A white chocolate and brown sugar traybake made extra special with copious amounts of nut butter. If you’ve not tried these super easy-to-make, crowd-pleasing peanut butter blondies before, you’re in for a treat.
The first time I heard about combining peanut butter and sugar in a bake, I was keen to give it a go, though somewhat sceptical. It’s been a thing now for such a long time, it’s hard to remember that initial scepticism. Suffice it to say that when I made peanut butter blondies for the first time, I’ve never looked back. They really are the absolute best.
Blondies versus Brownies
What’s the difference between blondies and brownies? I’m often asked this question. For me, it’s simple. Brownies are made with dark or milk chocolate and blondies are very similar but they’re made with white chocolate.
The original American blondies were made as a cookie type traybake but they don’t contain chocolate of any kind. I think they’ve morphed since then and most do now contain white chocolate. You can find out more in this blondie recipe post.
When you have a sugar craving, there’s nothing quite like whipping up a quick batch of blondies to satisfy it.
Peanut Butter Blondies
I know it’s a bit of a tall claim to call these peanut butter blondies the absolute best, but they really are good. And in so many ways. They’re made with wholemeal flour for a start.
Secondly, they’re super quick to make and bake. I use my one pan method because it’s both easy and produces less washing up. It’s really just a case of melt, mix and pop into the oven.
For my traybakes, I use a 23 centimetre (eight inch) square silicone mould. I really like it because I don’t need to line it. If you use a tin, however, line it first with baking paper or you may find the finished blondies difficult to remove.
They take between fifteen and twenty minutes to bake. You’re looking for a golden top that’s just about firm to the touch, but the bake should still have a slight wobble to it. I leave mine in for seventeen minutes exactly. But every oven is different, so check after fifteen minutes and put it back in the oven if it’s not quite ready.
Once you take them out of the oven, leave them to cool completely. Then cut into sixteen squares. I’m often too impatient, as I was with the ones you can see in these photos. They were still warm when I cut them, so the edges are a little on the raggedy side. Leave them to cool properly and you’ll get a much neater finish.
However, neatness isn’t everything and these peanut butter blondies make an excellent after-dinner dessert. Just serve them warm with ice cream. Nevertheless, they’re at their squidgy best when left to cool properly. Now, didn’t I say they were the absolute best?
Extra Chocolate
Once upon a time, not so very long ago in fact, Green & Black’s used to produce 100g chocolate bars. Infuriatingly, they reduced the bars to 90g. Most of my recipes are for 25g, 50g, 75g or 100g of chocolate. So this parsimonious decision of theirs is a real pain in the proverbial. What this means in practice is that I used to make this recipe with 100g of white chocolate, but now it only gets 90g.
The upshot of this is, that if you want to use more chocolate, please do. It won’t have a detrimental effect on the recipe, it will probably improve it. Just use half to melt into the batter and leave the other half to add as chips at the end. You could, of course, just use white chocolate chips or buttons instead of a bar. This means no chopping required.
Peanut Butter Blondies: Top Tips
Blondies are so easy to make, I don’t have a lot in the way of top tips for you. I’ve given my one pan method in the recipe already. That’s always my top tip for making both brownies and blondies. This method is fast, easy and cuts down on the washing and clearing up.
- I measure the ingredients for these blondies using ounces, so if you have scales with ounces, use those rather than grams.
- Use a wide gauge sieve to sift the wholemeal flour and baking powder. Sift through as much as you can and then discard any large pieces of bran that are left in the sieve. Big bits of coarse bran can be a bit off-putting and spoil the mouthfeel.
- If you’re in a hurry, swap the white chocolate bar for chips. If time isn’t so much of an issue, a good quality bar is the best for both flavour and differently sized pieces.
- The blondies are done when the top is golden, firm to the touch, but with a slight wobble in the centre. They firm up on cooling.
- To get neat edges, don’t cut the blondies until they’re completely cold.
- Will keep for up to a week in a sealed container if you store it in a cool room or cupboard.
Other Blondie Recipes You Might Like
- Blondies
- Caramelised blueberry blondies
- Coconut & ground cherry blondies
- Dan Lepard’s banana blondies
- Matcha blondies
- Raspberry blondies
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make these super easy peanut butter brownies, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Please share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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If you’d like more traybake recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious, of course.
Choclette x
Peanut Butter Blondies. PIN IT.
Peanut Butter Blondies – The Recipe
Peanut Butter Blondies
Ingredients
- 115 g unsalted butter (4oz)
- 90 g white chocolate chopped into small pieces (I use Green & Black's)
- 170 g peanut butter (6oz or ½ jar)
- 170 g light brown sugar (6oz (I use muscovado))
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 140 g wholemeal flour (5oz)
- 1 tsp baking powder
Instructions
- Place the butter in a large pan over a gentle heat and allow to melt. Turn the heat off, but leave the pan in place.
- Add the half the white chocolate, followed by the peanut butter and then the sugar. Leave everything to melt in the residual heat for a couple of minutes, then give it a good stir with a wooden spoon.
- Remove from the heat and beat in the eggs and vanilla extract with the wooden spoon.
- Sieve in the flour and baking powder, but leave any extra large bits of bran in the sieve and discard. I put mine in the compost bin. Stir until just incorporated.
- Finally mix in the remaining chopped chocolate.
- Scrape the mixture into a 23cm (9″) sq silicone mould or lined tin and bake at 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4) (gas 4) for 17-20 minutes. The blondies are done when the top is golden, firm to the touch, but with a slight wobble in the centre. They firm up on cooling.
- Leave to cool in the pan, then cut into 16 squares when completely cold. Alternatively eat as a pdduing whilst still warm.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Sharing
I’m sharing this recipe for peanut butter blondies with Lavender and Lovage for #CookBlogShare.
Karen Booth says
Those look INSANELY good and so moreish! We all love bakes like this, and how perfect they would be for afternoon tea.
Thanks so much for linking up to #CookBlogShare week 6 – Karen
Choclette says
Absolutely perfect for afternoon tea Karen. As you say, everyone loves a good brownie or, in this case, blondie.
Cat | Curly's Cooking says
Love the sound of these, I bet they’re delicious!
Choclette says
They are super delicious Cat, but should come with a warning. We weren’t very good at pacing ourselves.
Kat (The Baking Explorer) says
Peanut butter heaven! They look so fudgey and yummy
Choclette says
Trouble with them being so yummy is that they never last as long as they should.
Maya Russell says
I love peanut butter! Always looking for new recipes. Thanks.
claire wilkinson says
oh wow these sound fab ill definatly be having a try x
Tracy K Nixon says
These sound lovely! I love baking biscuits with my children and was looking for some new recipes to try next week when the kids are off school. I always have a supply of ingredients in for when the weather looks to get colder so I can keep the kids busy and off their computers!
Erika K says
I haven’t made bars in a long time, but this seems like a good one to start with. I adore peanut butter and chocolate, so this could become a favorite. Will certainly heed the warning about baking too long.
A little concerned about translating the 5 oz sieved wholemeal flour into gluten free flour (may not be the same density), but I’m willing to try. Glad to see the “stiff dough” description, as that will help me out.
Thanks, and I’ll report back how this goes in the gluten free version.
Chele says
Do you know what – this is the only recipe from the Bake book that I have tried and not been that impressed with. Mine were slightly overcooked too and not at all brownie like and the combo of peanut butter and white choc just wasn’t a winner. A bit too marzipan-ish for me I think. Maybe I need to try the recipe again and not over cook it this time lol
Choclette says
Thank you Lucie. That is a tip I shall bear in mind for next time! They were good – I was surprised at how nice they were.
Lucie says
They look great – They are really nice aren’t they? They are lovely warm with good quality ice cream.
Best wishes
Lucie http://cookingatmarystow.blogspot.com/