20 March 2010

More Peanut Butter Chocolate Goodies?

I have been on a peanut butter chocolate tear lately.  As much as I enjoy the flavor combination, it isn't a favorite of mine so it is kind of funny that I keep on baking with it. I recently took a weekend trip to Cleveland to visit one of my best friends.  This friend used to be a frequent recipient of my baked goods since we shared an office. Unfortunately for me, but fortunately for her, she moved to Cleveland to be with her boyfriend fiance. Since I knew I would be crashing on her couch, I figured a baked good was in order.


Last time I visited her, I brought these delicious peanut butter chocolate "brownies".  She and her fiance were quite enthused with the flavor combination, so I decided to try a new peanut butter chocolate recipe out on them.  I think they were quite happy with my offering. 


The blondies bake up very chewy and crazy-rich. Speaking from personal experience, they make a lovely 2 a.m. post-bar nibble.  The bars were easy to transport and hold up well over a few days. 


The addition of peanut butter keeps the blondies really moist. I think pushing whole peanut butter cups into the top of the hot-from-the-oven blondies was gilding a pretty darn spectacular lily, but it got them out of my house so I wouldn't snack on them.  I found the recipe over at my sister's blog, The Spiced Life.  (If you have a hankering for chocolate and peanut butter, her blog is a great place to start - she has a lot of reviews posted!)


 Rich & Chewy Peanut Butter Squares A.K.A. Best Peanut Butter Blondies EVER
Adapted from Baking By Flavor via The Spiced Life

1 cup (126 g) AP flour
1/4 cup cake flour
3/4 t baking powder
1/8 t salt
1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
8 T (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to tepid
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 t vanilla
1 cup chopped Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, plus more for topping (optional)
3/4 cup peanut butter chips
1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Spray an 8X8 baking pan and line it with parchment paper or foil that overhangs the sides (you will use it to lift the blondies out of the pan). Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Sift together the AP flour, cake flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a medium sized mixing bowl (this is easily done by hand) whisk together the melted butter and peanut butter. Whisk in the brown sugar, egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Switching to a wooden spoon or a spatula, mix in the sifted flour mixture. Stir in the chips and peanut butter cups. The dough will be thick and chunky.

Scrape the dough into the prepared pan and spread it in evenly. Bake for 25-30 minutes, rotating front to back halfway through. The bars are done when the dough is set and golden. Optional: you can press as many peanut butter cups as you want into the surface of the blondies while they are still warm. Let the pan and bars cool completely on a cooling rack. Slice the bars into 4 quadrants--and then slice each quadrant into 4 squares. Try not to eat them all.

12 comments:

Laura said...

That is prob my favorite pb chocolate recipe (for cookies/bars). Yours look great, hope Lauren liked them

Liren @ Kitchen Worthy said...

That looks soooooo good!!! Oh dear! I need to find some desert now...

grace said...

just a hot second--laura is your sister? i had no idea! what a coincidence that i happen to love both of your blogs. actually, this means it's not a coincidence at all. :)
i'm not crazy wild about chocolate-peanut butter treats (chocolate-mint or chocolate-coconut are another story), but i like what you've done here. i like it a lot.

Bob said...

Oh man, I would eat all of those. Pb and chocolate is one of my absolute favorites.

Q. said...

Just made blondies for the first time and feel like I'm on a blonde streak. Our blondies made tastespotting w/in a few posts of each other! Ha! May have to tackle yours next. Who can say no to a reese's pb cup in a dessert!? NO ONE. (Least of all me:)

Disneypal said...

For peanut butter's sake - it doesn't get better than this !! I can't wait to try these !

Bren said...

just this ultra sexy and lovely treat on TS! Such a good look and since I LOVE and sneak my own pack of pb cups in to movies, i'll be making these to sneak them in, too!

Barbara said...

Not a chance. I WILL eat them all!

Shelby said...

This looks so good! If I had seen this before I made my PB cookies I would have gone this way instead!

Nicole said...

I made these and they were so good! I posted them today!

http://cookiesonfriday.blogspot.com/2010/04/week-leading-up-to-easter-often-seems.html

cmhgourmand said...

These look absolutely perfect! Drool.

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