And all this landed me at peanut butter stuffed brownies. I've made brownies before with King Arthur Flour mini peanut butter cups on top, and I've made peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies, but these brownies beat them all. I'm telling you, these brownies are perfectly fudgy, decadent, wonderful brownies, made even better with a melt-in-your-mouth peanut butter filling. We all know peanut butter and chocolate is a combination made in heaven, but this is the best combination of that combination I've ever tried, if you can follow me. Anyways, all I'm trying to say is go make these now! You probably have all the ingredients in your pantry and even if you don't want to eat them all (which will be hard not to do), then you can make some pretty good friends.
Peanut Butter Stuffed Brownies
Brownies:
- ½ cup butter
- 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 3 large eggs
- ¾ tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
- ½ cup + 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
Peanut Butter Filling:
- ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp. milk
- 3 Tbsp. semisweet chocolate chips
Make the brownies: Place the butter and chopped chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30 second intervals until the butter is completely melted. Stir until smooth. Pour into a large mixing bowl and set aside to cool. While it’s cooling, make the peanut butter filling.
Make the peanut butter filling: In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the peanut butter, confectioners sugar, vanilla extract, and milk until combined. Add the chocolate chips and beat for 5 seconds until mixed.
Continue making brownies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and spray a 9x9 inch baking dish with nonstick spray; set aside. Using a rubber spatula, mix into the cooled chocolate mixture the granulated sugar, salt, eggs, and vanilla extract until well combined. Add the cocoa powder and flour and mix until no streaks of flour remain.
Pour/spread half of the brownie mixture into the bottom of the pan. Take clumps of the peanut butter filling and flatten it in your hand, then press it in the pan on top of the brownie layer. Continue until all of the layer has peanut butter filling on top, leaving a small ¼” border at the edges. Bake in preheated oven for 35 – 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (although to be honest I baked for about 40 and my toothpick wasn’t completely clean so I took them out anyways and they were delicious; sometimes you’re hitting a melted chocolate chip so it’s hard to tell – once the edges are getting crusty, it’s time). Cool in pan for about 10 minutes before cutting into brownies.