Peanut Butter Swirled Brownies with Dark Chocolate Coffee Buzz Chunks

Chocolate and peanut butter team up once again to create an essential swirled bar. Super rich. So satisfying. The coffee buzz is the added perk. A generous 9 x 13 bake ensures that there is enough to go around (of course, optional). I like the added flavor and texture boost provided by powdered peanut butter. I recommend the Sunwarrior brand; I buy a lot of their products, and they are always high quality and great flavor. They are also readily available from their Amazon shop! These bars are fairly quick to mix up and require mostly staple pantry and fridge items. I happened to have the Trader Joe’s coffee buzz bar on hand, and decided that it was a great addition to this batter. However, any chopped up bar will be great here. But, coffee, chocolate and peanut butter is a triple threat. Take warning.

Peanut Butter Batter:

1 stick, plus 2 TBS, unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter (traditional is better than natural here, for consistency)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 tsp. Vanilla extract

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup powdered peanut butter (sub AP flour)

1 tsp. Baking powder

1 tsp. Pink Himalayan salt or sea salt

1/4 cup Reese’s peanut butter chips (optional)

Brownie Batter:

1 stick, unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate bar, chopped

2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate bar, chopped/ chocolate chips

3/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 tsp. Ground coffee

3 TBS cocoa powder, unsweetened

1 tsp. Vanilla extract

2 ounces coffee flavored chocolate bar (such as Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Coffee Buzz), chopped

1/4 cup chocolate chunks (optional)

1/2 tsp. Kosher salt

1/2 tsp. Flaky salt

Method:

Spray and line a 9x13 baking dish and preheat the oven to 350F.

To prepare the peanut butter batter:

In a medium sauce pan, melt the peanut butter and butter together on medium low heat, stirring just to combine. Remove from the heat and whisk in the sugars. Allow to cool for 5 minutes or so before adding the eggs. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla until well combined. Sift in the flour, peanut butter powder, salt and baking powder. Fold gently with a spatula until the batter comes together and is smooth. Fold in peanut butter chips if using. Spread the batter out into the baking dish, use a butter knife to evenly distribute. Sprinkle with extra sea salt on the top, if desired.

To prepare the brownie batter:

In a microwave safe bowl, combine one stick of butter with chopped unsweetened and semi-sweet chocolate chunks. Alternately, you can do this in a sauce pan on the stove, over medium low heat. Heat until melted and stir to combine. Once melted, whisk in the sugar, vanilla, and ground coffee. Once the mixture has cooled for a few minutes, whisk in the eggs, one by one, until shiny and smooth. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and salt over the mixture and fold to combine. I opted to add some coffee chunks and regular chocolate chunks to the batter at this time and reserved some pieces for the top of the dish once all batter has been spread around and swirled.

Using an ice cream scoop or 1/4 cup measuring cup, drop the brownie batter all over the top of the peanut butter batter in the dish. (You can also choose to alternate adding the different batters to the pan at the same time, instead of making the peanut butter batter a full bottom layer.) Use a butter knife or the handle of a wooden spoon to swirl the batters together, taking care to make sure batter is evenly spread and all the way into the corners of the dish. Sprinkle the top with reserved coffee buzz bar pieces and sea salt! Bake for 20 minutes and check to see how wobbly the center is. You don’t want the center to get firm in the oven, but edges should be browning and a cake tester should come out with moist crumbs, not wet batter. Give it 5 more minutes, if it’s very wobbly, and check again. Bake longer if you want firmer bars. Allow to cool on a wire rack until room temperature. Challenge your will power. For cleanest cuts, allow to fully cool, or speed up the process in the fridge. Then EAT and eat some more.

*note: this recipe also works well with one to one gluten free AP flour.