Peanut Butter Chocolate Brookies are a combo of Peanut Butter Cookies and Chocolate Brownies for the perfect indulgence in one bite!
When you can’t decide whether to make Cookies or Brownies, try a Brookie! This recipe is a combination of Peanut Butter Cookies and Chocolate Brownies, because everyone knows peanut butter and chocolate are the perfect pair.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Brookies are an easy way to add an impressive baked treat to any gathering or gift. If I’ve learned anything about sending treats out to friends, family and coworkers, it is that peanut butter and chocolate make for the ultimate combination! These are a two in one, portable treat that kids and adults will all love.
If you really want to wow your friends and family, include these Peanut Butter Chocolate Brookies in gift baskets, along with Cookie Dough Brownies, Chewy S’mores Magic Bars and homemade Twix (Chocolate, Caramel and Shortbread) Bars.
Brownies, bars and cookies make a perfect gift when you want to take treats to show your appreciation. Whether it’s to thank a neighbor, teacher, or your local fire station or hospital, everyone will appreciate the thought that goes into creating something delicious just for them. It’s extra thoughtful to make treats that don’t require any cleanup or extra dishes, like these handheld Brookies!
How to Make Peanut Butter Chocolate Brookies
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease or use baking spray on a 9×13 inch baking pan.
- In a large bowl add melted butter (let it cool for just a minute or so), sugar, eggs, and vanilla and whisk together until well combined.
- Add the cocoa powder and salt to the bowl and mix well. Then add in the flour and chocolate chips and mix until just combined.
- Using a spatula, pour into the bottom of your pan and spread. (Scrape out as much as you can so you can just reuse the bowl for the peanut butter layer – yes laziness, but also they are going to be stacked on top of one another anyway, why create more mess?).
- Bake for 20-25 minutes.
- Make the second layer while the first layer is cooking.
- Add the vegetable oil, sugar, egg, vanilla and peanut butter to a bowl and whisk well for about a minute.
- Add the flour, baking soda and salt and whisk until combined.
- Using a large spoon or your hands, drop chunks of peanut butter cookie dough gently over the brownie layer.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the dough is just set and not very jiggly.
- Cool completely before cutting.
More Brookie and Bar Recipes
Frequently Asked Questions
The ingredient list can seem daunting but if you are strategic, you’ll be left with a single dirty glass bowl (melt your butter in this bowl too to prevent an extra dirty dish), a whisk, a spatula and measuring spoons/cups. No stand mixer, no extra bowls. Yes, you can even make the separate layers in the same bowl! Look, you’re baking both layers together anyway (so no contamination issues here), and if you you use a spatula to clean out your bowl of 95% of the batter your peanut butter layer will NOT suffer for it.
Substitute your favorite cup for cup all purpose gluten free flour in this recipe, or use a flourless Peanut Butter Cookie recipe on top of the gluten free brownies.
Almost anything! Play around with different combinations of your favorite cookie and brownie recipes, and see how they bake together. You can bake funfetti cookies on top of chocolate chunk brownies for a fun birthday treat, or try an upside down combo of a fudgy chocolate cookie on top of a blondie. Mix in your favorite crushed candies, sprinkles, or nuts to add another layer of flavor.
Brownies are always done before they appear cooked all the way through. If you overbake a Brookie, it will turn out dry and hard on the edges. You’ll want the dough to be set, but not too dry or dark on top. If you make sure your oven is at the correct temperature and follow the timing guidelines in the recipe, you should have a perfectly chewy brownie/cookie that will continue to set after being removed from the oven.
If your baked goods are turning out too dry, you could be measuring your flour incorrectly and using too much. To correctly measure flour for baking, fluff the flour with a measuring cup so it is not compacted, before spooning flour into the measuring cup, then leveling it off with a flat knife. This way you are not using additional flour because it was compacted in the bag. Your oven could also be too hot. Use an oven safe thermometer to check that your oven temperature is correct. If it is off, adjust the dial accordingly until the thermometer reads the correct temperature.
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Key Ingredients in Peanut Butter Chocolate Brookies
- Brownie Layer Wet Ingredients: You’ll make a classic fudgy brownie batter for the base layer of this Brookies recipe using melted butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla as your wet ingredients. It’s a good idea to let your melted butter cool for a couple of minutes and eggs come to room temperature before incorporating them together. This will keep the warm butter from curdling the eggs.
- Brownie Layer Dry Ingredients: After whisking your wet ingredients together, mix in unsweetened cocoa powder and salt. Then you’ll incorporate your flour and chocolate chips and stir until just combined. Be careful not to over mix once you’ve added the flour.
- Peanut Butter Cookie Wet Ingredients: More easy pantry ingredients come together for the second layer. You can even use the same mixing bowl you used for the chocolate mixture to save dishes. Mix vegetable oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla and smooth peanut butter together first. You’ll want to use a classic creamy peanut butter brand and not a natural variety that separates in order to achieve the best flavor and texture in your Peanut Butter Chocolate Brookies.
- Peanut Butter Cookie Dry Ingredients. After mixing together your wet ingredients, whisk in the flour, baking soda, and salt and mix until just combined. Your peanut butter cookie layer is ready to bake right on top of the brownies!
Variations on Peanut Butter Chocolate Brookies
- Chocolate: Instead of using dark chocolate chips, you can mix in mini chocolate chips, peanut butter or caramel baking chips, or even M&M candies or Reese’s Pieces for extra fun color and crunch. Drizzle melted chocolate over the Peanut Butter Cookie layer to add a pretty decoration and extra chocolate flavor.
- Chocolate: Experiment with using different kinds of cookie dough for the top layer. Classic Chocolate Chip Cookie dough, Snickerdoodle dough, or Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies would all taste great paired with the chocolatey brownie layer.
- Mini Peanut Butter Brookies: Bake the brownie and cookie layers in a muffin tin prepared with baking spray or paper liners for a fun individually sized Brookie treat! Just adjust the cooking time and begin checking each layer after about 10-15 minutes.
- Frosting: Whip up a batch of Chocolate Frosting or Peanut Butter Frosting to add an extra sweet topping that can be decorated with sprinkles, candy pieces, or chocolate chips.
More Peanut Butter and Chocolate Dessert Recipes
Tools Used in this Peanut Butter Chocolate Brookie Recipe
- 9×13 Baking Pan – The straight edges and even cooking of this pan is ideal for bars and brownies.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder – This cocoa powder gives an amazing, dark, rich chocolate flavor. I also highly recommend the Trader Joe’s Brand of cocoa powder.
How to Store Peanut Butter Chocolate Brookies
- Serve: After cooling, slice into squares and serve at room temperature.
- Store: Wrapped tightly, store Peanut Butter Chocolate Brookies on the counter up to 4 days, or in the refrigerator up to 1 week.
- Freeze: Freeze individual Brookie pieces, wrapped in parchment then plastic wrap, up to 2 months. Allow to thaw completely at room temperature before serving.
Ingredients
Brownie Layer:
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter , melted
- 2 1/4 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
Peanut Butter Cookie Layer:
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease or use baking spray on a 9×13 inch baking pan.
- In a large bowl add melted butter (let it cool for just a minute or so), sugar, eggs, and vanilla and whisk together until well combined.
- Add the cocoa powder and salt to the bowl and mix well.
- Add in the flour and chocolate chips and mix until just combined.
- Using a spatula, pour into the bottom of your pan and spread.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes.
- Make the second layer while the first layer is cooking.
- Add the vegetable oil, sugar, egg, vanilla and peanut butter to a bowl and whisk well for about a minute.
- Add the flour, baking soda and salt and whisk until combined.
- Remove brownie layer from oven, then, using a large spoon or your hands, drop chunks of peanut butter cookie dough gently over the brownie layer.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the dough is just set and not very jiggly.
- Cool completely before cutting.
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Photos used in a previous version of this post.
The peanut butter cookies were very dry. Sort of came out like a crumble, even after I added about a quarter cup of oat milk.
Good stuff! I made these last night and everyone had seconds, even the peanut butter & chocolate skeptics!
How awesome! Love it!!
Good stuff! I made these last night and everyone had seconds, even the peanut butter & chocolate skeptics 🙂
Love it!! Keep turning those skeptics!!
“Brookies” just might be my new favorite word. I’m crazy about peanut butter and chocolate in pretty much any combination, so this recipe just got pinned. Can’t wait to try these!
Thanks for the pin! Enjoy!!
I made this recipe today and was wondering if a step was omitted from the directions. Initially, I spread the brownie mixture on the bottom of the pan with the cookie dough layer on top as directed. I baked it for the 25-30 time recommendation, but when slicing into bars after the pan was cool, I realized that while the cookie dough layer was baked, the brownie layer was runny and underdone. I threw out that batch, tried again, and this time baked the brownie layer on its own for 25 minutes, THEN added the cookie dough layer on top, and baked for an additional 25-30 minutes. That did the trick, and both layers were thoroughly baked without being burned or dried out. I’d recommend this additional step to anyone else who is trying the recipe for the first time. Once I changed the baking steps, the bars were delicious. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Sorry this comment took so long to get to, it ended up in my spam filter somehow! I don’t even know how that slipped past me! Boiling once is plenty, I adjusted the recipe card. Thank you so much for letting me know! As soon as I saw your comment I retested it and I love your version. I’ve updated the recipe to reflect those steps. Thanks so much!
Tried this recipe last night…I ended up doing 1t salt in both the brownie and peanut butter batters because I prefer my brownies and cookies with a more complex flavor but that’s personal preference. I did find that the bake time was almost 3x the 25-30 mins in the recipe making it about an hour 15 mins total and I even upped the oven temp to 400 for the final 25 mins. I keep an oven thermometer so I’m pretty confident it’s accurate. Also, I use a good scale so I don’t think it’s a measurement issue either. They definitely needed to cool COMPLETELY before indulging-I was impatient and didn’t wait and they were so much better the next day so don’t make my mistake ? Thanks for the recipe!
These look and sound delicious! I began to make them and found an omission in the ingredient quantity list – in step 4, you mention baking powder but it’s not listed under the chocolate part ingredients so I was wondering how much baking powder I need to add to the brownie part. Thank you!
Sorry for the confusion! The baking powder was leftover from a trial but didn’t make the final recipe. You can safely leave it out, and the recipe has been fixed!
Where have brookies been my whole life?! And peanut butter and chocolate is my favorite combo! Pinning now!
What a wonderful idea, and the brownies look amazing!
I can’t even imagine having 35,000 recipes on file…I need to come over and bake with you sometime 🙂
Yes! My recipe file is like Monica’s photo album, cross indexed and perfectly categorized. After people, its the first thing I’d save in a fire! 😉
These brookies are so good looking! I would happily eat a few of these for my sweet treat at night! LOVE that combination of flavors – yum!
I’m sure they appreciated these so much! Seriously such a thoughtful thing to do. And these look amazing! PB and Chocolate is always a great idea!
Two of my favorite desserts & my favorite flavor combo in one delicious recipe! Yes, please. 🙂
Chocolate and peanut butter is one of my favorite flavor combinations. So decadent and dense and beautiful! I hope the firefighters loved these brookies! I know I would!
Indulgent is right! What a great combo of textures and flavor.
Oh my gosh, I wish I had these in front of me right now. I love brookies.
Loving this concept of the brownie and the cookie best combo =) Moist and crunchy wow I need one now
You can never have enough recipes that are peanut butter and chocolate!
How kind and thoughtful of you to take goodies to your firefighters! I’m sure they were thrilled to get their hands on goodies like these — they sound amazing with just the right amount of decadence!