March 1st is National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day, and I’m not sure there is a bigger fan of peanut butter than me. I love peanut butter by the spoonful, on a sandwich, or in a dessert. Peanut butter is great for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (Thai food anyone?), but it is especially good for dessert. Peanut butter and chocolate, in particular, is a match made in heaven, and it can be found in most of my favorite candies, cakes, and pies.
In honor of Peanut Butter Lover’s Day, I am sharing these Peanut Butter Crunch Brownies. This is a treat that I whip up when I’m being hard hit by a peanut butter and chocolate craving. I always have the supplies on hand, and the bars come together pretty quickly. This is an excellent treat to prepare and share with friends, bring to a potluck or book club meeting, or take to work and become the most popular person in the office!
Here’s What You Will Need:
If you have a well stocked pantry, you will probably have most of these ingredients readily available. Everything here can be found at your local grocery store.
Pro Tips:
Any unsweetened cocoa powder should be fine. I have Hershey’s extra dark pictured, but I commonly use regular Hershey’s cocoa powder. I have also had success with a Dutch cocoa such as Droste, but it is a lot more expensive than good old Hershey’s.
This recipe makes a 9×13 pan of brownies, and the brownies are rich and decadent. If you don’t have people with whom you would like to share a pan of brownies, cutting the recipe in half makes a nice 8×8 pan of treats.
All of my brownies and bars are prepared in metal baking pans. I reserve glass 9×13 pans for casseroles and do all of my dessert baking in metal. Bake times in a glass pan may be significantly longer, and the heat is not distributed in the same way so results may be inconsistent. A glass pan does not heat as evenly which can leave your sides over baked and your center too soft.
I prefer to use a Jif or Skippy peanut butter in my desserts- one that doesn’t require refrigeration. I usually use the “Natural Skippy” which isn’t really natural at all, but it works well.
I like to pop the 9×13 pan into the refrigerator between each layer of assembly. This allows everything to set up before I add more warm ingredients to the top. Using the refrigerator is completely unnecessary, but it speeds up the process. When you first remove the brownies from the oven, however, I would give them some time at room temperature before moving to the refrigerator.
I prefer gooey brownies, and it is generally best to underbake your brownies. The brownies will continue to bake once removed from the oven, and over-baked brownies are dry brownies.
Peanut Butter Crunch Brownies
A decadent peanut butter and chocolate treat that is simple to make, but will impress your friends and family. Loaded with chocolate and peanut butter with a chocolate crispy topping, it’s sure to satisfy your peanut butter and chocolate cravings.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 20–24 squares 1x
- Category: brownies and bars
- Cuisine: dessert
Ingredients
For the Brownie Layer:
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) butter melted
4 eggs
*optional 1/2 cup chocolate chips stirred into batter
For the Peanut Butter Layer:
1 cup peanut butter, 1/2 cup softened butter, 1 cup powdered sugar, a pinch of salt
For the Crunch Layer:
One 12 oz bag of chocolate chips, 2 cups rice crispies cereal
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 and line a 9×13 metal baking pan with parchment.
For the Brownie Layer: In a large bowl, using a mixer or a wooden spoon, mix together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and (optional) chocolate chips. Add the melted butter and the eggs and stir until combined. Spread the brownie batter into the pan and bake for 18-20 minutes until set. The edges will look slightly puffed and will be starting to show some cracks. The center should be just set. Allow brownie layer to cool for 15-20 minutes before adding the peanut butter layer.
For the Peanut Butter Layer: In a medium bowl, using a hand mixer, blend the butter, peanut butter, powdered sugar, and salt for about 2 minutes until well incorporated. Once brownies have cooled, spread the peanut butter layer evenly over the top of the brownies.
For the Crunch Layer: Again, allow the brownies with the peanut butter layer about 10-15 minutes to set up then melt the chocolate chips in a large bowl. You can melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler, or in the microwave. I microwave the chocolate chips for just over a minute, cooking at 30 second intervals and stirring in between. Once the chocolate has melted, stir in the rice crispies cereal. Gently spread the chocolate crispies over the top of the peanut butter brownies. Allow to set up before slicing and enjoying.
Notes
This recipe is best made with a traditional Jif or Skippy type peanut butter that does not require refrigeration.
It is usually better to err on the side of under-baking brownies rather than over-baking them. The brownies will continue to bake after being removed from the oven.
Keywords: peanut butter, brownies, bars, chocolate, crispies
Made these delicious brownies…so easy! The tips in the blog are very helpful. Shared these with my husband’s staff and received rave reviews!! Many requests for this recipe, so I simply shared this web site. The tips and tricks are too important to miss. Thank you for sharing, Darla!
★★★★★
Thank you for leaving such a great review!