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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

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
  • 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

Brownie Recipes

Last Updated on February 21, 2023



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. Hi – I’ve made these brownies twice now and they are amazing!! The only problem I have is that they do not look at all like your picture! When I make the peanut butter topping and swirl it in, then bake the brownies, they come out brown on top. You can’t see any peanut butter on top at all because it sinks into the brownie batter while cooking! Just wondering if I’m doing something wrong?

    1. Hi Lauren, I replied to your email, but I’ll reply here too in case others are having the same problem. I have a feeling there is too much mixing happening when swirling in the PB. I usually drop the PB mixture on top and swirl it gently with a wooden spoon. You don’t want to over mix it into the batter. Then it should stay more on the top. If the mixture is very liquidy let me know, mine was thicker. There may be an issue there as well, because something with more liquid would sink down. Possibly in that case, a little more powdered sugar would help.

  2. I’m not good at conversions but would love to make this as a slab for my associates. Any suggestions?

  3. OHEMGEE. These are amazing. I also followed your advice to add Oreos, and they are sooooo rich, but extremely tasty. I was trying to find an easy treat to mail to my brother in college, and these were perfect. And they combined the three things he loves most: chocolate, peanut butter, and Oreos. I am now addicted to your blog.

  4. These were a big hit at home and work alike! I doubled both brownie and PB and baked longer (to be expected…larger pan). Thanks for sharing!

  5. Thanks for the delicious recipe – just made these last night. I do have to say though that I had to increase the baking time to 55 minutes, which is quite different than the time given in the recipe. The center was just a goopy, gloppy mess – and I’m one who loves a slightly underbaked, extremely fudgy brownie. Made these in the 9 x 9 pan. Other than the texture, the taste was wonderful, and I will definitely try these again.

    1. Sorry about that! I’m not sure why it took longer to bake, other than I know that different ovens can bake differently. I’m glad you liked them even with the extended time!

    1. You can bake the brownie layer without doubling it in the 9×13 pan (I normally bake it in a 9×13 unless I want a thicker brownie) but you should double the peanut butter topping. If you want a really thick brownie, then you can double both. Baking time will be affected either way, so just check it sooner for the first option, later for the second. 🙂 Enjoy!

      1. SO I AM NEEDING TO MAKE THIS FOR A PARTY OF 12 PEOPLE. CONCERNED A 9X9 WONT BE ENOUGH. SO IF I DO IN 9X13 AND DOUBLE BOTH, HOW LONG SHOULD I BAKE FOR?

      2. I’m not sure how long it would bake for, but I know that other brownies in a 9×13 bake for about 25 minutes. That’s not doubling the brownie recipe, however. I would start checking at 20 and check every 5 until they start looking close, then every couple minutes until they’re done!

    1. Instead of foil? You can use parchment. Or nothing, I just like to be able to remove the entire brownie from the pan before cutting for pretty pictures. You can use all semi-sweet but it may be a little sweeter than normal, but they will bake up just fine! Enjoy!

      1. THank you for replying 🙂
        SWeeter than normal, should i reduce the sugar? Or Just leave it? 😀

      2. I think you could reduce the sugar by 1/4 cup and it would be fine! Or just leave it, but the little extra sweetness in the chocolate may make them a little sweeter than what I’ve made. I need to try all semi next time and see what happens!

  6. um…that is scary!!! ski masks should just not be worn at all! these brownies would be the only thing to fix that ordeal!