Peanut Butter Blondie

Although they're only a distant memory now (I'm behind on my food blogging), I recently tried another item from my "Recipes to Try" list, Slow Like Honey's Peanut Butter Blondies.

R loves anything peanut butter, so he was a willing participant in making this recipe.

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

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 9 inch square (I only have an 8 inch square) baking pan with foil, butter foil, and put pan on baking sheet.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.

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.



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.



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. I put the blondies in the container below for freezing.