Loaded Brownies Recipe

Loaded brownies with reese's peanut butter cups and oreos.

5 from 1 vote

These Loaded Brownies are packed with Oreo cookies, Reese's peanut butter cups, and homemade salted caramel sauce. They are a truly decadent treat that is sure to wow any brownie lover!

Prep Time25

Cook Time1

Cooling time1

Total Time2 25

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings: servings

Calories: 517kcal

Author: Briana

Equipment

8x8 baking pan
hand mixer (or a whisk, or a stand mixer with a whisk attachment)

Ingredients

Brownie layer

2 sticks unsalted butter (½ cup)
100 grams bittersweet or dark chocolate bars chopped
⅓ cup dutch processed cocoa powder 30g
½ cup + 2 tablespoons white sugar 125g
½ cup + 2 tablespoons brown sugar ½ cup + 2 tablespoon 125g
2 teaspoons instant espresso optional
2 large eggs room temperature
1 large egg yolk room temperature
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
¾ cup all-purpose flour 90g

Mix-ins

¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks or chips
½ cup salted caramel sauce divided (homemade or storebought)
12 Oreos chopped and divided
6 large peanut butter cups divided
Flaky sea salt for topping optional

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8x8 pan and line with parchment. Set aside.
Start by adding 2 sticks of unsalted butter to a heavy bottomed saucepan. Melt it over medium heat. If you want, continue heating it until the butter has browned. Here's our guide for how to brown butter for step-by-step instructions! The key is, no matter if you're browning the butter or not, the butter needs to be hot enough to melt the chocolate easily!
After the butter is nice and hot (and potentially browned) remove the saucepan from the heat and add in 30g of cocoa powder, the chopped chocolate bar, and 2 teaspoons of instant espresso. Keep mixing everything together with a rubber spatula to melt the chocolate and combine everything until smooth. Once combined, remove from the saucepan and place in a separate container to cool.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, mix together 2 eggs, the egg yolk, 125g of white sugar, and 125g of light brown sugar until pale and fluffy. This will take 3-4 minutes.
Once the chocolate mixture has cooled down, stream it in slowly to the egg and sugar mixture, along with 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract while using the hand mixer on medium speed to incorporate it. Be sure to scrape the bowl a few times with a rubber spatula to make sure everything is incorporated.
Now, slowly sift in ¾ cup of all purpose flour and 1 teaspoon of kosher salt to the wet ingredients. Mix the batter on low speed with the electric mixer to incorporate gently. Once almost all the way mixed, switch to a rubber spatula to ensure you don't overmix the brownies at this stage.
When everything is almost all the way incorporated fold in ¾ cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips.
Pour half of the batter into the prepared baking pan.
Swirl in about half of the caramel (about ¼ cup) to create ribbons. Layer on about half of the chopped Oreos (6 Oreos) and peanut butter cups (3 large Reese's cups), then cover them with the rest of the batter.
Top the brownies with the rest of the salted caramel sauce, the remaining chocolate chips, chunks, Oreo pieces, and chopped Reese's cups.
Bake for roughly 45-50 minutes, testing for doneness by inserting a knife into the center of the brownies beginning at 35 minutes. You’ll know they’re done when the edge is set, but a toothpick inserted into the middle still comes out with a few moist crumbs attached to it.
As soon as the brownies come out of the oven, sprinkle them with sea salt. Allow them to cool completely in the pan and trasnfer to a cooling rack. This will take about an hour.
Cut into 9-12 pieces, and serve. Enjoy!
Store leftovers at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Notes

Use a kitchen scale for best results. Accurate measurement of ingredients is crucial for the best result. Too much flour can result in dry, or cakey brownies, which is not the result we're going for! Using a kitchen scale ensures correct measurements, and this is especially important for ingredients like flour, cocoa powder, and sugar.

Room-temperature ingredients. Use room-temperature eggs. This helps them incorporate more easily into the batter, leading to a smoother, more homogenous mix that won’t seize up when it comes into contact with the butter.

Take your time to incorporate the eggs and sugars. This is the one stage where mixing a lot is actually encouraged. When combining the eggs and sugars, we want to mix until the sugar is at least mostly dissolved. This is what gives us that incredible shiny and crackly top on the brownies!

Allow the butter and chocolate mixture to cool off before adding it to the batter. When combining the cocoa powder, hot butter, and chocolate chips, the mixture will become very hot. It will need some time to cool down so that you don't accidentally scramble the eggs when they're added!

Don't overmix the dry ingredients. When mixing the batter, avoid overmixing once you add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Overmixing at this stage can lead to dense and tough brownies. Mix until the dry ingredients are just incorporated to achieve a tender and fudgy texture. This is why we like to switch to a rubber spatula at this stage.

Grease and line the baking pan. Grease the baking pan and line it with parchment paper to make sure nothing sticks.

Use good-quality Dutch-process cocoa powder. This ensures a richer chocolate flavor. The Dutch process cocoa powder is less acidic and has a smoother chocolate flavor compared to natural cocoa powder.

Don’t skip the instant espresso. This won’t make it taste like coffee, don’t worry!

Layer the mix-ins. Distribute the Oreos and peanut butter cups evenly to ensure every bite has a good mix of flavors and textures. Avoid pressing them too far into the batter, as they might sink to the bottom.

Test for doneness. Use the knife test as mentioned, but remember that the brownies will continue to cook slightly from residual heat after being removed from the oven. They should be slightly underbaked for a fudgy texture.

Cool completely. Allow the brownies to cool completely in the pan. Patience is key! Cutting into warm brownies can result in them falling apart or having a gooey texture.

Use a very sharp knife for cutting. Use a sharp knife to cut the brownies. Clean the knife after each cut to ensure neat, clean edges.

Adjust to your oven. Be aware of your oven's peculiarities. Some ovens run hotter or cooler than the temperature dial indicates. It might be worth using an oven thermometer to verify the actual temperature.

Experiment with baking time. If you prefer gooier brownies, bake for a shorter time. For cake-like brownies, bake a bit longer. Personally, we always recommend underbaking a little bit, because we love an ooey-gooey brownie!

Nutrition