Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

If you know me, you'll probably know that I'm just a little bit obsessed with peanut butter. I love any peanut butter dessert, I love peanut butter on toast, and I love peanut butter as a snack, either spread on apple slices or - gasp! - straight out of the jar, by the spoonful. Yum. So it should come as no surprise that I totally love Reese's Peanut Butter Cups too!

Last week, a coworker of mine gave me a 1.58 kilogram bag of Reese's peanut butter cups from Costco, and I knew I had to do more with them than just stuff my face. (Not that I haven't been doing a lot of that!) I did a bit of googling, came across this recipe for Peanut Butter Cup Sprinkled Brownies on the Hershey's website, and knew that I'd have to make them. And soon! They're a chocolate brownie with peanut butter cups through the batter, with a peanut butter swirl, and topped with extra peanut butter cups. Wow!

Funnily enough, I already had enough super-mini peanut butter cups at home to make the recipe without even digging into my new stash. So - any recipe ideas for the remaining peanut butter cups?

Brownie batter, mini peanut butter cup, unwrapped minis, Reese's peanut butter

In the above photo, we have Reese's creamy peanut butter, unwrapped mini cups, and the normal peanut butter cups that I was given in the plastic container on the right. I had both the peanut butter and unwrapped mini cups in the pantry already - we'd bought the peanut butter at one of those shops that sells American candy, and we'd gotten the unwrapped mini cups from Costco a few months back (although sadly I don't think they sell them any more). The unwrapped mini cups are even smaller than normal peanut butter cups - so cute!

Ok, let's have a look at the brownie-baking process. They're dangerously easy - all you need to do is melt, stir, swirl, and bake! It hardly took any time at all.

Dolloping the peanut butter mixture on

Swirly brownie batter

Baked brownie

Once it's baked and slightly cooled, you chuck some extra peanut butter cups over, and let them melt a bit before squishing them in.

Mini peanut butter cups sprinkled on top

Mmm... melty

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

Looking at the ingredients list, I knew they'd be very sweet and rich, so I cut them into tiny little squares to serve with a cuppa. I wasn't prepared for how delicious they'd be - woah - they were so, so good! Super peanut buttery, deeply chocolatey (despite there being no melted chocolate, only cocoa powder), and really moist and squidgy. Impossible to stop at just one!

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Brownies
Recipe from the Hershey's Website, with some adaptations from me

Ingredients
60 grams unsalted butter
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon caster sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cups Reese's Mini Peanut Butter Cups
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter

Method
Preheat the oven to 175C. Line a 20cm square cake tin with baking paper.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Add 1 cup of the sugar and all of the cocoa. Whisk to blend.
Remove from the heat. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla.
Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda, then gently whisk into the chocolate mixture.
Fold in 1/3 cup of the Peanut Butter Cups.
Spread the mixture into the prepared tin.
Mix the peanut butter with the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar. Dollop spoonfuls of the peanut mixture over the chocolate mixture. Swirl the mixtures together with a butter knife to create a marbled effect.
Bake for 20 minutes, or until the brownie is just set and the edges are pulling away from the side of the pan. Allow to cool for thirty minutes. Sprinkle the remaining Peanut Butter Cups over the brownie, allow to sit for a minute, then press in slightly. Allow to cool completely in the pan.
Cut into little little squares to serve.
Makes a 20cm squared brownie.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

If you know me, you'll probably know that I'm just a little bit obsessed with peanut butter. I love any peanut butter dessert, I love peanut butter on toast, and I love peanut butter as a snack, either spread on apple slices or - gasp! - straight out of the jar, by the spoonful. Yum. So it should come as no surprise that I totally love Reese's Peanut Butter Cups too!

Last week, a coworker of mine gave me a 1.58 kilogram bag of Reese's peanut butter cups from Costco, and I knew I had to do more with them than just stuff my face. (Not that I haven't been doing a lot of that!) I did a bit of googling, came across this recipe for Peanut Butter Cup Sprinkled Brownies on the Hershey's website, and knew that I'd have to make them. And soon! They're a chocolate brownie with peanut butter cups through the batter, with a peanut butter swirl, and topped with extra peanut butter cups. Wow!

Funnily enough, I already had enough super-mini peanut butter cups at home to make the recipe without even digging into my new stash. So - any recipe ideas for the remaining peanut butter cups?

Brownie batter, mini peanut butter cup, unwrapped minis, Reese's peanut butter

In the above photo, we have Reese's creamy peanut butter, unwrapped mini cups, and the normal peanut butter cups that I was given in the plastic container on the right. I had both the peanut butter and unwrapped mini cups in the pantry already - we'd bought the peanut butter at one of those shops that sells American candy, and we'd gotten the unwrapped mini cups from Costco a few months back (although sadly I don't think they sell them any more). The unwrapped mini cups are even smaller than normal peanut butter cups - so cute!

Ok, let's have a look at the brownie-baking process. They're dangerously easy - all you need to do is melt, stir, swirl, and bake! It hardly took any time at all.

Dolloping the peanut butter mixture on

Swirly brownie batter

Baked brownie

Once it's baked and slightly cooled, you chuck some extra peanut butter cups over, and let them melt a bit before squishing them in.

Mini peanut butter cups sprinkled on top

Mmm... melty

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

Looking at the ingredients list, I knew they'd be very sweet and rich, so I cut them into tiny little squares to serve with a cuppa. I wasn't prepared for how delicious they'd be - woah - they were so, so good! Super peanut buttery, deeply chocolatey (despite there being no melted chocolate, only cocoa powder), and really moist and squidgy. Impossible to stop at just one!

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Brownies
Recipe from the Hershey's Website, with some adaptations from me

Ingredients
60 grams unsalted butter
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon caster sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cups Reese's Mini Peanut Butter Cups
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter

Method
Preheat the oven to 175C. Line a 20cm square cake tin with baking paper.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Add 1 cup of the sugar and all of the cocoa. Whisk to blend.
Remove from the heat. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla.
Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda, then gently whisk into the chocolate mixture.
Fold in 1/3 cup of the Peanut Butter Cups.
Spread the mixture into the prepared tin.
Mix the peanut butter with the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar. Dollop spoonfuls of the peanut mixture over the chocolate mixture. Swirl the mixtures together with a butter knife to create a marbled effect.
Bake for 20 minutes, or until the brownie is just set and the edges are pulling away from the side of the pan. Allow to cool for thirty minutes. Sprinkle the remaining Peanut Butter Cups over the brownie, allow to sit for a minute, then press in slightly. Allow to cool completely in the pan.
Cut into little little squares to serve.
Makes a 20cm squared brownie.