Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Brownies are full of oats, peanut butter and chocolate chips and topped with a simple peanut butter frosting. These delicious peanut butter bars have the consistency of your favorite brownie recipe.
I love brownies and I love peanut butter and this recipe has quickly become a favorite around my house. The consistency of these peanut butter brownies is thick and chewy just like brownies and the frosting on top really does add just the right amount of sweetness and a little bit of extra peanut butter flavor.
Ingredients in Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Brownies
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/3 cup peanut butter
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 egg
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup oats (I usually use quick oats, but regular oats would work too)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips
How to make Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Brownies
Preheat the oven to 350°.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and peanut butter together until well blended. Add the white sugar and brown sugar and beat together with an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and continue to beat together for 2-3 more minutes.
Add all of the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Place the mixture in a greased 8X8 pan and press until evenly distributed and flat on the top. Bake for 20 minutes and then allow to cool. Prepare the peanut butter frosting and spread on top of the cooled brownies.
How to make Peanut Butter Frosting
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
- 2 Tbsp. peanut butter
- 3-5 tsp. milk
Using an electric mixer, combine the powdered sugar and peanut butter and then add milk a teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Spread on top of cooled brownies.
This recipe makes a pretty small amount of frosting (just enough for a thin coating on top of the brownies), so feel free to double it if you like a thicker frosting!
Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Brownies
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 16
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1/3 cup peanut butter
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 egg
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup oats I usually use quick oats, but regular oats would work too
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Peanut Butter Frosting
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
- 2 Tbsp. peanut butter
- 3-5 tsp. milk
Instructions
-
Preheat the oven to 350°.
-
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and peanut butter together until well blended.
-
Add the white sugar and brown sugar and beat together with an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and continue to beat together for 2-3 more minutes.
-
Add all of the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
-
Place the mixture in a greased 8X8 pan and press until evenly distributed and flat on the top. Bake for 20 minutes and then allow to cool. Prepare the peanut butter frosting and spread on top of the cooled brownies.
Peanut Butter Frosting
-
Using an electric mixer, combine the powdered sugar and peanut butter and then add milk a teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Spread on top of cooled brownies.
-
This recipe makes a pretty small amount of frosting (just enough for a thin coating on top of the brownies), so feel free to double it if you like a thicker frosting!
Tips for making perfect peanut butter brownies
- Make sure you use softened butter – DON’T melt it! One of the most common errors in cookie making is using butter that is either really cold and hard, or using butter that is too warm and melted. If you have time, just leave butter out on the counter for about 1-2 hours before making your cookies. If you are like me and don’t plan your cookie cravings that far in advance, just place the butter in your microwave and soften in 5 second intervals, being very careful to pull it out before it melts. I actually like to use the defrost setting on my microwave to soften butter- I don’t know the technical reasons behind it, but it seems to soften the butter more evenly and takes a little bit longer so I’m less likely to start melting it!
- Spend at least 2-3 minutes creaming the butter and sugars together. The mixture should be light and fluffy and the extra minute or two will make a big difference in the texture and consistency of the brownies. It’s also important to spend at least 2-3 minutes with the mixer after you add the egg and vanilla.
- Be sure not to over mix the dry and wet ingredients together. Just mix until combined and then stop!
How to cut perfect brownies
The answer to getting every single brownie cut and looking perfect is parchment paper! I used to always get frustrated with brownies and other desserts that are made in a 9X13 pan because I felt like I was always destroying the entire first row trying to get them out of the pan! Then I discovered that if you use parchment paper, you can remove all the brownies from the pan and slice them perfectly without having to dig the first few servings out with a spoon.
If you don’t have parchment paper, you can just grease your pan like you usually do but you may have to sacrifice the first brownie or two before you can get perfectly cut squares out of the pan! I’ll be honest – sometimes I prefer to have eat the first one or two with a spoon so this isn’t such a bad thing!
Also, if you allow the brownies to cool completely, they will stay together better and not fall apart when cut. This particular brownie recipe is one of the easiest to cut into squares – the brownies stay intact much better than other recipes I’ve tried!
Love peanut butter? So do we! Here are some of our favorite peanut butter recipes!
