During my nineteenth year of life, I ate peanut butter blondies on a regular basis. My best friend and I had found a coffee shop downtown Denver that served up warm peanut butter blondies with scoops of vanilla ice cream. For a while, we were frequenting the Monkey Bean at least twice a week. We would say we’d split one, but inevitably, we’d polish off the first within a few minutes and then go back for a second.
Eight years later, and sadly our beloved coffee shop is now closed. And while I still like the thought of getting served a warm peanut butter blondie on a late Friday night, I think I’d much rather spend the afternoon baking my own. My best friend and I now both have baby girls, and it’s been a pleasure to see our passions change and grow. As I’ve mentioned a few times, we started a blog about pregnancy, birth, and parenthood called cord. You won’t find peanut butter blondies, but you will find beautiful birth stories, my photo project about breastfeeding, and thoughtful articles about the journey of motherhood. So come over and visit. We’d love to see you!
Peanut Butter Blondies
11/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (½ cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup honey roasted peanuts
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a 13 x 9 baking pan with aluminum foil. Spray foil lightly with oil or grease with butter. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a slightly larger bowl, whisk together melted butter and sugar until smooth. Stir in eggs and vanilla, beating well after each addition. Fold peanut butter into batter. Gently fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients and stir until well combined. Spread batter into prepared pan and then sprinkle generously with honey roasted peanuts. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until only a few loose crumbs adhere to a toothpick when inserted into the center. Allow to cool completely before cutting and serving.
Blondies are my favorite bars. Always so moist!! I love these peanut butter ones!!
These look so good, even at 8AM. YUM!
These blondies look delicious! And I can imagine how yummy they’d be with a scoop of ice cream! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Your story reminds me of a little cafe in Tuscon that me and my BF frequented while she was attending UofA. They had THE best Belgian waffles and Crepes! These blondies will be a BIG hit in our PB loving home 😉
I love that you used to have that routine with your best friend! The ice cream on top sounds like a great idea! : ) These look delicious – I haven’t made blondies in so so long! Have a great weekend friend!
I love peanut butter and I love blondies so I’m happy to put these together and take a big bite!
I just wish I had your metabolism 😉 these blondies look gorgeous and that coffee shop sounds like a memory maker — fun that you and your girlfriend have started your own traditions ♡ (pretty photos!).
I love that you and your bestie started the cord (which I read religiously, btw).
These blondies look incredible: I love the peanuts on top!!
Aw, sorry that your cafe closed–but I’m 110% glad that you shared this recipe with us. That topping looks gorgeous, and I love the sprinkles of salt and roasted goodness! This recipe is a keeper for sure, and I’ll keep it on my radar. Thanks!
Now these are some seriously peanut-buttery blondies! I love my peanut butter, and the peanuts on top make them look so appealing — what a delicious crunch! Sorry your coffee shop closed, but you did a fantastic job on these. 🙂
I love that you and your girlfriend have wonderful food memories tied to these peanut butter blondies. I was just having dinner with one of my best friends yesterday and we were raving about her dad’s famous chow mein, which featured in a lot of our high school memories. Your blondies look absolutely perfect, Monet! TGIF – have a fabulous weekend with Ryan and Lucy!
These look amazing. Everyone should bake more with peanuts. I love that you can see the salt on top of these blondies.
Love peanut butter blondies! I’ve never seen them in a bakery before though. Homemade is always better though. The crunchy peanuts on top are the perfect addition.
Yum! I love blondies and I love peanuts, so I obviously love these! I also really like coffee shop recreations at home -so good!
Hello heaven in blondie form!! These are just so fabulous.
So glad you could bring back such happy memories with these delightful blondies!
I love blondies and peanut butter, never have had them together I bet this is wonderful, what great story!
I can only imagine this warm with ice cream!
I loveeee blondiesss!!!! And adding peanut butter to them would make it so indulgent! I love the specks of peanuts on top! <3
Oh my! These look so good! I’m a big sucker for blondies and putting peanut butter in them is such a great idea! The honey roasted peanuts on top just put these blondies way over the top and I wish I had one right now!
great idea to use peanuts. yum!
Ok, I PROMISE I will get back to you soon with my cord story…I wish I had email access at work 🙁 Wow, that warm pb blondie with ice cream sounds like the perfect snack. These ones look wonderful…
Spending time in coffee shops with girlfriends are some of my most treasured memories of my early 20s, these brownies look absolutely delicious, I can see why you couldn’t just share one.
I am so sorry that this cafe was closed, but I am glad that you know how to recreate the recipe 🙂 And I love cord, but you know about it already 🙂