Peanut Butter Blondie Snack Cake
Today we ate lunch at McDonald's.
Ugh! We know, we know. We feel terrible about it! The second we polished off the (scrumptious) cheeseburger we became wracked with guilt! It was just one of those days when nothing seemed to be going right and the taste temptation of the hot, salty french fries (let's face it, the best fast food french fries around) was just too much for our downtrodden stomachs to bear. How could we have succumbed?!?!? Gross. GROSS. We feel pudgy. UGH.
Whatever. We're over it.
However, in typical female fashion, since the day went to diet hell in a handbasket, we figured, why not pack it all in? Might as well get all the crap eating out of the way and binge on bad foods while the sun is still out. This way, we can start tomorrow completely fresh and healthy and we are totally going to eat only fruit and lettuce and water and NO MORE Easter candy, ok?!?!? Ok. Deal. Tomorrow. We'll start tomorrow.
So, we decided to make the recipe that's been sitting in our to-do list for awhile, the Peanut Butter Brownies from the fabulous Karly at Buns in My Oven.
Of course, to alleviate some of the shame, we've decided to rename this recipe, Peanut Butter Blondie Snack Cake. Partly because these are sorta more like a blondie than regular brownies and also because they are slightly more cake-y than brownie-y (that's hard to say, but it's true).
But, mostly we renamed them, because, a 'snack cake' is practically a granola bar and brownies are more in the french fry/cheeseburger camp.
Should we feel badly about topping off our McDonald's lunch with some Peanut Butter Blondie Snack Cakes?
Prolly.
Do we?
Nope.
Our diet starts tomorrow, remember?
Peanut Butter Blondie Snack Cake
Makes 18 bars
Adapted from Buns in My Oven
1 1/3 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
30-ish mini peanut butter cups
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or, hey, try a full cup, we won't tell anyone)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking pan.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and eggs until well blended and pale in color. Mix in the flour mixture until just barely combined.
Cut 12 peanut butter cups into quarters and gently stir them along with the chocolate chips into the batter. The batter will be fairly thick. Spread the batter into the prepared pan (you will have to do some spreading) and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top is light golden brown. A cake tester inserted in the center should still have some moist crumb on it when removed.
Remove the blondies from the oven and immediately press the remaining peanut butter cups into the top of the brownies in even rows...or wherever you want. Try to cram them all in...your diet starts tomorrow. It's ok. Allow the 'snack cakes' to cool before cutting and serving.
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Reader Comments (21)
Oh my goodness! These look so good!
I love y'alls blog! You guys remind me of my sister and I! We love to cook and bake together...but we're brown-eyed. ;)
Thanks for posting!
Wowza! Those look so good - definitely worthy of passing on the diet for a taste! I can see why they were on your list to try ~ now they are on mine :-)
You girlies are beyond CUTE!
LOVE your personalities!
And these Blondies...look so YUMMM~ola!
Happy Week!
xo
The diet starts when the pan of these are gone :) They look amazing!! Ok now I have to wipe off the drool from my laptop :)
These look amazing! Love anything with peanut butter.
We are totally on the same wavelength! haha I just posted something similar-Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies. Although I will definitely have to try yours next time since they are more peanutbuttery. I LOVE Reeses cups!! :)
http://www.noraisinsonmyparade.com/2011/02/peanut-butter-chocolate-chip-blondies.html
-Marissa
These look too good to feel guilty eating them:-)
I just made my first blondies last week and dare I say... better than brownies?! THese look FAB!
Oh ,gosh! It would be so, so dangerous for me to be in the house alone with a plate of these. They look fantastic. This is the kind of thing I would honestly have to put out of sight in order to resist. Too good!!
Ha - you girls are hilarious! I agree, might as well get it all in on the same day! Have fun eating lettuce today ;)
OH MY GOD! These look so delicious - no wonder you had to keep you off day going with these babies. This recipe is going to be mixed into my mixer this weekend! Thanks gals for sharing these yummy recipe!
Just clicked over from a comment you left on one of my posts. Love your blog! All your recipes look delicious. You're now bookmarked! :)
It's okay to fall off the wagon and have a good fast food burger every now and again.. Here in TX my fave pit fall is What-a-burger.. DE-licious. And so are these little snack cakes.. de-licious!
lol it is TOTALLY okay to do that
and those look sooo delicious
I love the little pb cups...they look like little buttons.
yum - those look worthy of a blue ribbon!
pve
Who needs a party crasher like a diet when these beauties are around? Love the little peanut butter cup topper, delicious!
I would love to have a few of those right now! I love blondies!
I heart reading about you guys. Love the sisterly love, the funny stories, and the fabulous recipes! I wish my sister and I could grow up to be just like you guys :)
Picked up the ingredients today for these!!! Can't wait to make them and share at a pot luck this weekend. The last thing I need is a 9x13 tray of these in my house. My husband and I have no self control when it comes to sweets!