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These Fudgy Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies are SO delicious, you might cry. They’re a rich and decadent brownie recipe topped with a gooey peanut butter. Once baked they’re so fudgy and peanut buttery you’ll have to eat more than one.

stacked black and yellow swirl brownies


BEST Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

I mean…peanut butter. And brownies. Is there anything better? Peanut butter brownies are epic!

This is my standard brownie recipe that I’ve been using for about a year now. You can make them in a 9×13″ pan for a thinner brownie, or in a 9×9″ pan for a thicker and extra super fudgy brownie.

stacked black and yellow swirl brownies

Peanut Butter Brownies Ingredients

  • The recipe includes three kinds of chocolate: melted unsweetened and semi-sweet, and cocoa powder. You can use regular cocoa powder, or you can use Dark Cocoa Powder. If you’ve never used Dark – DO IT. It gives it such a rich and fudgy flavor, seriously you’ll cry.
  • Lots of butter keeps them moist and rich.
  • Eggs give brownies that fudgy gooey texture.
  • Peanut Butter – the peanut butter mixture is swirled on top the brownies. Be sure to use a no-stir (not natural) peanut butter.

Be sure to see the recipe card below for full ingredients & instructions!

How to make Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

  • First you’ll make the brownies by mixing all the ingredients in a large bowl. Place the batter into the pan.
  • The peanut butter topping is simple to make. It’s made with powdered sugar, peanut butter, butter, and vanilla. The peanut butter mixture by itself tastes like a peanut butter cup.
  • Swirl the peanut butter on top and then bake the brownies in a preheated oven.
stacked black and yellow swirl brownies

This is such a great all-purpose brownie recipe – without the peanut butter you can frost them with orange frosting, or coconut frosting. You can stuff them with Oreos or make them into truffles. This is the BEST brownie recipe!

stacked black and yellow swirl brownies

Fudgy Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

4.26 from 27 votes
Rich and fudgy brownies with a peanut butter swirl! These are some serious brownies!
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Yield 16 brownies
Serving Size 1 serving
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Ingredients
 

For the Brownies

  • 2 ounces (57g) unsweetened baking chocolate coarsely chopped
  • 2 ounces (57g) semi-sweet baking chocolate coarsely chopped
  • ¾ cup (170g) unsalted butter
  • 1 ¾ cups (450g) granulated sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoons (10g) unsweetened cocoa powder I love using Hershey’s Dark, but you can use either regular or dark
  • 1 cup (124g) all-purpose flour

For the peanut butter swirl:

  • ½ cup 133g) peanut butter
  • 2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter melted
  • ⅓ cup (38g) powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
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Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9×9” pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.
  • Place the two baking chocolates and butter in a large, microwave safe bowl. Heat on HIGH power for 2-3 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until chocolate is smooth. Stir in sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, and cocoa and stir well. Add flour and stir carefully. Spread batter in prepared pan.
  • Stir together peanut butter, melted butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Drop spoonfuls on top of the brownies then swirl with a butter knife or the back of a wooden spoon.
  • Bake about 28-30 minutes, until the center seems set. Let cool before cutting. These brownies, baked this way, will be super gooey inside. If you like your brownies more done and less gooey, bake them longer.

Recipe Notes

  • You can reduce the sugar in the recipe to 1 1/4 cups – that’s as low as I’ve gone when testing.
  • Feel free to use 4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate. If using 4 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate, reduce sugar to 1 1/2 cups.

Recipe Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 304kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 62mg | Sodium: 124mg | Potassium: 130mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 24g | Vitamin A: 362IU | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 2mg
Nutritional information not guaranteed to be accurate
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Dorothy Kern

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Brownie Recipes



Dorothy Kern

Welcome to Crazy for Crust, where I share recipes that are sometimes crazy, often with a crust, and always served with a slice of life.

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99 Comments

  1. I’m sorry there’s a psycho dad in your town – that’s a little odd. These brownies sound utterly amazing, though.

    Reply

  3. That sounds like me to a T … I see something a little off and suddenly that person is a convicted criminal ready to maul my little sister next to me. Yeah. I have a problem with being judgemental. Maybe these brownies could help me out … with a happy sweet tooth, I might be more inclined to give everyone the benefit of the doubt:) Sounds like I’m going to need a couple pans of these! Thanks for sharing Dorothy!

    Reply

  4. Wow! What a crazy story. I hope it was at least cold out. Love these brownies. PB and chocolate can’t go wrong 🙂

    Reply

  5. You have GOT to be kidding me. How scary is that??!?! But in the back of my mind I was reading this and all I could think of was Dance moms, less about the moms and more about the owners of the dance schools and how crazy they are.

    Reply

  6. Oh man, I’m ALL about the thick fudgy dark chocolaty brownies! If Jordan declined hers, I definitely would’ve snapped it up in a heartbeat. And you are NOT a bad mom at all — you kept your (outward) cool and waited to see if there would really be a problem. Good for you Dorothy!!

    P.S. Love love love the complementary colors in your photographs, and I’m positively swooning (still) over that burlap fabric!

    Reply

    1. Thanks Amy! I saw burlap ribbon at Walmart today, on an end-cap near the ribbon/sewing dept. It’s really wide ribbon, I bought some green/tealish color but they had plain brown too!

      Reply

  7. There is a commercial (VW convertible I think) where people drive around in ski masks. The guy goes into the convenience store and forgets to take his mask off and they think he is going to rob the store. It’s pretty funny. These brownies will be made at my house this week. Love your peanut butter addiction and recipes, as my husband is a peanut butter-aholic.

    Reply

  8. OMG I totally would’ve panicked too! lol weeeird

    and these brownies look SO delicious! I looove dark chocolate, esp when there’s pb involved! SO FUDGY!

    Reply

  9. My mind would totally have thought the exact same thing! Who drives around with a full ski mask? Seriously just dumb!!! Glad you had these awesome brownies to calm your nerves down! Love that peanut butter swirl!!!!

    Reply

  10. Oh my gosh, I would have totally thought the same thing! That is just plain freaky and weird! Glad it turned out ok though! And these brownies are the perfect cure for pretty much anything. Total heaven!

    Reply