Peanut Butter Blondies

 
I have three words to describe these Peanut Butter Blondies.  OH MY GOODNESS!  Seriously . . .  OH MY GOODNESS! 
 
I adapted the recipe from one I found in this cookbook I have entitled The Only Bake Sale Cookbook You'll Ever Need, by Laurie Goldrich Wolf and Pam Abrams.   It was one I had flagged for a very long time, but had never made because of the fact that mini peanut butter cups are very difficult to find over here.  But then we joined Costco  . . .  and what do they have in Costco?  Yep, mini peanut butter cups!
 
I bought a bag of course so I could make these blondies.  A friend of ours is nuts about peanut butter anything and it was their birthday so I thought I would bake a pan to give them.  They were very well received . . . not surprisingly! 
 
I had trimmed the edges off so that I could cut them properly and nibbled at those and I was in Peanut Butter Blondie Heaven, and earthly hell.  I have never had neuropathy before, but that night I did and it was miserable.  Taught myself a good lesson there! 
 
You make a basic blondie batter, which is fairly stiff and spread most of it into a pan, upon which you lay out the peanut butter cups.  The rest of the batter gets spread over top of those. 
 
I found the easiest way to do this was to dollop it on and then spread it out with my fingers as best as I could.
 
You end up with sticky fingers, but what the hey. Its all good! 
  
They come out of the oven looking like this.  Which is perfectly fine, but because they were for a special occasion I decided to dress them up with some chocolate fudge frosting and chopped peanut butter cups.
 
Oh boy, oh boy  . . . OTT decadence! You probably won't want to go that far if you are making them just for around the house! 
 
But if you have a special occasion to make them for, then go for it!  People will be oohing and ahhing all over the place! 
 
Its probably best to wait and let them sit overnight before cutting . . . 
 
Cutting them before that definitely brings out the ooze factor in these, a bit messy for giving, but oh my, oh my! 
 
Yield: 16Author: Marie RaynerPrint Recipe
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Peanut Butter Blondies

prep time: 15 minscook time: 35 minstotal time: 50 minsVery moreish. Fudgy and moist with the surprise of a mini peanut butter cup inside.  I like to frost with a chocolate frosting and decorated with more peanut butter cups for gifting, otherwise I leave them plain.

ingredients:

210g plain flour (1 1/2 cups all purpose)1 1/2 tsp baking powder1/4 tsp salt1 large free range egg1 large free range egg yolk (you can freeze the white, to use later for a pavolova if you wish)175g butter (3/4 cup)300g soft light brown sugar (1 1/2 cups, packed)1 tsp vanilla extract16 miniature peanut butter cups

instructions:

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.  Line an 8 inch square
 baking tin with baking paper. Set aside. (I always line with enough
paper for an overhang to help lift them out easily.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Melt
 the butter in a saucepan over low heat, add the brown sugar and stir to
 dissolve.  Whisk in the egg and egg yolk along with the vanilla. Stir
in the flour mixture just to combine.  Remove 300g (1 cup) of the batter
 and set aside.  Spread the remaining batter in the prepared pan.  Place
 the peanut butter cups on top of the batter, leaving about 1/2 inch
between each and evenly spacing.  Dollop the remaining batter on top and
 spread it over as best you can.
Bae for 30 to 35 minutes, until just set in the center.  Cool completely in the pan.  Lift out for cutting into squares. Optional:  Ice with chocolate fudge icing and chopped peanut butter cups.Created using The Recipes Generator
 
I am so glad that I was giving these away.  Far too tempting for me to have in my home.  I can see why they would go over big at Bake Sales!  Warning, don't bake these unless you are having company or planning on giving most of them away. They are THAT good!  Bon Appetit!