One-Bowl Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies
Peanut butter and chocolate are the perfect combination in these one-bowl, decadent, ultra-soft double chocolate peanut butter brownies!
I know that chocolate peanut butter brownies are far from a new thing (as in, I’m no pioneer with today’s recipe).
Personally, I’ve never had a brownie where the peanut butter is all wrapped up in the batter, like this version, instead of being swirled and dolloped and layered all over the brownie batter.
And I’m pretty sure this is what I’ve always wanted a peanut butter chocolate brownie to be. Deeply chocolate with a delightfully strong yet subtle presence of peanut butter.
It kind of sneaks up on you, that peanut butter factor, especially considering you aren’t looking at any pretty swirls of peanut butter before shoving a brownie in your face. But man, these brownies are amazing.
The peanut butter gives them a velvety, ultra-soft texture missing from traditional chewy brownies.
A MKC reader-slash-friend, Linda, sent me this recipe letting me know she won a bake-off with these divine double chocolate peanut butter brownies. I can attest that winning a contest with these babies is not out of the realm of possibility.
They are ridiculously yummy.
I’ve made them several times over the last few weeks and even froze a double batch for our family reunion at the beginning of July.
All I can say is more than one extended family member ended up in tears when the brownies ran out. (Ok, so both those family members were under five years old, but still, I think a few of the 35-year olds were fighting back tears, too.)
And I feel like a broken record since I’ve said this many times over the last few weeks, but these brownies are dangerously delicious straight out of the freezer.
Just had to get that little tidbit of knowledge out of the way.
UPDATE: You can just skip over all the mumbo jumbo below about cocoa powder because Linda, who gave me the recipe, let me know that she’s always just used regular, unsweetened cocoa powder in these brownies and it works great! So there you go!
Can we talk for just a sec about the cocoa powder in the recipe? You’ll notice that it calls for Dutch-process cocoa power.
Here’s an older post explaining the difference between Dutch-process cocoa powder and your every day natural, unsweetened cocoa powder. In short, Dutch-process cocoa powder is usually used in a recipe that has baking powder as a leavener, whereas natural, unsweetened cocoa powder (like Hershey’s) needs baking soda for leavening.
For recipes where no leavener is used (like this favorite brownie recipe or for puddings or chocolate sauces), Dutch-process OR natural, unsweetened cocoa can be used, depending on what flavor profile you are going for.
What does that mean for this recipe? I know some of you are wondering if you can you swap in natural cocoa powder for the Dutch-process?
I usually try to test that kind of thing out with recipes where I know it will be a big question, but even though I’ve made these several times, I didn’t try it because they are so fantastic just the way they are.
The deep, dark Dutch-process cocoa powder makes the flavor of the brownies mellow and rich and absolutely delicious.
(UPDATE: Linda, who gave me the recipe says she’s only ever used natural, unsweetened cocoa powder. So never fear, it should work great!)
And if there’s ever been one recipe to give you that push to get some Dutch-process cocoa powder, it might be this one.
I’ve bought Dutch-process cocoa from many places over the years: Penzey’s, Amazon (the Droste brand), Winco (my local grocery store) bulk bins, Orson Gygi (in a 5 pound bag), and the Ghirardelli Majestic brand (also from Orson Gygi). I’ve been super happy with every one of those options. (The bulk bins and Orson Gygi’s large bags are by far the most inexpensive option.)
Phew! Enough talk about cocoa powder. Go make some brownies (preferably these delicious chocolate peanut butter brownies, of course)!
One Year Ago: Glazed Orange Zucchini Bread
Two Years Ago: Good Morning Power Muffins {Full of Whole Grains and Superfoods!}
Three Years Ago: Salted Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Chip Cookies
Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup (170 g) salted butter, softened, (12 tablespoons)
- ¾ cup (191 g) creamy peanut butter
- 2 cups (424 g) granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup (43 g) Dutch-process or natural, unsweetened cocoa powder (see note)
- 1 ¾ cups (249 g) all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 cups (340 g) semisweet chocolate chunk or chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9X13-inch aluminum/metal pan and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whip the butter and peanut butter together with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy, 1-2 minutes. Add the sugar and mix well. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. Stir in the cocoa until the mixture is smooth and no dry streaks remain.
- Add the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir once or twice (there will still be dry spots) and then add the chocolate chunks or chips. Stir until no dry streaks remain; the batter will be thick.
- Spread the batter evenly in the pan.
- Bake for 20-24 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Don’t overbake!
- Let the brownies cool completely in the pan. Cut into squares and serve chilled or at room temperature. The baked and cooled brownies freeze well.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted slightly from a recipe sent to me by a sweet MKC reader, Linda T., who won first place in a bake-off with these babies!
79 Comments on “One-Bowl Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies”
I found this recipe two years ago, and these brownies have become a go-to recipe. Sometimes I use peanut butter chips; sometimes I use the chocolate chip/PB chip combo.
Tonight, right after my husband and I finished off the last two that had been in the freezer, he asked me to make another batch. 🙂
I am very pleased to report that this was delicious with almond butter and reducing the sugar to 1 1/2 cups! Didn’t change anything else.
We’ve loved this recipe for a while and I didn’t have enough PB to do it. I love the more cakey texture. Awesome.
I’m disappointed in most sweet recipes with peanut butter & such was the case here. The peanut butter taste was very mild & I’m kicking myself for not increasing the amount of PB as I usually do. I thought that eliminating the chocolate chips would be enough to bring out more of the PB flavor, but I was wrong.
I did not care for this sadly. It wasn’t bad but it’s not something I’d make again. I love Mel and her recipes. Her green chile chicken enchiladas, buttermilk banana bread, red chile enchiladas, homemade pretzels, and lemon brownies have all been out of this world good but these PB chocolate brownies just didn’t make the cut for me. I really wish I could rate them higher.
Delicious! I 1 1/2-ed the recipe and made it in a greased half-sheet pan with parchment paper on the bottom. They baked for around 25 min and came out beautifully! It was a hit with my family and the people to whom we gave the rest. The peanut butter flavor was subtle, so, like others, I might try some peanut butter chips next time. Thanks, Mel!
These are fabulous! Very moist and chocolaty.
I used Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa. Next time I might try them with peanut butter chips.
Garbage recipe. Followed recipe to the letter and it still came out gooey in the middle. This after I left it in ten extra mins.
Thanks for the recipe! The only strange thing… I literally had to cook these almost 40 minutes before the toothpick came out right and I could take it out of the oven. Hopefully they won’t be too dry… not sure if it’s because I’m in the mountains or what… but the toothpick was very battery up until about 40 min….
Have you ever tried making in a 9×9 pan?
I think you could halve the recipe for a 9X9-inch pan.
did the 9×9 pan work at 1/2 recipe? Same baking time???
Thanks
Mel I just made these and put them in the oven and I only had a glass pan are there any other instructions I should use for glass?
I usually suggest decreasing the oven temp by 25 degrees if using glass (and maybe adding an extra few minutes)
Great brownies!!! How many do you cut them into? Just curious.
Right around 15.
Okay it’s 11:30 at night and I’m having to seriously talk myself out of going downstairs and making these right now. Had I found this recipe an hour ago I probably would’ve made them right then. But I’m going to restrain myself until tomorrow, like a good responsible adult (whose toddlers will wake her up at the same time tomorrow morning regardless of when she gets herself to bed). This recipe is just what the doctor ordered after the week I’ve had!
1/2 cup of droste Dutch chocolate is 4 oz not 2
If anyone has tried making these without the chocolate chips added how did they turn out?
Thank you!
Hi Annie, I made them today without chocolate chips and they were really delicious. They were not too sweet but so peanut-buttery yummy. I thought my kids might not like them bc they’re not too sweet, but they had seconds! Hope you tried them.
These were delicious. I took them to work and everyone devoured them. I used Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free 1-1 flour and they still came out fantastically. I just had to bake them for a couple minutes longer.
wow it looks Yummy and delicious and it makes me hungry beautiful recipe.Thanks for a great recipe i will try it at weekend.
Very easy to make and everyone loved them! Unfortunately, I am on a cleanse and couldn’t try them. Next time!
hi…any experience in adding walnuts to these?
I’d like to try them, but also like to add nuts to brownies.
I haven’t, but you certainly could.
I have them in the oven but missed the instructions on the pan type so they are in a glass pan and taking for ever to bake. Ugh to me for not following the directions! I really hope the turn out because wasting brownie batter on a Sunday? Double the sin
Hi Mel, do you think I could double this and make it in a jelly roll pan?
I think so – although you might have better luck 1 1/2-ing the recipe instead of doubling (so it doesn’t spill over while baking; those large jelly roll pans have much shorter sides).
easy to make and yummy
Yummy! I got to the point where I added the flour at the end of the recipe and realized that I was out of all-purpose flour (who does that??) and only had white whole wheat on hand. So I reduced it to 1 1/2 cups and hoped for the best. And although the brownies may be a bit “heartier” than if I would have used all-purpose, they are still AMAZING and got gobbled up quickly at a BBQ today. So adaptable!!
I made chocolate butter brownies with butterscotch chips yesterday. They were very delicious and soft but after 24 hours they became hard. I really don’t know where i made mistake. but overall experience was good.
I made these tonight with butterscotch chips (I was out of chocolate chips) and with Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour and they turned out great!
These were amazing. I also made them gluten free and you couldn’t tell the difference from normal brownies. I have noticed that they taste much better the second day. The first day they are good, but the second day they are out of this world! Thanks for a great recipe! I saw you at BYU and you did a great job, loved your presentation!
I love the texture of these. Definitely the best peanut butter brownies I’ve made! I topped mine with a chocolate ganache and chopped Reese’s peanut butter cups to take them over-the-top!
I made these recently to take to an event. They were really delicious with a nice moist texture. I will definitely be making these again.
I made these the other night!! Yum! I couldn’t believe how amazing they tasted. I promised myself to never buy a box of brownies again. These truly were divine!
I have a silly question. How do you measure cocoa powder? If I spoon it into the measuring cup and level it off, it has a ton of empty spaces. I usually end up packing it in and leveling it off but I wonder if I’m using too much cocoa powder.
Great question! I have a big container of it so I fluff it up really well and dip my cup in and level off. But mostly if there are weight measures, I use those.
These look amazing! What kind of peanut butter did you use? I usually only have natural peanut butter on hand, but sometimes that gets weird in baking. Did you use natural peanut butter? Or do you think this would be better with a more processed brand like Jif? Can’t wait to try baking these!
I used pretty creamy PB (not natural). I think it was Skippy brand.
Sorry for the duplicate , it didn’t show up at first!
Wow! These are some of the best brownies I have ever tasted! I am a chocolate-peanut butter lover, however! I could not stop eating the batter! I even risked it with the raw eggs and flour, because it was so delicious! ☺️. Also, I was happy to find a use for my Dutch cocoa. This is a very simple recipe and I used a glass pan. Thank you for an easy and super yummy recipe!
Do you think they would turn out just as well without the peanut butter?
Thanks!
Probably not, but I haven’t tried it to say for sure…
Yum! Super yum! I couldn’t stop eating the batter, even though I knew I was endangering my life by eating raw flour and eggs. But it was that good! Thanks for a recipe using Dutch cocoa because I have some without many recipes to use it in. I made it in a glass pan. Cooked it at 325 for 26 min. Thank you for a delicious and simple recipe!
I made these yesterday and they are phenomenal! So thick, and yummy, and fudge-y! I’ll definitely make them again!
They are also very forgiving! I baked them in a glass pan for 30 minutes at 325 and was afraid I’d overbake them. I pulled them out, and after cooling for a bit, cut them. They weren’t done right, so I popped them back in the oven for about 15 more minutes. It worked like a charm 🙂
Mel, these brownies are amazing. Thank you so much! I cut the recipe in half since it’s just me and my husband here, and based on how much I have consumed in the short time since they came out of the oven, it’s probably good I didn’t make more… I might have to hide them from myself so I don’t finish them off tonight! So, so good! I am a long time fan of your site – though I haven’t commented before. I just wanted to make sure you know I think you are the best! I come here every single week when I am meal planning, and I love that I can always count on your recipes to turn out great.
Thank you, Rebecca!
Hubby loved, even helped me make and clean up. Gave it a ten
Found cocoa at Cost Plus
I’m curious how this would work with Hershey ‘s Special Dark which is half natural, half Dutch Much cheaper
These are amazing! I used raw cacao powder instead since it’s what I had and added a teaspoon of baking powder, a dash of cinnamon and a pinch of maca powder. I had to bake for an additional 15-ish minutes but otherwise no issues and simply scrumptious.
I made this last night – these are awesome brownies!! Thanks for a great recipe. 🙂
yay! i needed a treat to bring to a relief society activity tonight, and nothing was sounding good. recipe is printed and i’m off to the kitchen. thanks!!
Can this be doubled and put in a sheet pan or would they over flow do you think?
That’s a great question but I’m not sure since I haven’t tried it. They are pretty thick and since overflowing brownies are the worst thing ever, I might try 1 1/2-ing instead of doubling.
1 1/2-ing works perfectly!
I too halved, and they made a nice 8X8 pan of delicious brownies.
I think the instruction to bake “until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs” might be misleading. At 24 minutes, my toothpick still had batter attached, so I baked them an extra 9 minutes (in 3-minute increments) and the toothpick still had batter, not crumbs, attached. But now that they’re cooled, they taste a little dry.
Hmmm, sorry about that Colleen! I’ve always baked them with the toothpick test but I certainly don’t want anyone’s brownies to be dry! Thanks for adding your feedback.
I had the same experience with the time, took about 28 min
Hi Mel – I have an 11 year old son and I try to get him into the kitchen with me in the summer for some fun cooking/baking projects. I saw this post and thought it would be perfect for us to make together, so we did this afternoon! We had fun making it and even more fun tasting it! Needless to say, the brownies got were a big hit – they’re fudgy and dense yet really light. Thanks so much for sharing!!
So happy to hear this, Monica! And way to go on cooking with your 11-year old…he’s a lucky kid!
First off- hallelujah for a brownie recipe that makes a 9×13″ pan’s worth! What’s with all the lame-o recipes that only make enough for a square pan?? 🙂 haha. Also, I had to make these GF for my son and we had amazing success so I thought I’d share! We subbed the all-purpose flour for 1 3/4c of this blend:
1.75 c tapioca flour
1.5 c brown rice flour
0.5 c almond flour
I had to add about 15 minutes of baking time but they were dense and chewy and glorious! Woohoo! Thanks for a great recipe 🙂
I hear you on those half pans of brownies! So happy these worked out gluten free. Thanks for the update!
Mel,
No, the recipe called for just unsweetened cocoa powder not Dutch processed, and I’ve never used Dutch process in this recipe. After looking at your post, I went back to look at what I sent you and it says regular cocoa powder. I specified that I use only Ghirardelli so maybe that was the confusion? In any case, I guess it works with both
Well, awesome! I’m glad to know that! I’ll update the post. 🙂
They look amazing Mel! I’ll try them with the Dutch cocoa powder, and what could possibly go wrong with adding chocolate chips to the batter
Hey Linda! I think the cocoa powder you told me you used IS Dutch-process? Am I wrong? If I am, that’s great news because it means they work great with natural, unsweetened cocoa powder, too. Let us know! 🙂
I am still wondering why you specified a metal baking pan – is this just your preference or is there a specific reason?
Glass pans tend to have a totally different baking experience with brownies and require a reduced oven temperature among other things in my experience, so I alway stick with a metal/aluminum pan for brownies and the like. 🙂
Now I’m in a panic because I want to make these ASAP (I’m pregnant) but I don’t have a metal pan! What one do you use?
I have a Farberware metal pan, I think – you can try using a glass pan. I know a lot of people use them for brownies and such but I always have a problem with baked cakes and brownies baking evenly in a glass pan so I didn’t test this recipe with a glass pan. If you try it, lower the temp by 25 degrees and just check on them often so they don’t overbake.
Could you use almond butter instead of the peanut butter? They look amazing but my kids can’t have peanut butter. Thank you
Great question, Valentina – I haven’t tried it but I think it stands a really good chance of working out!
I haven’t done much baking this summer, so today was the day when I saw this recipe. It was a lot of batter and took longer than the stated time to cook in my aluminum pan. But they are really good. I do like the peanut butter mixed in rather than swirled. I am going to cut them up and freeze them like you said because it makes a big pan.
Thanks for reporting back, Teresa! Glad you liked them. I think my oven tends to cook fast so I’ll put a note in the recipe that they may need a longer baking time.
Hey Mel, definitely going to give these a try! As far as Dutch vs. regular unsweetened cocoa? I love the flavor of a dutch process cocoa, especially a double dutch dark cocoa, so that’s definitely what I’ll be using when I try your recipe! 🙂
Prepared pantry has a Belgium cocoa. Do you have any idea if that would be similar to the Dutch I’ve only used the Hersey so I have no idea what the difference is
Hey Aunt Laurie – yep, that’s Dutch cocoa – but it’s their most expensive kind. I looked at their website and both of their Ramstadt Medium and Ramstadt Rich cocoas are Dutch-process, too.
I was all set to make the Healthier Choc No-Bake Cookies today, since I sooooo love them! (It must be the totally yummy toasted almonds in them.) This, tho, looks really amazing, Mel. Decisions, decisions.
Holy cow, these just appeared on my Bloglovin’ timeline and now I am hungrryyyy! I’ve been looking for a good PB brownie recipe and this could well be it!