pass me the peanut butter

 

My two favorite words in the world could be peanut butter. I’ve been a fan of peanut butter since I popped out of the womb. My childhood was filled with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, peanut butter toast, and bananas smeared with spoonfuls of peanut butter. In fact, it was the only junk food-esque treat that mom had in the house. We weren’t big sweets people growing up, but give us a jar of good ole Jif peanut butter and we were set.

 

For this reason, in times of need, I turn to peanut butter. I think there was one whole week during my “angst-ridden” junior high years where I lived solely off of peanut butter. No joke. My friends and I still laugh about my week-long love affair with the jarred stuff. Since then, I try to moderate my bouts with this addicting stuff but sometimes a girl can’t help herself.

My Saturday looked a little bleak and boring with my cable and internet out. I never realized how much I rely on the internet for entertainment until it was gone. I promise never to take it for granted again. But at least I still had a working gas stove and oven and plenty of baking materials to help me pass the time. I decided to whip up these peanut butter blondies. How can you go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate chip squares?

 

I was low on supplies so I omitted the additional chopped peanuts and in there absence I upped the amount of peanut butter. But next time I will throw in some peanuts to give the blondies some added crunch. The recipe asks that you use foil to help take them out of the pan, but in my past I’ve had bad experiences with these recipes and foil. They turn out too fudgy or mushy and are even harder to get out of the pan. So instead I used cooking spray and tossed some flour into the pan, tapping out the excess. This worked out nice and I had no problems getting the blondies out. Texture wise, they turned out ten times better without the foil with a nice golden crust forming on the sides and solid bottoms.

52 minutes later, I was in heaven. Weather and Comcast be damned, at least I had these blondies. The melted chocolate chips mixed smoothly into the thick peanut butter batter. The tops were puffed slightly, rising a bit like pillows.

 

The perfect blend of sweet and savory, these nutty treats will be gone in no time. I recommend that you give these treats out ASAP after you sample one, or else you will devour them in no time. Unless you are like me who prefers to eat these as her morning breakfast with a steaming cup of hot coffee. But don’t worry, I packaged these babies up and sent them on their way to a friend who helped us clean up the storm debris.

Peanuttiest Blondies

From Baking: from my home to yours

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup peanut butter- crunchy or creamy
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ¾ cup light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup coarsely chopped salted peanuts
• 6 ounces semisweet or milk chocolate (I used 1 cup store-bought chocolate chips)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 9 inch square baking pan with foil, butter foil, and put pan on baking sheet.
2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.
3. Beat butter and peanut butter on medium speed until smooth. Add both the sugars and beat for 1 to 2 minutes, until well incorporated into the butter. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each egg goes in. Beat in the vanilla extract. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the dough. If the chunky ingredients aren’t mixed in after a few seconds, just finish the job with a sturdy spatula- don’t overmix the dough. Scrape the dough into the prepared pan.
4. Bake the blondies for 40 to 50 minutes, or until they turn a deep honey brown and a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool to room temperature.
5. When it is completely cool, carefully lift the blondies out of the pan, using the foil edges as handles, and turn them out onto a rack. Peel away the foil and invert onto a cutting board. Use a long knife to cut into 16 bars, each roughly 2 and ¼ inches on a side. Wrapped well, these blondies will keep for about 3 days at room temperature or for up to 2 month in the freezer.