Today, I’ve got the easiest Valentine’s treat that’s listed with chocolate. My Valentine’s peanut butter cup brownies are beautiful fudgy brownies with the sweetest little heart shaped peanut butter cups on top. An easy treat for the kids and adults in your life!
Valentine’s is always a fun day to bake, whether it’s for you, your partner, your kids or a Galentines party with your friends. It’s an excuse to make cute chocolatey treats and dress them up with some pink and red if you like. These brownies fit that too a T and you can easily throw some Valentine’s sprinkles on top to give them some colour.
If you need an easy party treat, try these peanut butter cup brownies. If you don’t like peanut butter or have an allergy, just use plain milk chocolate hearts or whatever floats your boat.
Some other great brownie recipes you can try are my sprinkle brownies, easily made festive with Valentine’s sprinkles or my healthy chocolate banana brownies if you want something a little better for you.
Can I Make These Allergy/School Friendly?
Absolutely, instead of peanut butter cups, use plain milk chocolate hearts, caramel hearts or anything else you can find. Just check the package to ensure they’re nut free.
Assembly
So when putting the hearts on, make sure you give your brownies just a couple minutes to cool. You want them to still be soft and gooey from the oven so you can push the hearts in but not so hot that the hearts immediately melt.
You will push the hearts in gently but firmly so they just break through the crust and sit within the brownie slice.
Can I Use A Box Mix?
Absolutely! I promise these brownies are easy to make but if it’s not your thing, a box mix will work great! Just skip the baking instructions and let the brownies cool for 2 minutes. Make sure you’ve got your hearts unwrapped while the brownies bake. Then push the hearts firmly but gently into the brownies.
The Crackly Brownie Top
Through research and many trials of different brownie recipe testing, including these Valentine’s peanut butter cup brownies, I have discovered the easiest way to get a shiny crackly top.
The shiny, crackly top had always alluded me every time I made brownies and I was getting really frustrated. So, I decided to research different people’s ideas on how to always get that traditional brownie top and try different ways for myself.
The two keys I have found is ensuring your eggs and sugar are well combined, which is why I always whisk mine together vigorously. The second is adding the warmed butter, and chocolate if the recipe calls for it, to the egg mixture. Based off my knowledge and research, this helps basically create a meringue like top by allowing the sugar to fully melt and blend into the eggs. And VOILA! A beautiful, traditional brownie top every time!
How Many Brownies Does This Make?
I easily fit 16 hearts evenly on mine. If you want them a little bigger, you can do 9 or 12 brownies as well.
Glass vs. Metal Pans
While I prefer the look of glass, it’s really not ideal for baking brownies. Glass takes much longer to heat which can leave you with an overbaked brownie making it more cakey than fudgy. Metal pans heat much more evenly and will give you the perfect texture.
How to Properly Measure Flour
So when it comes to measuring flour, the most accurate and easiest way is to use a kitchen scale. I always use a scale and could never go back to measuring in cups. It’s such a hassle and way more dishes!
If you don’t own a scale, there are a couple steps to properly measure flour as it becomes compacted just sitting in the bag or container. I highly recommend you follow these as just scooping flour out of the bag can potentially lead to at least an additional 1/4 cup of flour. This equals dry and dense baked goods which is not what anybody is going for.
1. Fluff the flour by giving it a mix with a whisk or fork.
2. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup.
3. Level the excess flour off using a butter knife. (With the back of the knife level to the top of the measuring cup, run it over top, pushing the excess flour back into it’s container.)
4. Repeat until you’ve measured the amount the recipe calls for.
Baking Tips
- For best results, use room temperature ingredients! They will mix together much easier creating a smoother, more well incorporated batter.
- Let the brownies cool for only 2 minutes before pushing the hearts firmly but gently into them.
- I recommend using a metal pan when baking brownies. Glass and ceramic take much longer to heat up which leads to the edges overbaking while the centre will be underbaked. This can also lead to your brownies sinking in the middle.
- Don’t overmix your brownie batter! Overmixing leads to a denser, less fudgy brownie as you’ll start developing the gluten. Using a spatula, fold the dry and wet mixtures together until just combined.
- No matter what recipe you use for the brownies, for fudgy brownies, they’re generally done when a toothpick inserted 2/3 of the way in from the edge of the pan comes out with moist crumbs. This will ensure good fudgy brownies.
- I create my recipes based off weights so I recommend measuring by weights if you own a scale. It’s actually so much easier and makes for much less cleanup. I wish I had baked by weight from the beginning, I could never go back now.
More Valentine’s Recipes
Today’s song is such an amazing soulful song by a lady with the most amazing voice. Here’s Hound Dog by Big Mama Thornton. Happy baking!! **Disclaimer: Liv’s Little Muffins owns no rights to this song.
Don’t forget to leave a STAR REVIEW if you try my recipe! Follow me on Facebook or tag me on instagram @livslittlemuffins. Find more ideas on my Pinterest or Whisk.
Valentine’s Peanut Butter Cup Brownies
Ingredients
- 170g/6oz semi sweet or dark chocolate
- 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup (80g) all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup (35g) cocoa powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (80g) semi sweet chocolate chips or peanut butter chips
- 16 chocolate peanut butter hearts (unwrapped) Or any kind of heart
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Line or spray an 8×8 baking pan and set aside.
- In a small, microwave safe bowl, add your butter and 170g of semi sweet or dark chocolate. Heat in 30 second increments until fully melted.
- While the butter mixture heats, add your eggs and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl. Whisk at medium high speed for 3 minutes until ribbony, shiny and lighter in colour.
- Once the chocolate mixture is completely melted, stir in your vanilla extract and salt. While mixing at a low speed, pour the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and mix until combined.
- Add the flour and cocoa powder to the egg mixture. Fold together with a spatula until almost combined.
- Add in the chocolate chips and fold until combined. Pour into your prepared pan and smooth it with a spatula.
- Place in the oven and bake for 25-29 minutes or until a toothpick inserted 2/3 of the way in comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. If it comes out clean then the brownies are overbaked so err on the side of caution and pull them earlier rather then later.
- Allow to cool for 2 minutes and then gently but firmly, press your hearts into the brownies so they break through the crust and just sit on top. Place them so you can easily cut them into squares like in the pictures above. Cool completely before slicing and storing in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Enjoy!
