Swirled Peanut Butter Blondies

“Didn’t you already make peanut butter blondies?” you might ask. Why, yes… yes, I did. But I forgot about that until I’d already started melting the butter for these, and figured that you can never have too many peanut butter blondie recipes, so I proceeded on.

These blondies are slightly different from my previous recipe– you melt the butter and sugar instead of creaming it, there’s a bit less butter and sugar, and it doesn’t need the extra egg yolk. Plus there’s the added bonus of a peanut butter swirl right through the middle, which– come on– can only be a good thing!

I underbaked these, which made them very soft at room temperature but amazing when frozen, so I highly recommend that you do the same. And be generous with the sprinkling of salt on top– it really pops.

Swirled Peanut Butter Blondies (slightly adapted from Half-Baked Harvest)

• 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup crunchy peanut butter (or more creamy if that’s what you have)
• 1/2 cup chocolate chunks or more chocolate chips
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

—————————————-

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Melt butter in a microwave-safe bowl, then add the peanut butter and stir until smooth.
• Add sugars and stir to combine, then beat in the eggs and vanilla. (you do this in stages to keep the hot butter from cooking the eggs)
• In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking powder.
• Combine wet and dry ingredients to make a soft dough/thick batter. Add chocolate chips.
• Line a 9×13″ pan with parchment paper or foil. Spread 3/4 of the dough into the bottom of the pan.
• Heat crunchy peanut butter in the microwave for about 15-25 seconds, just to loosen it up a tiny bit. Dollop over the dough and swirl it around a bit.
• Add remaining dough in pieces to the pan– you’ll have gaps where the peanut butter shows through, but that’s fine. Sprinkle with chocolate chunks.

• Bake for about 20-24 minutes, until puffed and just starting to firm up. You want to slightly underbake these so they stay soft instead of drying out.
• As soon as they come out of the oven, sprinkle generously with kosher salt. Let cool completely before removing from pan and slicing.