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Chocolate peanut butter happiness is created when buckeyes (aka peanut butter balls) are pressed into warm brownie bites and then drizzled with chocolate to create these Buckeye Brownies.
While few people can resist a homemade brownie, I don’t know anyone who would turn down one of these brownie bites.
Buckeye Brownies
I made these treats last weekend to satisfy a sweet craving.
For all of you non-Ohio natives, a buckeye is a poisonous nut from the buckeye tree and buckeye candies are peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate to resemble the nut.
Who could possibly resist a rich fudge brownie wrapped around a perfect bite of peanut butter buckeye?
My traditional buckeye candy recipe is one of the most popular recipes on my site and one of my favorites too. Here is a new twist for your to try.
How To Make Buckeye Brownies
To make Buckeye Brownies, bake a batch of brownies in mini muffin tins and then press a peanut butter ball on top while they’re still warm.
Drizzle with chocolate and you have a fun chocolate peanut butter treat. It’s less time commitment than dipping regular buckeyes too!
You can use any brownie recipe to make these. However, the recipe below is adapted from my Brownies Made With Cocoa Powder and it’s pretty darn perfect – if I say so myself.
Buckeye Brownies Recipe
- Make the peanut butter balls first. Beat together the peanut butter, butter, and powdered sugar until smooth. If it is too dry and crumbly, add more peanut butter, if it’s too sticky, add more powdered sugar. roll into 3/4 inch balls. Should make 36. Set aside
- To make the brownies bites, preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease 3 mini muffins pans well. Whisk together the oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat in the cocoa, flour, salt, and baking powder. Divide batter into muffin tins, filling them 2/3 full. Should make 36 brownie bites
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out with a few crumbs. Remove from the oven and immediately press a peanut butter ball into each bite. Let cool several minutes in the pan before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the chocolate drizzle, add the melted butter, cocoa powder, corn syrup powdered sugar, and milk or cream to a microwave-safe bowl. Stir together and microwave for about 20 seconds. Stir again. Drizzle warm glaze over cooled brownie bites. The glaze will set when cooled.
Buckeye Brownie Bites
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Ball Ingredients
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons butter softened
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
Brownie Ingredients
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Chocolate Drizzle Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter melted
- 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon corn syrup or honey
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons milk or cream
Instructions
- Make the peanut butter balls first. Beat together the peanut butter, butter and powdered sugar until smooth. If it is too dry and crumbly, add more peanut butter, if it’s too sticky, add more powdered sugar. roll into 3/4 inch balls. Should make 36. Set aside
- To make the brownies bites, preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 3 mini muffins pans well. Whisk together the oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat in the cocoa, flour, salt and baking powder. Divide batter into muffin tins, filling them 2/3 full. Should make 36 brownie bites
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out with a few crumbs. Remove from the oven and immediately press a peanut butter ball into each bite. Let cool several minutes in the pan before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the chocolate drizzle, add the melted butter, cocoa powder, corn syrup powdered sugar and milk or cream to a microwave safe bowl. Stir together and microwave for about 20 seconds. Stir again. Drizzle warm glaze over cooled brownie bites. Glaze will set when cooled.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Here are some other brownie bite recipes that sound delicious!
Texas Sheet Cake Bites from Life in the Lofthouse
Peanut Butter Cup Brownie Bites from Melanie Makes
And you all know my love of mint chocolate chip so here are Mint Chocolate Chip Brownie Bites from Shugary Sweets
And if you’re looking for other buckeye recipes, I have you covered.
Classic Buckeyes – Peanut Butter Balls
Peanut Butter Pretzel Buckeyes
I see a lot of comments talking about them sticking to the pan. I use parhment liners for anything I make using cupcake or mini cupckae pans. Use parchment liners not paper. Paper will stick to brownie .
Okay I can’t find where you say to take them out of the pan. You said put the peanut butter roll ball into the hot brownies out of the oven and then put them on a cooling rack but I don’t know when to take them out and they’re in the oven now so I don’t know what to do.
Remove from the oven and immediately press a peanut butter ball into each bite. Let cool several minutes in the pan before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
My pans are non-stick, plus I sprayed them generously with oil spray. They normally release easily. The peanut butter ball portion and glaze was perfect as written and they taste amazing. Think I’ll use brownie mix next time because they are really, really tasty.
Made these buckeye brownie bites to take to friends todsy. They were a huge hit! My favorite food group is peanut butter and chocolate! Thank you for a great recipe!!!!
I’m thrilled to hear how much you all enjoyed the brownie bites, Dana! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment and tell me.
They stuck badly and turned out ugly BUT they are delicious anyway.
I’m glad they were delicious. Did you grease the mini muffin pans really well? I’m not sure why they would’ve stuck like that. Does your muffin pan typically release easily?
Okay, even though these turned into a totally different dessert, it turned out great and tastes just like a buckeye! After a disastrous attempt with the first batch of mini-brownies, I poured the remaining brownie batter in an 8×8 pan and baked it. When it cooled I spread the PB “frosting” on top, then poured the drizzle over it. We taste tested it using the crumbled mini brownies and everything together tastes amazing! I guess the lesson is, calm down and a long as it all tastes good in the end its a win!
Glad to hear that you were able to adapt and come up with something tasty! Happy baking.
I’m sorry, this was a disaster from the start. The PB ball mix was so dry and crumbly with the first measurements it wouldn’t even come together. After adding a little more PB it was too smooth so I added some powdered sugar and I never could get it to a rollable consistency so I gave up and planned to put a scoop on top of each one. But then I had the exact same issue as other reviews, when they came out of the oven the brownies were glued to the pan after using cooking spray. I waited until they cooled and it was actually harder to dig them out. I wasted my entire Thanksgiving morning on these and now have to try and assemble some type of dessert out of crumbled brownies and a PB cream.
These sound DELICIOUS!!!! I love peanut butter and chocolate but not everyone does. Im making them for a party and will do half with peanut butter and the other half with nutella in place of peanut butter. Im sure they will be amazing for those of who dont like peanut butter. Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe!
You are welcome, Amber. I hope everyone loves the brownie bites; making a half-and-half batch is a great idea. Happy baking!
Question: Hello, every Christmas we make “boozy” bites for our cookie exchange. Do you think there is a way I could incorporate Skrewball peanut butter whisky into the recipe? I’m not a baker, so I’m not sure what I could take out or if I could just add. These look amazing and I’d love to make them for the cookie swap.
I’ve never tried that, Cheri. I’m not sure how that might work. If you manage to find a way to make it work in the recipe, please let me know how it turns out! Enjoy the brownie bites, and happy baking.
Let’s all make these!!!
I hope you do, Joanne, and I hope that you love the brownie bites!