TWD: Peanuttiest Blondies

The hostest with the mostest this week is me! Woo! Hoo!

I really thought that by the time I got around to it, we wouldn't have any recipes to choose from... but here it is and there was plenty to pick from! Hopefully you all appreciate a little fall fruit break and found the time to bake along!

I chose these because they just sound amazing, and it was a reason to buy chunky peanut butter.  I heart chunky peanut butter! Sadly, I live my life in family inflicted chunky peanut butter deprivation. In my parents house, no one else liked it and the mass majority of the peanut butter in our house went to the making of peanut sauce for satay, chunky satay sauce is not good eats! So never a jar would appear unless I slipped some in the cart my mom accidentally bought it. My honey doesn't care for the chunky either...unless you count me... hehe cuz I is chunky.

I have a confession... (besides the whole chunky butt thing) I forgot to add in the baking soda! Yikes! Hmm well I just noticed as I was typing up the recipe. They still came out deliciously yummy, just as I imagined like giant thick peanut butter chocolate chip cookies! I will just have to make it again... you know, for the sake of doing things properly.. maybe with toffee bits instead of chocolate next time.


Peanuttiest Blondies

Dorie says...

Made with peanut butter and bolstered with lots of salted peanuts and chocolate these blondies are big, firm, sweet, satisfying and definitely members-in-good-standing of the chewy branch of the brownie family. They're real kid fare, great with milk, malteds, or hot chocolate, and so good with ice cream.

• 1 C A/P Flour (5 oz)
• 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1/2 C Peanut Butter (5 oz) Crunch or creamy - not natural
• 5 tbsp Unsalted Butter (2.5 oz)
• 3/4 C Granulated Sugar (6 oz)
• 3/4 C Brown Sugar, Packed (6 oz)
• 2 Large Eggs (4 oz)
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla
• 1 C Chopped Salted Peanuts (5 oz)
• 6 oz Semi-sweet or Premium Milk Chocolate, coarsely chopped, or 1 C chocolate chips

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9-inch square pan with foil, butter the foil and put the pan on a baking sheet. [I used parchment to line an 8-inch pan instead.]
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
Working with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the peanut butter and butter together on medium speed until smooth. Add both sugars and beat for 1-2 minutes until well incorporated into the butter. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each goes in. Beat in vanilla extract. Reduce the mixer to low and add in the dry ingredients,  mixing only until they disappear into the dough; the dough will be thick. Add the peanuts and chocolate and give the mixer a few turns to stir them into he dough. If the chunky ingredients are mixed in after a few seconds, just finish the job with a sturdy spatula-don't over mix the dough. Scrape the dough into the prepared pan.
Bake blondies for 40-50 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 its completely cool, carefully lift the blondies our of the  pan using the foil edges as handles, and turn them out onto the rack. Peal away the foil and invert onto a cutting board. Use a long knife to cut into 16 bars, each roughly 2 1/4 inches on a side.