was very crumbly and didn’t Swirl at all. I use natural peanut butter, which tends to be much looser than processed peanut butter, but I still ran into the same problem. Is it a matter of weighing out the ingredients as opposed to measuring them?
OMG! I made these with carob since I am allergic to chocolate, and they are the best brownies I have ever had in my life. I have been searching for brownies like these for years. I posted about them on my blog: http://piesandplots.net/peanut-butter-swirl-brownies-brownie-week/
I’ve made these twice and both times it took almost an hour to get them to set. The flavor is amazing. I LOVE your usual one bowl brownies (people tell me they’re the best brownies they’ve ever eaten when I make them) but I had a hard time swirling the batters and they seemed like they’d be gooey forever and I finally gave up after 55 minutes and just called them good.
Am I the only one who is confused by the fact that flour is listed on the ingredient portion, but not listed in the directions?
The flour is added in the last line of the brownie batter instructions.
I used an 8×8 pan and cooked them for around 50 minutes and they were still gooey in the middle, any ideas on what I did wrong? I was using a knife to check them since I did not have any toothpicks, but I feel like that still should have come out clean by 35 minutes. I baked the other brownie recipe and they came out great!
I made this today, still waiting for it to cool a little but very excited to taste it! I was one egg short because some of my eggs froze because of my half broken fridge… Love how you also pot the ingredient amounts in grams and not only in cups! Greetings from The Netherlands :)
I am making these now. I used natural peanut butter and I microwaved the peanut butter for 30 seconds before mixing the batter. (I usually store in the refrigerator). I didn’t have the problem of it being too crumbly or thick but I did only spread a very thin brownie layer and really even dotted the peanut butter and brownie batter over the top. It’s not as pretty as Deb’s but it wasn’t hard at all. We’ll see how it tastes!
** Just an update to this. They came out okay. I did have to put in fridge after baking to get the peanut butter layer to set. Otherwise looked gooey. I (and everyone in my family) just did not really like these. And I LOVE chocolate peanut butter combinations. The melded flavors just weren’t great. I would not make these again. This is probably the only recipe of Deb’s that I couldn’t rave about it. I’m sure it’s a personal taste thing.
:( Mine never set up and I kept adding more cooking time. Finally took them out (32 mins? 35?) – tester never came out clean.
The edges were hard as bricks and the inside was oily and too crumbly to cut.
Stuck to your teeth. No bueno.
What did I do wrong? I used a natural-style PB – maybe that was it?
These are extremely fudgey and rich brownies!
I used “natural” Skippy (made with peanuts, palm oil, sugar and salt)… so the texture is close to conventional PB made with partially hydrogenated oil. As with other commenters, who used all different types of PB, I found the PB batter to be pretty difficult to swirl. I kept it close to the pre-heating oven, hoping that just a bit of that warmth would keep it as loose as possible and also whisked it a lot to ensure that the ingredients were very well mixed. But still, a little tricky to achieve a gorgeous swirl.
I doubled the recipe and baked it in a 9×13 pan. I baked for 45 minutes. I did not get a clean toothpick at the center upon pulling from the oven. Moist crumbs. They continued to set as they cooled in the pans… I did the toothpick test again after they had cooled for about an hour, and they had definitely set more.
When placing the batters in the pan, at first this seemed like too much PB batter. I actually dolloped it in 3 stages, which I think helped with swirling. And in the end, the pb/choc ratio was perfect.
I cooled for a couple of hours on the counter and then chilled overnight before slicing. Worked well for me.
No problems with greasiness.
Last note— even though I doubled the recipe, I cut this into 40 brownies. Like I said — super super duper rich.
I just baked this and it definitely took closer to 50 minutes/one hour to get the center set. I used a 7 7/8” square baking pan and natural peanut butter, so perhaps the oils had something to do with it. They are very dense. Haven’t cut into them yet but they do look good. Whatever marbling or swirl effect I was supposed to achieve didn’t really happen due to the thickness of the peanut butter layer. Made them for a coworkers birthday so hopefully they’re okay for tomorrow!
These have become my go-to brownie recipe, but sometimes cookies are easier (like when I’m making a quadruple batch). So I made the batter from your “The Browniest Cookie” recipe, and the peanut butter batter from this recipe, and dropped the peanut butter batter in small chunks into the chocolate batter, carefully folding them in to maintain the chunks. They came out awesome!
These look amazing, and I want to make them right now! But I have crunchy PB in the pantry. Is there a reason not to use crunchy?
I made these brownies the other night after being very excited to attempt making them. I have tried other recipes from Smitten Kitchen and have been very happy with the results. Unfortunately, this recipe is way off the mark. I followed the recipe to a “T” and it was all off. The peanut butter mixture was really grainy and didn’t swirl very well. The baking time really needs to be increased to at least 45 minutes for them to fully cook through. I also felt that there was way too much sugar and butter which I would probably cut in half. One full stick of butter made the batter really oily and runny. Even when using unsweetened chocolate, you really don’t need to add in that much sugar. All in all, this recipe didn’t hit the mark with me and as I can see others found it to be off as well.
Hi Deb! I was GIDDY with excitement when I was making these! I had a really strong brownie craving hit me, and a peanut butter brownie sounded amazing!
I used Santa Cruz All-Natural Peanut butter, so my peanut butter batter didn’t ever get “smooth” even though I did use creamy peanut butter. It was more grainy and my clumps didn’t form pretty figure eights when blended with the chocolate brownie batter, like in your photo…but it looked just like yours until that step of blending! Even though they do not look as pretty as yours, they taste incredible and I’ll be making them again!
These brownies are so delicious! Moist, chewy, I wouldn’t change a thing about them. I did not have chocolate chips, so I made them without, and I would make them again the same way!
Thoughts on baking at surround vs convection? Love your site! Your recipes have made so many of our meals, especially during quarantine, amazing!
I don’t have the option in my kitchen so I’m not sure of the pros/cons, sorry.
These are incredible, and as a huge chocolate + peanut butter fan, definitely one of my top favorite desserts. I’ve tried peanut butter swirl brownies many times, many different ways, but when you just dollop peanut butter onto brownie batter it ends up dry, crumbly, and flavorless. The creation of a peanut butter “batter” is a great idea! I accidentally grabbed sugar-free chocolate instead of unsweetened and it turned out fine, although I’d imagine the brownies would be even better if they were a tad less sweet. These are definitely better on the second day as well – if you can resist! I topped mine with extra flaky sea salt and it was spectacular.
Not quite sure why so many people had problems with this. I used “natural” peanut butter, although where I live American peanut butter would barely be considered peanut butter because of all the additives– normal pb here is peauts + oil + salt, and natural pb is peanuts + salt.
The pb mixture wasn’t very smooth, but I dolloped it onto the brownie mixture with my hands and used a chopstick to swirl/press it into the brownie. Baked for 30 min, came out soft and fudgy. I stuck it in the fridge for easy slicing. They are delicious!
I made these and they came out great! After reading the other reviews, I cut the butter to 7 Tbsp. I made the peanut butter batter at the last minute, just before assembly. And I baked them for 45 minutes (in a pyrex 8×8). It wasn’t super easy to swirl, but the knife did go through just fine, and the finished result is beautiful.
These are DELICIOUS! Notes:
1. The two batters are not the same consistency though–peanut butter (I used Skippy) was thicker and harder to swirl, but I was able to get a swirly effect–just not as pronounced as Deb’s :)
2. I had to bake mine for about 40 min before the toothpick came out clean. Letting the pan sit to cook residually seemed to set everything up nicely.
Definitely making this again!
i am going to the kitchen to try this recipe right now. yes, i am so motivated to eat this brownie that i cannot wait. thanks for sharing and the motivation xD
Though there are hundreds on online recipes for BP swirl brownies, I knew I could trust yours. I followed the recipe using natural, unsweetened PB, subbing coconut sugar for white and sprinkling with Lily’s Stevia-sweetened chips for a PB+choc-loving group who avoids refined sugar. The substitutions worked well. Note the batter still appeared slighlty wet after baking for 35 min so I baked the brownies a few minutes longer, but shouldn’t have. Despite being slighly dry on the edges (no fault of the original instructions), my dinner guests raved and had seconds… and the amount of course sea salt was perfect.
I made these but I replaced the peanut butter with tahini and added halva. They were so good!!
What a treat! Next time I’ll put more than a third of the brownie batter at the bottom, more like half. And, make my swirls bigger than I did. My peanut butter was mostly covered by brownie batter. Lastly, I’d like my peanut butter mix a bit saltier. Took about 39 minutes. Yum! Thanks, Deb!
I too had the same issue with a crumbly peanut butter batter. I think next time I will add a little neutral oil to make it more swirlable. The bake took about 45 minutes and the end result is delicious with the peanut butter batter ending up a little crunchy. I’ll definitely make these again.
I made these yesterday for my BFF and her daughter. We’re major pb&chocolate fans, and this hit the spot. Far better than just dolloping straight pb on top of brownies. I used semi-sweet choc chips for the brownie base, and the same were sprinkled on top. My only complaint is that I left the entire pan with them!
These are absolutely insane. I’m a huge chocolate + pb fan and these might be one of the best things I’ve ever baked! I have tried similar peanut butter swirl brownies in the past, but the peanut butter always gets dry and crumbly in the oven. Making a peanut butter “batter” is definitely a game-changer. I put leftovers in the freezer, and these taste great frozen too! 5/5 stars, will definitely make again.
Am eating one as I write this. These are AMAZING. No chance of the leftovers going stale. I followed the recipe to the letter and would change nothing. These were a huge hit with my dinner guests. Compared this recipe with another like it from Americas Test Kitchen and am so glad I chose Smitten Kitchen’s.
Delicious! A new favorite.
I added an extra egg to the peanut butter batter and stirred until smooth with a spatula rather than whisk it. This made the peanut butter batter much easier to spread. The brownies turned out perfect, chewy and fudgie. It took 50 minutes to bake. At first the center rose higher than the edges, but eventually it evened out. Will definitely make this again!
Thank you, Deb – these were a HUGE hit!
I made them in a 9” round cake pan.
I buttered the pan and lined the bottom and sides with buttered parchment paper – worth the effort!
It came out easily – just run a sharp knife around the cake pan. And it looked lovely on a cake stand.
Gah! Mine looked like the picture but did NOT bake well. The interior seemed very underdone at the end of the full baking time. I ended up putting the brownies back in the oven for a while, and even with that, the edges wound up too hard while the interior was thick and almost gloppy, and it seemed like too much peanut butter. I weighed every ingredient with care, so I’m not sure what else I did wrong! :( My husband is still eating them, though…lol!
I made these over the weekend and they are delicious. It took longer to bake in my oven (42 minutes) but other than that, I followed the recipe perfectly and will definitely make these again. So good!!!
I made these with British smooth peanut butter (whole earth). The peanut butter was I think much stiffer so the batter was also, almost like biscuit dough. Everything came out ok but I wondered if anyone else had made this with UK peanut butter and done something different – eg add another egg or a splash of milk maybe to loosen it?