My last first day of school was this Tuesday! It’s a little bittersweet knowing that high school will be over and so many familiar faces will be parting ways in just one year. At the same time, there’s a lot to look forward to as a senior (college essays, oh joy!), so I’m just trying to take everything a day at a time. That said, first semester is no cakewalk and I know I’m going to have a lot less time on my hands to pour into baking. My to-do list is a mile long, my drafts folder is filled with half-written posts, and I desperately need a new spatula, but unfortunately, duty calculus homework calls.
This means I’m leaving you with an old photo and recipe for amazingly chewy peanut butter chocolate chip blondies – you can never go wrong with that combination, can you? Bar cookies are really easy (plus you melt the butter in this one so no waiting for it to soften!), so you have no excuse not to make these. Unless you have, I don’t know, a chapter of Geosystems to read or something like that?
Recipe: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 2 cups light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9×13″ pan with foil, leaving some overhang on the edges for easy removal. Butter the foil or spray with baking spray.
- In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and brown sugar, stirring constantly until smooth. Remove from the heat, and stir in the peanut butter, until the mixture is homogenous. ,Set aside to cool.
- While you wait, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
- Add the eggs one at a time to the peanut butter mixture, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and stir to combine. Pour the mixture into the prepared dry ingredients, and stir until batter is completely mixed. Fold in 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips, reserving the rest for sprinkling on top.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared pan, spreading the batter evenly to the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips and lightly press them into the batter.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the top is golden and the edges are slightly browned. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack. Once cooled, lift the blondies from the pan using the foil you left on the edges and cut into squares with a sharp knife.
Number of servings (yield): 24 bars
Adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod, originally from My Kitchen Addiction