Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies

I have to thank my friend Erica for inspiring me to make these delicious, light blondies. For those of you who don't know, blondies are a variation on the infamous brownie. Erica made some dreamy funfetti blondies for our friend Jamie's graduation BBQ last weekend, so dreamy that I helped myself to several bites. Sunday night I found myself recovering from a nonstop weekend of beer, burgers, Blonde Redhead at the Echoplex and a mini college reunion. The only cure? A glass (or two) of wine and some quality baking. Craving more of Erica's adorable treats, I set to work on a batch for myself.

Everything is better with peanut butter, and blondies are no exception. Some of my baking tins were still at Jamie's house, so I made my baked goodies in a pie tin. Not the most conducive to evenly cut squares, but delicious nonetheless.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies

1/2 stick unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup natural peanut butter
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4-1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven 350°F. Grease an 8×8″ square pan and set aside. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and brown sugar until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Beat egg and vanilla extract into the peanut butter brown sugar mixture, then pour into the large mixing bowl to create a thick batter. Fold in half of your chocolate chips and transfer batter to the prepared pan. I chose to cover the top of my blondies in chocolate chips, but you can decorate however you want. 

Bake for 25 minutes until the top is golden. I know it's hard, but let these babies cool before you cut and serve them. Sinfully sweet, 2 or 3 blondies were gone in minutes! I had to give some away to Quinn and friends to keep myself from scarfing them all down. Perfect for a rainy day or picnic!