Easy Peanut Butter Blondies

These Easy Peanut Butter Blondies are the absolute best peanut butter dessert around. They have the texture of a brownie - soft and gooey in the center with a crispy edge - but the flavor of a cookie - in this case, a delicious peanuty flavor with bits of heath bar toffee candy sprinkled in.  They're a quick dessert that comes together in just 45 minutes and are a huge favorite around our house!

Wondering what the difference between blondies and brownies is? Blondies are sort of like brownies, except the base isn't made of chocolate. This version, with creamy peanut butter and crunchy Heath bar chips is the ultimate blondie recipe!

Why This Is The BEST Peanut Butter Blondie Recipe

• Crispy and chewy!! These babies are crispy on the outside, and soft and gooey on the inside, making the perfect chewy bite every time. 
• Quick and Easy! These blondie bars come together quickly and require no chilling time. You'll have these done from start to finish in under 45 minutes.
• Heath bar crumbles. The small bits of chocolate and toffee add great flavor and texture to these dessert bars.
• A crowd-pleaser every time! These bars are so great for crowds because everyone always loves them. They're the perfect peanut butter dessert for potlucks, BBQs, Christmas, Halloween, birthday parties - you name it!

Ingredients

• Butter. Butter makes these blondies super soft and deliciously chewy. You'll melt the butter on the stove, along with the brown sugar in this recipe before combining it with the rest of the ingredients.
• Brown sugar. Brown sugar has a caramel toffee-like flavor that deepens the flavors in these peanut butter blondie bars and goes great with the heath bar candy.
• Peanut butter. If you've ever tried to make a cookie with natural peanut butter, you'll quickly realize that it leads to a crumbly mess. Natural peanut butter tends to dry out baked goods so using a processed version here is best. I used creamy, but if you're looking for a bit more texture in these bars, crunchy would work well too.
• Eggs. The eggs will help bind your flour, sugar, and butter in this recipe and create a moist and chewy texture for these blondies.
• Vanilla extract. I always opt for real vanilla extract (not imitation vanilla) but it's ok if that's all you have.  
• Molasses. While you typically get a touch of a molasses flavor from the brown sugar, adding just a bit of molasses to this recipe adds a more complex range of flavors. It gives off notes of caramel but its sweetness is less intense than the brown sugar. 
• All-purpose flour. The flour will help thicken your blondies and provide some much-needed structure.
• Baking powder and baking soda. 
• Salt. You only need a touch of salt to enhance the flavors here. Be light-handed if you used salted butter.
• Heath bar candy chips. Heath bar candy chips add just the right amount of crunch and are a welcome surprise in each bite. They pair perfectly with the peanut butter flavors of this blondie recipe. They typically come in bags and can be found in the baking aisle alongside the chocolate chips. 

How To Make Them

1. Start by preparing your pan. I used an 8x8-inch square pan here. Line it with parchment paper or grease it with butter to prevent the peanut butter blondies from sticking to the sides. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt your butter and brown sugar. Add them both to a medium-sized saucepan over low-medium heat and whisk until the butter has melted and the brown sugar is well incorporated. 
3. Let the mixture cool for a few minutes before adding the peanut butter, molasses, eggs, and vanilla. 
4. Mix it all together! In a large bowl, combine your dry ingredients, then add in your peanut butter mixture and stir to combine. At this point, the batter will be quite thick. Fold in ½ of the heath bar chips.
5. Bake the blondies. Pour the blondie batter into your prepared pan, then sprinkle the top with the rest of the Heath bar chips and bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out mostly clean. 
6. Cool completely. Allow the blondies to cool completely before cutting and serving.

Variations

Not a fan of Heath bars? No problem. There are lots of ways to customize these peanut butter blondies to your liking.

• Use different candy. Chocolate chips, Reese's pieces, or white chocolate chips would all be great as a sub for the heath bar candy crumbles in this blondie recipe.
• Omit the candy altogether. Who doesn't love a classic peanut butter blondie bar?
• Add some nuts. Walnuts, pecans, or even actual peanuts are great additions and can add some nice texture to these blondies.

Helpful Hints

• Important! Let the blondies rest before cutting into them. I know, this is absolute torture, but if you cut into them as soon as they come out of the oven they'll be a crumbly mess. These blondie bars need time to rest so that they can firm up a bit in the center. Don't worry - it's worth it once you bite into that gooey center!
• To freeze: Allow the blondies to cool completely then freeze in an airtight container for up to three months. Thaw completely before serving. 
• Use processed peanut butter. Natural peanut butter is not a great option for baked goods since it tends to dry them out. Use processed peanut butter for this recipe.

The last time I made these Easy Peanut Butter Blondies at my house, they were gone in about a day so consider making a double batch. (They actually freeze really well!) If you make these blondie bars, let me know what you think in the comments, and tag me with a pic @frontrangefed on Instagram so I can see your masterpiece!

More Peanut Butter Recipes

• No Bake Peanut Butter Energy Balls
• Peanut Butter, Banana, Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bars
• Halloween Candy Monster Cookies

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