You are going to absolutely love these Peanut Butter Brownie Cookies. This genius recipe comes from Heather Mubarak‘s debut cookbook, Stuffed: The Sandwich Cookie Book. Heather is also the creator of the blog Browned Butter Blondie.
Thanks for sharing this recipe with us Heather and congratulations on your beautiful cookbook!
What Makes These Cookies Fabulous?
- They’re a chocolate lover’s dream with four different types of chocolate: bittersweet chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, Dutch-process cocoa powder and mini semi-sweet chocolate chips!
- The texture of these brownie cookies is light, soft and basically cloud-like (so good!)
- The fresh espresso (or coffee) really amplifies the chocolate to make it mega fabulous
- The creamy peanut butter frosting is a dream to throw together and takes just minutes
- The combo of chocolate and peanut butter is a match made in heaven
- They are just as good the next day, so feel free to make these ahead of time
Let’s make some brownie cookies!
Step-By-Step Instructions for These Cookies
Below are step-by-step photos (with captions) to make the most delicious Chocolate Brownie Cookies with Peanut Butter Frosting perfect every single time! My biggest tips are:
- Weigh your ingredients.This is an easy cookie with not a ton of ingredients, but getting too much flour or not enough sugar will throw off the balance (and yield a different cookie). If you don’t have a scale, be really meticulous in fluffing up your flour before you measure it.
- Use good quality chocolate and dark, Dutch-processed cocoa powder. Chocolate is the star of the show with this cookie so use the best that you can get (I have suggestions in the NOTES section below the recipe).
- The brownie cookie dough will be loose like, well, brownie batter. Using a cookie scoop will make it easier to handle.
For the Brownie Cookies
Let the cookies continue baking on the warm baking sheet once out of the oven. After 6 to 8 minutes transfer to a rack to finish cooling while you prepare the frosting.
For the Peanut Butter Frosting
The Baker’s Guide to Measuring Flour
One of the biggest (and most common) mistakes in baking is how we measure flour. If you find yourself without a scale, see my top tips on how to properly measure flour for the perfect amount every time!
Stuffed: The Sandwich Cookie Book!
Heather Mubarak’s cookbook Stuffed is filled with 65 mix-and-match sandwich cookie recipes, including both sweet and savory flavor profiles and all include cup and gram measurements.
I’m so excited to be sharing this Brownie Cookie with Peanut Butter Frosting recipe with you today, but it was honestly hard to narrow it down to this one (but I’m on a strong chocolate + peanut butter craving bender, so here we are!).
Go read more about Heather’s book here!
My Favorite Brownie Cookie Tools
Either an Electric Stand Mixer or this is my favorite Hand-Held Mixer (it’s in all of my videos!)
My favorite extra-large Cookie Sheets
These will let you bake more cookies at a time (make sure they’ll fit in your oven). These are restaurant grade and I love them for everything from cookies to roasting veggies and sheet-pan dinners!
The Spatula that I use for literally EVERYTHING
The set of heat-safe Glass Bowls that I use to melt chocolate
More Cookies Please!
Grab My Favorite Cookie Tips for Perfect Cookies, make these Crinkly, Fudgy Brownie Cookies (they’re so good!) or try my favorite, S’more Cookie Bars!
Don’t forget all of my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes: Double Chocolate Chip Cookies, Small Batch Mega Vanilla Chocolate Chip Cookies, Salted Olive Oil Chocolate Chip, Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies ☕️, DO NOT sleep on these Brown Butter Muscovado Bar Cookies and/or get all of the cookie recipes right here!
Enjoy your delicious Peanut Butter Brownie Cookies and be sure to check out Heather’s cookbook Stuffed for more yummy sandwich cookie recipes!
Peanut Butter Brownie Cookies
These Peanut Butter Brownie Cookies taste like little chocolate clouds smothered in the creamiest peanut butter frosting — they are perfect! The brownie cookie has three layers of chocolate: cocoa powder, melted chocolate and mini chocolate chips, a chocolate lover's dream. The super simple peanut butter frosting takes minutes to mix together. This recipe comes from Heather Mubarak's book Stuffed and these stuffed cookies are truly a dream! xx
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Servings: 12 Sandwich Cookies
Ingredients
For the Brownie Cookies
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (80 g) all-purpose flour (how to measure flour)
- 2 tablespoons (10 g) Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 7 ounces (200 g) good-quality semi-sweet chocolate (finely chopped)
- 2 ounces (55 g) bittersweet chocolate (finely chopped)
- 6 tablespoons (85 g) unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (50 g) light brown sugar (packed)
- 2 large eggs (room temperature)
- 2 tablespoons freshly-brewed espresso or strong coffee (slightly cooled; you can also use water)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
- 3 ounces (85 g) mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
For the Peanut Butter Frosting
- 8 tablespoons (113 g or 1/2 cup) unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 1 1/2 cups (440 g) creamy peanut butter (at room temperature; do not use all-natural peanut butter (see note))
- 2 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar (sifted)
- 2 to 3 tablespoons (30 to 45 g) heavy whipping cream (see note)
- 2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
- Pinch of sal (optional)
Instructions
For the Brownie Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 325℉ (165℃). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon baking mats.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Whisk to combine and set aside.
- Create a double boiler by filling a medium saucepan with 2 to 3 inches (5 to 7.5 cm) of water. Bring the water to a simmer over medium-low heat. Place a heatproof bowl over the pan, making sure the the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water below. Add the semi-sweet chocolate, bittersweet chocolate and butter and heat, stirring often. Do not overheat. Once melted, remove the bowl from the heat and stir until the mixture is smooth and shiny. Set aside to cool slightly.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream together the granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, espresso and vanilla until thickened, about 2 minutes. Add the chocolate mixture and blend on low speed until combined.
- Add the flour mixture gradually and mix until barely combined. You should still see some streaks of flour in the batter. The batter will be soft, similar to cake batter. Remove the bowl from the mixer and gently fold in most of the chocolate chips, reserving 1 to 2 tablespoons for the tops of the cookies if desired. Do not overmix. Let the dough sit for 5 to 10 minutes at room temperature.
- Use a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop to portion the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches (5 cm) between each cookie. Bake in the center of the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the edges are barely set and the centers of the cookies still look soft and fudgy. The cookies will continue to bake a bit once removed from the oven. As soon as the cookies are out of the oven, use the inside arch of a fork to nudge the edges of the cookie in toward the center, working your way around each cookie while they are still hot. This will help make the cookies more uniform in size and shape for the sandwiches.
- Allow the cookies to rest for 6 to 8 minutes on the baking sheets before using a spatula to carefully transfer them to a wire cooling rack. Let cool completely before assembling the sandwiches.
For the Peanut Butter Frosting
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until light and creamy. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the peanut butter and mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Add the confectioners' sugar, 1/2 cup (60 g) at time while mixing on low speed. Once the sugar is incorporated, increase the speed to high and mix for 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of heavy cream and the vanilla. Mix on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. If the buttercream is too thick, add more heavy cream. Add salt, if using, and mix to combine.
- Fill a piping bag with the frosting to use immediately or store tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
To Assemble
- Using an offset spatula [or butter knife], place a generous swirl of the Peanut Butter Frosting on the flat side of a cookie. Top with a second cookie, flat-side down and gently press together. Repeat with the remaining cookies until all of the sandwiches are assembled. If the frosting is soft, place the cookie sandwiches in the refrigerator for 20 minutes to set.
- Store tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. The Peanut Butter Frosting may soften too much if kept at room temperature.
Video
Notes
Mixers
I used a hand-held mixer to make these in the photos and video. You can also use a whisk and your arms; just make sure you really whisk up the eggs and sugar (step 4 in the recipe).Dark Chocolate
Use a nice dark chocolate that’s made for melting. Chocolate chips will work in a pinch but they resist melting because of their ingredients (they’re meant to hold their shape). If you have options, pick chocolate bars, callets or discs as they’ll melt the easiest. I’m loving these baking chips and these are my most favorite Callebaut callets; I used the Callebaut (semi-sweet and bittersweet) when making this recipe (delicious chocolate, melts beautifully — LOVE). Whatever chocolate you use, make sure it’s good quality and can handle melting.Dutch-Process Cocoa Powder
I love this Hershey’s Dark as it’s easy to find and yields beautiful flavor + color. I also love this King Arthur Flour unsweetened cocoa powder which is a gorgeous color and flavor (and definitely a splurge!).Espresso
You can use water or decaf if you don’t want the caffeine.Peanut Butter Frosting
Don’t use natural peanut butter. I used Jif Creamy Peanut Butter. The Peanut Butter Frosting recipe makes quite a bit (I had leftover). So don’t be shy when adding it to the cookies! Leftovers would be so good smeared on graham crackers (or make more cookies!).Heavy Whipping Cream
I needed to use more whipping cream to get my frosting smooth. It will depend on what peanut butter you use, as well as ambient humidity (it really does affect things!). If you need more, use it. Just add in 1 tablespoon increments so as not to add too much.Shaping The Cookies
Heather notes in the recipe instructions to use the inner curve of a fork to shape your cookies (I love this!). You can also use the edge of a spatula or a round cookie cutter that is a little bit larger than the cookies (place it over the cookie and nudge it around).Want More Cookie Tips?
Head over to My 10 Favorite Tips for Better Cookies! Thanks for baking with me! Please rate + comment this recipe and tag me on social @displacedhousewife #displacedhousewife so I can see your beautiful treats! xo
Recipe reprinted with permission from Heather Mubarak, thank you!! xo
So so so delicious. Over the top.
So good, right?!? Glad you got to try one!! xox
Just WOW!!! Thank you so much for sharing my recipe Becky! You made me fall in love with these brownie cookies all over again with your dreamy photos! Thank you, thank you for spreading the sandwich cookie love!!
In love with your book Heather! The instructions were perfect, photos are beautiful, you can see all of your hard work in every page!! xox
I’m writing the first review since this isn’t my recipe! Heather, these cookies are a dream, thanks so much for sharing it with my readers!! xox