Peanut Butter Cup Brownies (Printable Version)

Fudgy brownies filled with peanut butter cups, baked for a rich, indulgent treat everyone will love.

# What You'll Need:

→ Dry Ingredients

01 - 1 cup all-purpose flour
02 - 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
03 - 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
04 - 1/2 teaspoon salt

→ Wet Ingredients

05 - 1 cup unsalted butter, melted
06 - 2 cups granulated sugar
07 - 4 large eggs
08 - 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

→ Mix-ins & Filling

09 - 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
10 - 16 mini peanut butter cups

# Directions:

01 - Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9x13-inch baking pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang for easy removal.
02 - In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
03 - In a large bowl, combine melted butter and sugar, whisking until glossy.
04 - Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in vanilla extract.
05 - Gradually fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture until just combined. Avoid overmixing.
06 - Gently fold in chocolate chips.
07 - Spread half of the brownie batter evenly into the prepared pan.
08 - Arrange peanut butter cups evenly over the batter.
09 - Spoon the remaining batter over the peanut butter cups, smoothing the top with a spatula to cover completely.
10 - Bake for 28-32 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.
11 - Allow to cool completely in the pan before lifting out and slicing into squares.

# Expert Hints:

01 -
  • Two dessert cravings get satisfied in one bite, and nobody will ever know how simple these actually are to make.
  • The peanut butter cups stay intact and gooey in the middle, creating little pockets of pure joy that make people wonder if you're secretly a pastry chef.
02 -
  • Overbaking these is the quickest way to lose the fudgy texture, so pull them out when the toothpick still has a little moisture—carryover cooking will finish the job.
  • Letting them cool completely matters more than you'd think because warm brownies are still setting up, and slicing too early turns them into crumbly chaos instead of clean squares.
03 -
  • Room temperature eggs mix in smoothly without creating lumps, so pull them from the fridge thirty minutes before baking if you remember—but honestly, these still work fine either way.
  • Using mini peanut butter cups instead of standard ones means more of them throughout the pan, which is never a bad thing and creates pockets of surprise in every square.
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