Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle is the perfect dessert for a crowd! A creamy peanut butter mixture combined with peanut butter cups and brownies make a decadent dessert recipe everyone will love!
If you are a chocolate peanut butter lover, this easy trifle recipe is for you! Layers of goodness in every bite, this will be a hit for any sweet tooth craving! Plus, this is perfect for entertaining as you can prepare it ahead of time!
What is a trifle?
Good question! Trifles are actually a tasty dessert option that consists of layers of cake, pudding, and cream. It is a common English dessert traditionally consisting of sponge cake soaked in brandy, sherry, or white wine that is layered with custard, fruit, or jam and then topped with whipped cream. Typically served in glass dessert cups, revealing its colorful layers. In this case, the brownies replaced the cake, and I went with a richer chocolate peanut butter combination versus fruits, custards, and cake! There are so many variations of a trifle, you really can’t go wrong!
Ingredients Needed for this Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle:
Brownies:
Sugar
Cocoa Powder
Flour
Baking powder
Salt
Eggs
Water
Butter
Vanilla extract
Peanut Butter Filling:
Cream Cheese, softened
Powdered sugar
Peanut butter
Milk
Cool whip
Peanut Butter Cups, chopped
How to make this easy Chocolate Peanut Butter Trifle:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 13×9 inch baking pan.
Combine dry brownie ingredients in a large bowl, stir. Add in wet ingredients, stir until well mixed.
Spread batter into pan.
Bake 20-24 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted.
Let brownies cool completely.
In a different bowl, combine cream cheese and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth.
Add in peanut butter and milk and mix until combined. Fold in cool whip, combine.
Take out half the brownies and crumble them into the bottom of a trifle bowl or large glass bowl.
Add a layer of the peanut butter mixture.
Take the other half of the brownies and crumble on top of peanut butter layer.
Put the last layer of peanut butter mixture on top of brownies.
Sprinkle chopped peanut butter cups on top.
Refrigerate until serving time!!!
*Want to take a shortcut?? Use boxed brownie mix instead of homemade brownies.
Check out these other great trifle recipes:
Chocolate Mousse and Brownie Trifle
Frequently asked questions:
What if I don’t have a trifle bowl? No problem! Simply use any glass bowl and layer as directed!
Are there any shortcuts to making this faster? Yes! Feel free to use boxed brownie mix or store-bought brownies in place of the homemade recipe.
Can I add in some fruit? Sure! A great addition to this trifle is to add a layer of raspberries throughout. Adds a refreshing addition!
How do I serve this? I use the scoop and go method. Grab a bowl and spoon, scoop out desired amount, and dive in!
Is this best chilled or room temperature? Since the peanut butter layer has cream cheese in it, I don’t like to keep this at room temperature. I always chill until ready to serve and its a rich, tasty dessert!
A decadent dessert everyone will enjoy, this Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle is a must try! Print or save the recipe below!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle
Ingredients
Brownies
- 1 2/3 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 1/3 cup flour *all purpose
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoon water
- 3/4 cup melted butter
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Peanut Butter Filling
- 8 oz cream cheese *softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup peanut butter *creamy
- 2/3 cup milk
- 16 oz cool whip
- 4 Reese's cups *Chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 13×9-inch baking pan.
- Combine dry brownie ingredients in a large bowl, stir. Add in wet ingredients, stir until well mixed.
- Spread batter into pan.
- Bake 20-24 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted.
- Let brownies cool completely.
- In a different bowl, combine cream cheese and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth.
- Add in peanut butter and milk and mix until combined. Fold in cool whip, combine.
- Take out half the brownies and crumble them into the bottom of a trifle bowl or large glass bowl.
- Add a layer of the peanut butter mixture.
- Take the other half of the brownies and crumble on top of peanut butter layer.
- Put the last layer of peanut butter mixture on top of brownies.
- Sprinkle chopped peanut butter cups on top.
- Refrigerate until serving time!!!
Nutrition
Recipe updated 3/2/22
Shell
This looks so delicious and you can never go wrong with chocolate, peanut butter, and cream cheese!!!!
Kristin, Tammy and Adriana
Our thoughts exactly!!! Its quite delicious!! Im sad that we ate it all, time to make it again, haha
Anonymous
It looks delicious and I would love to try it. But we don’t have peanut butter cups where I live. What can I substitute it with?
Kristin and Adriana
Hmmmm, good question! Do you have any type of peanut butter chocolate candy such as peanut butter m & m’s? If not, you could use chocolate shavings or any chocolate candy crushed up : )
Mary
It is so good, even without the peanut butter chips. You could use peanut butter and chocolate chips or choc shaving. The paint butter chips are just decorations and will not effect the outcome of the trifle.
Janet Schager
I cannot get cool whip where I live. What can I use instead of it??
Kristin
You can use whipped cream. To make your own, buy a container of heavy whipping cream and blend it in your food processor or blender until it is the consistency of cool whip. You can use this in place of cool whip, 🙂 Enjoy!!
Rachel
I was wanting to make these in individual servings for a cookout. Like in clear punch cups. Any suggestions on how many one recipe would do?
Jessica
I found the receipt on Facebook a while ago and have made it for several parties and pick nicks…and it was a BIG hit! So much so that its been requested for the next party I’m attending. The only bad thing was that I saved the webpage on a phone that got stolen so for the last 6 months I’ve been trying to find it…AND JUST DID. This totally made my day.
By the way it’s a great dessert!!!
Kristin
Awww so glad you enjoy it and were able to find the recipe again. That is always exciting finding things after a long time 🙂