Peanut Butter Blondies

These blondies are UNREAL. One bite and you're moaning, groaning, licking your lips, hunting for crumbs... you know, the usual.

I made these to add to my Christmas cookie platters and these were by far the biggest hit. I had several people come up to me and beg me to tell them the recipe. They're just that good. I will be making these again and again. Love love love. My favorite thing about them is the nice flaky outside with the soft center. I added peanut butter chips but you could use chocolate chips too if you want to achieve that amazing chocolate/peanut butter combo.

** On another note, my goal for 2011 is to improve my pictures on this blog. For Christmas I got a ton of kitchen stuff, but the BEST gift was photography lights and a book on food photography. I took some pictures with the lights and it's amazing what a difference they make. I can't wait to start posting the recipes using these new pictures- I have this post and one more to go and then hopefully you'll notice a change in the picture quality. I personally am thrilled. 

Source: Slightly adapted from Joy The Baker

Ingredients:
10 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into 5 cubes
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup smooth peanut butter
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1.5 cups peanut butter chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Grease a 9×13-inch pan.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and sugar together until the butter is just melted.  Remove from the burner and allow to cool for 5 minutes, then add the peanut butter.  Stir until incorporated.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes more, then whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract.  You want the sugar, butter and peanut butter mixture to be cool enough that the eggs won’t begin to cook when they’re added in.  

Whisk together salt, flour and baking powder.  Add dry ingredients all at once to the wet ingredients.  Stir until just incorporated.  Add the peanut butter chips, fold in. Pour the thick batter into the prepared pan and smooth out.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center of the blondies comes out clean.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature.