I have a list of links bookmarked on my computer that’s a mile long. Yes literally, a whole mile. That’s super long. The biggest category is labeled “recipes to try” and there are some that have been there for years. This one is one I always see when I’m scrolling through the list because it’s been there for like, 5 years. I thought I should finally make it just so I could delete it and let something else win the title of longest time on the list. Because I’m all about equal opportunity. These ooey gooey brownies have the look of a gourmet concoction, but they start off with a shortcut and are thrown together in no time. You’ll use a devil’s food cake mix (we like Duncan Hines) and turn it into a brownie. The middle layer boasts fluffy, melty marshmallow cream and dots of peanut butter morsels. Sounds like a winning combination, right?? It totally is.
Start by mixing part of the sweetened condensed milk with the cake mix, butter, milk, and egg white. It doesn’t look like a cake batter, it’s super thick like this:
You’ll need to pat part of this mixture into a 9×13 inch pan. You can either flour your hands, or spray them with cooking spray to avoid big goopy chocolate hands. That layer gets popped in the oven for about 10 minutes.
While it gets baked up, grab the marshmallow cream and scoop it all out into a bowl.
Add the rest of the sweetened condensed milk and stir it up till it’s nice and smooth
Lovely, isn’t it?
Then, we add peanut butter chips. Mmmm…peanut butter chips.
What a beautiful invention.
You can certainly measure them out. Or you can dump them in and accidentally dump way more than the recipe calls for. I won’t tell.
Stir them in
Then pour the marshmallow mixture over your pre-cooked brownie mixture. The marshmallow mixture is nice and sticky so just be patient and spoon it on a little at a time and very gently spread it around.
Then take the rest of that brownie dough and use your fingers to sort of smoosh it out into flat pieces and lay them on top.
Ready for the oven! Bake for another 30 minutes and wa-lah…
(And if you’re about to send me a rude grammar-correcting email or comment, I will just tell you now that I already know that’s not the correct spelling of wa-lah and I’m using it anyway. Because it’s my blog and I feel like it. And I don’t like writing in French because people won’t pronounce it wa-lah in their heads they will say viola.
And that just sounds lame. Seriously. Stop the emails. I’m sure you have better things you could do with your time. Like make brownies!)
It will kill you to not cut into these right away, but trust me, they are much better after they’ve cooled down. You can leave them slightly warm, or cool them completely to really taste all of the flavors. They’re awesome in big squares with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top too.
Or just stuffed in your face. Your call.
A few of you readers in the comments were surprised to note the source of such a naughty looking recipe: Cooking Light Magazine! I noted that the great thing about Cooking Light is that they skim calories where they can, but without sacrificing the recipe. So while these brownies are totally drool-worthy, they use non-fat milk and non-fat sweetened condensed milk, only 1 egg white in the whole recipe and only 4 tablespoons butter. All things considered, that’s a pretty great line-up for a treat as decadent as this! So go ahead; eat one more 😉
Ooey-Gooey Peanut-Butter Brownies
Ingredients
- 3/4 C sweetened condensed milk divided (fat-free is fine)
- 1/4 C butter melted and cooled (1/2 stick)
- 1/4 C non-fat milk
- 1 box devil's food cake mix 18.25 oz
- 1 large egg white lightly beaten
- cooking spray
- 1 7 oz jar marshmallow creme about 1 3/4 C
- 1/2 C peanut butter morsels not gonna lie, I used a very "heaping" 1/2 cup :
Instructions
- With an electric mixer, combine 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk, milk, butter, cake mix, and egg white. Mixture will be very thick. Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Press 2/3 of the mixture into the bottom of the pan. Use either floured hands, or spray your hands with cooking spray in order to press it down without having it stick to your fingers. The layer will be thin. Bake for 10 minutes.
- Combine 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk and marshmallow creme in a bowl and combine until smooth. Stir in PB morsels. No one will tell if you stir in some extras.
- Spread marshmallow layer over brownie layer in pan. Carefully drop remaining brownie batter by spoonfuls over marshmallow mixture. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes. (The original recipe calls for 30 minutes, but many readers have noted that 20 minutes was perfect, and I usually only bake for about 20-25). Remove from oven and cool before cutting into squares.
Questions & Reviews
I pronounced it Wa-lah in my head.
Just made three pans, and…I’m sorry, but they are disappointing. Not a very good chocolate flavor and the marshmallow layer tastes really canned. I think I put too much batter on the bottom layer, leaving not enough for the top layer. However, they were not good enough for me to bother trying the recipe again.
Did any one else Notice this ? I just made these and it was not until they were in baking I said oh crud i forgot to add the non-fat milk some where.. I looked over and over the receipe and didnt see where it was to be added. I took it to my husband and had him read it he didnt see it.. It is listed in the ingredients but not when you make it..
I have them cooling and they are for a retreat tomorrow i sure hope they are ok..
Just a funny i thought i would mention in case any one else sees it..
Did i miss something??
Thanks
You totally cracked us up with your wa-lah/viola digression!
I just made these tonight. Wow, they are so dang good. I may have over cooked mine just a tad. Very rich, only need a small slice. Thanks for the recipe
made these tonight for a super bowl party and they were a huge hit. I baked them for 20 minutes and it was perfect. I did refrigerate the tray to expedite the cooling and hardening process and it was a big help.
I made this last night and they are tasty for Cooking Light. I’m wondering, though, if 10 minutes for baking the first layer is too long. I baked the first 10 minutes, then after adding the top layers, baked another 22 minutes. The only problem I had was the bottom layer got dry and overbaked. I would suggest lowering the initial 10 minute bake time maybe to 7 or 8 minutes?
OMG good for making browines for thanksgiving :)!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I totally thought I massacred these but turns out no matter how undercooked they are, they are delicious!
my son took a bite and said with love in his voice “mom, this is what happens when smores and brownies have babies”. he is a teenage boy and an eagle scout so… you know… that is the highest compliment you can get. especially when referenced with smores.
I have been making these brownies for years and they are always a crowd pleaser. The BEST!!!
BTW – I always sprinkle the peanut butter chips on the marshmallow after it’s been spread for a more even distribution.
I made these this weekend and they were soooo yummy! I hope you don’t mind but I put your link to this recipe on my blog to give you credit plus your pics were much better than mine… still learning. 🙂
this sounds really good but I laughed when I saw it was from Cooking Light. Light? really? Because you used lowfat milk with the cake mix, oil, sweetened cond milk, candy and marshmallow. haha
Pain in the rear to try and spread out the top brownie layer, which I wasn’t too successful at. Next time I am just going to swirl in the mallow creme/pb chips and call it a day.
It’s not meant to be spread Heather, it’s more of a crumble. You just flatten little pieces with your fingers and sprinkle them on top- it’s super easy!
Just made these although I had to make a few adjustments because I was missing ingredients. No peanut butter chips so I added a glob (didn’t measure!) of peanut butter and white chocolate chips to the marshmallow creme mixture. The resulting bars are pretty yummy but I do want to make them the “right” way for comparison. Now to find some friends to share them with so I don’t eat the whole pan myself!
Wow! These look fantastic! Making them today..thanks for sharing!
These are in the oven as I write ! YUM !! Does anyone have any ideas how to use up the last 1/4 c of the condensed milk? I COULD just eat it out of the can…but really, any ideas without making a whole—something?
I did finally try these with graham crackers instead of peanut butter chips to see if the crackers would melt into goo. My graham crackers were a bit stale and they softened to a brownie consistency which was perfect. I broke them into quarters and spaced them out (I think I used 3 total crackers) over the marshmallow layer before I added the rest of the brownie batter. Yum! So many tasty variations for this recipe, so little room in my waistband…
Has anyone ever tried this with brownie mix? I didn’t read the ingredients carefully enough and picked up that instead of devil’s food cake mix.
FYI…the recipe calls for 1/4 cup of non-fat milk but it never calls for it in the instructions. Mine turned out good when they were still warm but the next day the marshmallow creme was really chewy and hard.
Sorry if this was already asked, but would these freeze okay? I’m a novice food-freezer 🙂 It’s just me and my husband, but I get nervous halving recipes when they involve cake mixes–don’t know why!!
I was so excited and then hugely disappointed. These didn’t deliver the fudgey chocoloately w/ pb taste I was looking for. I will try to adapt my own fudgey brownie receipe instead of using the cake mix and put in more pbutter chips.