Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies – A Super Fudgy Fun Recipe

Chocolate and peanut butter is one of the ultimate dessert flavor combinations. In this recipe, we’re giving you more of the good stuff. These easy to make peanut butter swirl brownies have been triple fudged inside and amply PB’d on top.

When you’re ready to take your brownies beyond the box mix, this is definitely the way to go!

How to make peanut butter swirl brownies from scratch?

If this is your first foray into making homemade brownies we assure you there’s nothing to it. Plus, we’ll show you how to swirl the peanut butter on top to make them look and taste even more exciting.

How to make brownies fudgy and chewy, not cakey?

For a truly fudgy brownie, this recipe uses a combination of bittersweet and unsweetened chocolate, plus chocolate chips. We recommend Ghirardelli. While cocoa powder-based brownies do have their advantages, including being more cake-like, the cocoa butter in chocolate gives brownies a firm, fudgearific texture.

The chocolate is also sweeter than cocoa powder, which works out great because you won’t have to add any sugar to the peanut butter that will adorn every delicious brownie square.

The other key to getting fudgy brownies is to underbake them slightly. We’ll discuss that more further down in the post.

Use a double boiler to melt down the chocolate for the batter

This is probably the hardest part about making the batter, but yet it’s so easy. All you have to do is:

1. Place an inch of water in a medium saucepan.
2. Then place a medium mixing bowl, preferably metal or glass, over the sauce pan. It should fit snugly over the saucepan so that steam can’t get out, and it shouldn’t make contact with the water.
3. Heat the water over medium. If you start to see steam coming out, you need to turn the temperature down. The steam can cause the chocolate to seize up, and you don’t want that.
4. When the water is barely simmering, add in the chopped chocolate, not the chips, and stir it with a spatula until it’s melted.
5. Then add the butter and melt it into the chocolate until smooth.
6. Take the bowl off the heat and let it cool until lukewarm.

Some notes about mixing it all together

Now it’s time to combine the melted chocolate mixture with the other ingredients.

1. You’re going to transfer the melted chocolate mixture to a larger mixing bowl and stir in the sugar and vanilla.
2. Then you’ll whisk in 4 eggs, one at at time.
3. Add the salt and flour until just combined, but, don’t overmix. It will affect the texture and fudginess.
4. Finally, gently stir in the chocolate chips and pour the batter into a 13×9 inch baking pan.
5. Smooth it out with a spatula, and give it a shake to distribute the batter evenly.

How do you swirl the peanut butter on top of brownies?

Here’s the really fun part, the part we’ve all been waiting for – swirling the peanut butter! You’re going to microwave about a half cup of peanut butter for 30 seconds and stir it. This makes it soft, creamy and spreadable. Really, that’s as uncomplicated as it gets.

Then, using a spoon or spatula, scoop globs out into rows. It doesn’t have to be neat or perfect at all. Just get it all over the top.

Now all you have to do is take a butter knife and drag it through the gobs of peanut butter. Drag the knife from top to bottom, then turn the pan 90 degrees and repeat. You can do this as many times as you desire, just don’t make yourself dizzy with all the swirling around.

How to cut brownies cleanly?

So now you’ve done all the hard work and you’re ready to devour the brownies, one by one, except…you need to cut them first. And if you’re not used to this, you may not know that there are a few ways to achieve neatly cut brownies and avoid having a pile of crumbs. While brownies that fall apart are still delicious, they’re much harder to eat.

3 ways to get neatly cut brownies.

1. Run a sharp knife under hot water. Running a sharp knife under hot water and wiping it dry prevents the brownies from sticking and allows the knife to glide through and make clean cuts.
2. Use a disposable plastic knife. You probably have one of these lying around, and they’re relatively non-stick.
3. Spray a chef’s knife with cooking spray. The oil will create enough lubrication to glide through the brownies. The downside is this can make them oily, so it’s not our favorite. But if your knife is dull and you have nothing else, this can work.

Wipe the knife after each slice.

No matter which of the three methods you use, wipe the knife off after each slice. Any residual brownie stuck on the knife will pull the brownie apart.

Slice brownies, don’t saw them.

Lastly, you want to make a nice smooth motion going from one end of the pan to the next. If you saw the knife back and forth, it will begin to break up the brownies.

Now that you’ve nicely sliced them, you can break out a tall glass of milk and celebrate – Cheers!

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We hope you’ve enjoyed this article. As always, comments are welcome and encouraged!

Want more chocolatey dessert recipes?

Try these:

• Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies with Coconut and Macadamias
• Double Espresso Chocolate Cheesecake: Wake Up Your Tastebuds Twice
• Peppermint Hot Chocolate: How to make ultra rich French Chocolat Chaud