These decadent, surprise-inside peanut butter fudge brownies are made of fudgy chocolate brownies with a thick layer of simple peanut butter fudge sandwiched in the middle!
Is there even a better flavor combination than peanut butter and chocolate? If there is, I haven’t found it yet.
It’s one of my favorite combinations, and I’m constantly trying to come up with new ways to marry these two flavors together. That’s why this month I knew I wanted to share a peanut butter and chocolate recipe with you — in the form of these peanut butter fudge brownies!
I like to make most of my recipes from scratch, but I did try these out with a box-mix as well since I know how popular those can be for saving time!
However, while you can make this recipe work with a box mix, I definitely recommend making the brownie layers for this recipe from scratch, not just because it tastes better but because it’s much easier to layer into the pan.
When you spread the first half of this homemade brownie batter into the pan, it sets a little while you are preparing the fudge and you can easily spread the peanut butter fudge over the first half. When I tried this with a box-mix, the brownie batter was very liquid-y, and it ended up being more of a messy, uneven combination of brownie batter and fudge, and there wasn’t quite enough batter to cover the top. I definitely recommend making the easy homemade brownie batter, instead!
I slightly modified my absolute favorite brownies from scratch for this recipe to keep things nice and simple (nearly as easy as a box-mix, really!). They’re fudgy, very chocolaty, and can be made in just one bowl.
The peanut butter layer couldn’t be simpler to make — just combine your ingredients in a saucepan and stir until everything is melted, no candy thermometer or fancy equipment needed!
These peanut butter fudge brownies do take a bit longer to cook than your average brownies because of how thick they are (thanks to their rich peanut butter centers!), but preparing and assembling them is a breeze, as you’ll see in the recipe below.
Enjoy!
Peanut Butter Fudge Brownies
Ingredients
Brownie
- 18 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into tablespoon-sized pieces
- ¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips
- ¾ cup natural cocoa powder
- 1 ½ cup sugar
- ¾ cup brown sugar packed
- 3 large eggs + 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
Peanut Butter Fudge
- 2 cups white chocolate chips*
- 1 can condensed milk
- ½ cup peanut butter
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and spray a 13x9 pan with baking spray
- Combine butter and chocolate chips in a large, microwave-safe bowl.
- Microwave for 30 seconds. Stir well, microwave for another 15 seconds and then stir well again. Repeat for 15 seconds until chocolate and butter are completely melted and well-combined.
- Add cocoa powder and stir well.
- Add sugars, stir until completely combined.
- Add eggs and then egg yolk, one at a time, stirring well after each addition
- Add vanilla extract and salt, stir to combine.
- Add flour, stir until completely combined.
- Spread approximately ½ of the batter evenly into prepared pan and make your peanut butter fudge
Fudge
- Combine white chocolate chips, condensed milk, and peanut butter in a medium-sized saucepan over medium-low heat.
- Stir frequently until white chocolate chips are melted and mixture is smooth.
- Remove from heat, stir in vanilla extract and salt, and pour evenly over brownie batter in pan, use a spatula to spread evenly, if necessary.
- Allow to set for about 5 minutes, and then spread the remaining batter over the fudge, doing your best to cover completely with brownie batter.
- Bake on 350°F for 40-50 minutes, use a toothpick to check for doneness at 40 minutes (toothpick should come out with few fudgy moist crumbs, but not wet batter).
- Allow to cool completely before cutting and serving. The longer you allow the brownies to set the firmer the fudge will become.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
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These are amazing. I have baked my father’s family brownie recipe all my life. I ran across their recipe, randomly and since my husband loves everything chocolate and peanut butter ai decided to try these. So glad I did. So moist and the 3 separate layers were pronounced.
For even more peanut butter flavor would it work to use peanut butter chips AND the peanut butter? Wouldn’t leaving out the peanut butter change the texture of the fudge and how it sets up? These sound amazing and I am looking forward to trying them! Hope to hear your thoughts soon as I want to make these in 2 days.
I’m not sure I understand, but possibly this may answer. In the notes of the recipe, it says: For a stronger peanut butter flavor, you may use peanut butter chips instead and omit the actual peanut butter.
This means to replace the white chocolate chips with peanut butter chips and omit the actual peanut butter. Hope that helps!
this insanity has to stop… stop right now… i took the Peanut Butter Fudge part of this recipe and
replace the center cream of the Nanaimo bars ,,, for some reason I thought this word be great… every one loves Nanaimo bars,,,, and you know I love Peanut butter….. your fudge is so great, smooth and velvety … so my question is when do the gyms reopen…. I think I may need them to open today.. yeah that would be a great help… thanks,,,
Joking aside…. I think combining two of your great snacks together needs its own feature page… I know you will love it…
Oh my Arron. You have outdone yourself! That sounds like a dangerously delicious combination. See you at the gym
I like be the taste of this but really messed up the fudge layer
I think this was because I used too much condensed milk perhaps our cans of it are larger in the uk?
Can someone let me know what size can of condensed milk I should need for this
Thank you so much for the recipes We really love them
So glad you’ve enjoyed the recipes. The can should be 14oz. I hope that helps.
I substituted dark chocolate chips for the white chocolate today… just fyi… ooooo my They are deadly but amazing! My mother was eating the fudge out of the pot it was so good.
Just to clarify after reading another comment…if PB chips are used, then actual PB is omitted? I bought PB chips on sale right after Christmas and would love to try this recipe!
Hi Cookie, for this recipe the peanut butter chips are being used in place of the white chocolate chips from the fudge ingredients. If using peanut butter chips you are correct you will omit the peanut butter as well.
Question re: Condensed Milk- do you mean Sweetened Condensed Milk like Eagle brand? Or something else? Thanks!
Yes Suzie, sweetened condensed milk. Enjoy!
I made these for the first time tonight and I followed the recipe to the T. I used peanut butter chips instead of peanut butter is all I changed they came out terrible. I used a dark pan so I lowered my oven temp by 25 degrees and baked them 30 minutes. They came out hard as a rock, burnt on the bottom, hard to cut, no peanut butter flavor at all and too chewy. How many sticks of butter equals 18 tbsp? I thought it was 2 sticks and 1/2 so that’s what I went with and I had oil on top of my brownies. Just a mess.
Sorry to hear that these didn’t work out for you. Unfortunately, substituting peanut butter chips for peanut butter changes the recipe and will not work.
It’s not fair to review a recipe that you made incorrectly. You used too much butter. Each stick is 8 tablespoons. So you should have used 2 sticks and then two tablespoons.
Nicole, you did not follow the recipe to a T if you exchanged peanut butter (creamy in texture) for peanut butter chips (solid in texture). Two completely different ingredients.You also used too much butter. There are measurements on the actual sticks of butter to help count, if you need. You made the recipe incorrectly and that’s why it turned out so bad. Maybe check to make sure you actually followed everything to a T before making somebody’s recipe out to be a bad one. Not fair at all.
I have not made them yet but they sound delicious!
In the recipe at the end it says “ Recipe Notes
*For a stronger peanut butter flavor, you may use peanut butter chips instead and omit the actual peanut butter. Peanut butter chips can be difficult to find, which is why I wrote this using white chocolate chips.“ So if it’s not right then they need to correct it on the recipe on the site:
Sorry NOPE, but what it actually says is you can sub peanut butter chips for the white choc chips and then omit the peanut butter itself for a more peanut flavor. Subbing peanut butter chips for peanut butter and then adding the white chocolate chips also will not work at all!