Peanut Butter Blondies

Have I mentioned how much I love the blondie recipe that I found on Smitten Kitchen? Because I seriously love it. Simple, quick, easy and it lends itself to variations to suit any tastes. The banana/peanut butter/irish cream blondies were great with lots of flavors and textures. The coconut/bourbon/pecan combination is one of my favorites and is always a winner. And then I made this version -- peanut butter blondies with honey roasted peanuts and chocolate chips. Yum.

I had made a peanut butter blondie a few years back and was severely disappointed in the results. I won't say where I got the recipe, but it was a book I trusted, and the picture looked dense and moist and divine. The resulting blondie was cake-like and almost dry though, and it just didn't cut it with me at all.

I started thinking about that blondie again recently though and finally realized that the base recipe that I found on Smitten Kitchen for blondies would probably make exactly what I wanted -- and I was right. Dense and moist and chewy with crunchy peanut butter and whole honey roasted peanuts and chocolate chunks. Peanut butter is the primary flavor, so it you don't like that, don't bother. I threw in half a cup of chocolate chunks (ghiradelli 60% cocoa chips) which offered a nice complimentary flavor without overwhelming anything.



Ingredients:
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
pinch salt
1 cup flour
1/2 cup honey roasted peanuts
1/2 cup chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 350. Mix butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar until smooth. Add the egg and the vanilla and stir well. Mix in the flour and salt and stir until combined. Add the peanuts and chocolate and stir until incorporated.

Pour the mixture into a greased 8 inch square pan and bake 20-25 minutes or until done.