Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies

I've been shamefully absent from the blog lately. A few weeks ago I came down with the flu and as soon as I was feeling mostly like myself again, the hubby started getting sick as well. I've been in a general funk lately with all the cold and snow we've seen this winter and am desperately craving spring and sunshine! I'm longing for warmer weather and am daydreaming of so many little projects I'd like to tackle come spring. My mind's a flurry with recipes I'd like to try and improvements I'd like to do around our new home. I hope to get back on the blogging bandwagon so I can share them with you all!

I was dying to bake something last night and had a difficult time choosing between a few recipes that I fortunately had ingredients on hand to try. Ultimately I decided to go with these Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies because of their ease of preparation. I originally wanted to make these as an excuse to bake with some Reese's Mini's, but ultimately decided that another application would better to highlight their flavor (I'm thinking some peanut butter cup cheesecake bars are in my future).

These blondies came together fast with little mess in my kitchen. The flavor was simple yet satisfying. I fed these to a room full of guys and they were quickly devoured. The taste and texture reminded me a lot of these Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies I made last year, which is fantastic because those cookies were divine!

If you're looking for a quick way to satisfy your peanut butter + chocolate cravings, I'm sure these will be a hit!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies
adapted from Smitten Kitchen
makes 24 blondies

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 large eggs, plus 1 large yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in the middle of the oven. Butter a 13- by 9- by 2-inch baking pan, then line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and butter the parchment.

Beat together butter and sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until the mixture is light and fluffy, then add peanut butter and beat until incorporated. Beat in whole eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla. Reduce mixer speed to low, then mix in flour and salt until just combined.

Fold in chocolate chips, then spread batter in prepared pan, smoothing the top. (The batter will be thick, almost like cookie batter.)

Bake until blondies are deep golden, puffed on top and a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out with some crumbs adhering, 40 to 45 minutes.

Cool completely in pan on a rack, about 1 1/2 hours.* Remove from pan and cut into 24 squares.

*The original recipe calls for the addition of a ganache topping, but I didn't have enough chocolate on hand nor the patience to wait for the bars to cool enough for the ganache to set properly. I removed mine from the pan, cut and served them after about 30 minutes of cooling time. They were cool enough to handle but the chocolate was still nice and melted. Perfect!