Deliciously fudgy, mini peanut butter cup brownie bites are the perfect tiny dessert for when you need just a little something sweet. Full of rich, dark chocolate and real peanut butter cups, just one mini brownie is super satisfying!
Calling all chocolate and peanut butter lovers! This recipe is inspired by the peanut butter cup brownies my mom used to make when I was a kid. Essentially she made boxed brownie mix, scooped it into muffin tins, and added a peanut butter cup when they were done. I decided to recreate the recipe with a homemade brownie batter and adorable mini bites. If your kids bring home a bunch of mini peanut butter cups on Halloween, hoard them all for this recipe!
Why You'll Love These Brownie Bites
Unlike a boxed mix, these brownies are deeply dark, rich, and not too sweet. Bittersweet chocolate and instant coffee give them and intense, luxurious flavor that is offset perfectly with a sweet peanut butter cup. Whether eaten warm while the peanut butter cup is still melty, or cooled for a more solid bite, just one brownie is more than enough to satisfy the biggest sweet tooth.
How To Make Them
- Melt the chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Stir until smooth.
- Add the sugar, coffee, and salt, and whisk to combine.
- Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk well again to combine.
- Stir in the flour until completely blended.
- Scoop into a lightly greased (or paper lined) mini muffin tin. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes.
- Immediately after removing them from the oven, press an unwrapped peanut butter cup into the center of each brownie. Let them cool for at least 10 minutes before removing brownies from the muffin tin.
Pro Tips For The Best Brownie Bites
- Make sure the mini peanut butter cups are unwrapped and ready to go as soon as you pull the brownies out of the oven. If the brownies cool even a little bit, you won't be able to get the peanut butter cup all the way down into the center.
- I used bittersweet chocolate because I like an intensely dark chocolate flavor. If you like yours a bit sweeter, you can use chopped dark chocolate or even semi-sweet.
- If you don't have instant coffee or espresso powder, you can leave it out!
- I'm obsessed with my silicone mini muffin tray for easy removal of tiny brownies, muffins and oatmeal cups!
More Intensely Chocolate Recipes You'll Love
- Fudgy Salted Olive Oil Brownies
- Triple Chocolate Cookies
- Skillet Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake (Half Recipe)
- Salted Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Bark
- Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies 2.0
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the comments!
PrintMini Peanut Butter Cup Brownies
Deliciously fudgy, mini peanut butter cup brownie bites are the perfect tiny dessert for when you need just a little something sweet. Full of rich, dark chocolate and real peanut butter cups, just one mini brownie is super satisfying!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 24 mini brownies 1x
- Category: dessert
- Method: baked
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 3 oz bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped
- ½ cup (1 stick) butter
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 tsp instant coffee or espresso powder (optional)
- ½ tsp vanilla
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup white whole wheat flour (or all purpose flour)
- 24 mini peanut butter cups (I use dark chocolate)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Lightly oil a mini muffin tin, or line with paper liners.
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt butter and chocolate by microwaving in 30 second intervals, stirring in between.
- Add sugar, coffee granules and salt. Stir to combine.
- Add vanilla and eggs and whisk well until fully combined.
- Stir in flour.
- Scoop batter into muffin tin with a small scoop. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Careful not to over-bake or the peanut butter cups will be hard to push in!
- Remove brownies from oven and immediately press an unwrapped peanut butter cup into the center of each brownie.
- Let brownies cool for at least 10 minutes before removing to a wire cooling rack.
Notes
- I use bittersweet chocolate because I don't like my brownies too sweet. You can also use chopped dark chocolate or even semisweet.
- Be sure to unwrap the peanut butter cups while the brownies are baking so that you can push them in immediately after removing the brownies from the oven. If the brownies start to firm up, you'll have peanut butter cups sticking half way out of the tops!
- Store brownies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Keywords: peanut butter cup brownie bites, mini peanut butter cup brownies
This post was originally published November 2016 and has been updated.
Fiona Nicholson says
Hi how did you make the peanut butter cups that you put in the middle of the brownies?
Kaleigh says
Hi Fiona,
I didn't make the PB cups, I just bought them. But I have a post coming up soon that will tell you how to make them if you're interested!
Lauren Sharifi says
Yum!! Love portion controlled sweets especially when they include chocolate and peanut butter!
Kaleigh says
Me too! 🙂
nutritioulicious says
Wow, these look delish! Love hearing your stories about growing up - your mom sounds amazing! Can't believe you made these 5 times - worth it though!
Kaleigh says
Thanks, Jessica! My mom is amazing 🙂 This was a frustrating one, but worth it to find a go-to brownie recipe!