Brownie Peanut Cups

Take a box of brownie mix, pour it into muffin cups, and press a mini peanut butter cup into the center of each one. That’s the whole recipe. The candy sinks into the batter during baking, creating a fudgy chocolate shell around a melted peanut butter core.

Pressing the candy down until the top edge sits level with the batter is the only technique that matters here. Too high and the candy dries out. Too deep and it disappears into the bottom. Level with the surface gives you that gooey peanut butter center surrounded by rich brownie on all sides.

Don’t overbake. Pull them while they still look slightly underdone in the center. They firm up as they cool and the peanut butter cup re-solidifies from molten to chewy.

Kitchen Tips

• Use paper muffin liners for easy removal. These are sticky and will fight you without them.
• Unwrap all the peanut butter cups before you start mixing the batter. You need to work fast once the cups are filled.
• Fill muffin cups about ⅔ full to leave room for the candy displacement.
• Let them cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes. Hot brownie cups crumble when you try to remove them.

Variations

• Use dark chocolate peanut butter cups for a more intense chocolate-peanut contrast.
• Press a Rolo candy into each instead of peanut butter cups for a caramel brownie version.
• Top cooled cups with a drizzle of melted chocolate and flaky sea salt.