Buckeye brownie bites are unlike any brownie you’ve had before! Mini brownie cups are topped with creamy peanut butter fudge balls and drizzled with chocolate for a decadent bite-sized treat.

Why you’ll love this recipe:

These brownie bites combine two of my favorite desserts, brownies and buckeyes! There’s no better combination than peanut butter and chocolate and these are incredibly easy to make, thanks to the shortcut of using boxed brownie mix!

They don’t take as long as dipping regular buckeyes and are always a crowd-pleasing dessert for nearly any occasion!

Ingredients you’ll need:

Brownie mix- prepare according to box instructions (most call for egg and vegetable oil)
Creamy peanut butter- not the natural stuff!
Powdered sugar
Butter- softend
Vanilla extract
Semi-sweet chocolate chips

What are buckeyes?

As someone who was born and raised in Ohio, buckeye candies have always been a staple at holidays, bake sales, parties, etc. Buckeyes are peanut butter fudge balls that are partially coated in chocolate. They’re soft, creamy, and similar to peanut butter balls which are completely covered in chocolate.

Brownies baked in a mini muffin tin have to be one of my favorite ways to bake brownies because you get crispy edges on all sides! They’re still slightly chewy on the inside, and the perfect bite-sized treat. Combine them with peanut butter truffles and you’re left with these individually portioned buckeye brownies!

How to make the best buckeye brownie bites:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and thoroughly grease a mini muffin tin. Set aside.
Make your brownie batter according to box instructions, then divide the batter evenly among the 24 mini muffin tin cavities (they’ll be about ½ full).
Bake the brownies for 18-20 minutes, then let cool for 5 minutes. Using the handle of a wooden spoon or cooking spatula, press down to make an indentation halfway deep in the center of each brownie bite. Set aside to cool fully.
In a medium mixing bowl combine creamy peanut butter, powdered sugar, softened butter, and vanilla extract. Mix until there is no residual powdered sugar, and the mixture is smooth.
Roll the peanut butter mixture into 24 equal sized balls (about ½ inch in size) then lightly press them into the brownie bite indentations.
Melt chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second intervals or until smooth. Drizzle the melted chocolate over the buckeye bites, then let the chocolate set before removing the buckeye bites from the pan.

You already know I had to throw a shortcut in here somewhere so we’re using a boxed brownie mix to make this recipe even easier! I swear the Ghirahdelli double chocolate brownie mix is just as good (if not better) than any other brownie recipes I’ve tried. If you’d still like to make yours from scratch, just be sure you use a recipe that traditionally fits a 9×9 pan.

My top tips:

Grease your mini muffin tin before adding the brownie batter. It’s no fun to make a dessert just for it to get stuck in the pan!
If you have an electric mixer, I recommend bringing it out to combine the peanut butter ball mixture. I find the peanut butter mixture is smoother and comes together much easier this way.
You’ll want to make a small indentation in the center of the brownie bites while they’re still warm. To do this, I recommend using the handle of a wooden spoon or cooking spatula. This indentation is what will hold the peanut butter ball mixture.
When adding the peanut butter balls to the brownie bites, lightly press them down to get them to fill the indentations. This also ensures they stick to the brownie bites!
You can either drizzle melted chocolate over the buckeye brownie bites using a spoon, or you can transfer the melted chocolate to a Ziploc bag and snip off the end for a cleaner drizzled look. If your chocolate is too thick to drizzle, add 1 tbsp of vegetable or melted coconut oil to thin it out.
I don’t recommend removing these from the muffin tin until the chocolate drizzle is fully set. To speed this up, you can chill the brownie bites in the fridge for 15 minutes to harden the chocolate. If the edges of the brownies seem stuck to the pan, run a butter knife around the edges to loosen each brownie bite.

Looking for more mini dessert recipes? Try these out!

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