Double PB Blondies

 Can I just tell you how much I love brownies? Like seriously, I love love LOVE them. So anytime I can find a recipe for a dessert square with a delicious fudgy brownie texture, I'm in heaven. So what's a blondie, you may ask? Well usually it's a non-chocolate kind of a brown sugar sort of butterscotch or vanilla version of a brownie. But in this case, it's peanut butter! I was kind of in the mood for something rich an chewy and sweet and salty, and then my friend Brittany mentioned "rifling through the peanut butter section of my website" and I thought Oh! Peanut butter blondies!! So I found a recipe and tweaked it ever so slightly. The result? Exactly what I was looking for! Sweet and salty, rich and fudgy, just like a regular blondie, only DEFINIELY peanut buttery. And as my niece Kristin always says "The peanut butterier the better!"
 So here we are. You should definitely have some ice cold milk on hand for these babies. If you're a PB lover, you seriously need to give 'em a try! Yum.

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
2 cup light brown sugar
2 large egg
1 tbs vanilla extract
1 cup peanut butter
3/4  tsp salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup peanut butter chips (plus more)


Preheat oven to 350ºF.
 Line an 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper and lightly grease with cooking spray. Set aside.
 In a large bowl, combine the melted butter and light brown sugar. Mix thoroughly. Add in the eggs and vanilla extract. Mix in the peanut butter until well incorporated. Sift together the salt and flour, then add to the peanut butter mixture. Fold in peanut butter chips by hand. Evenly spread the batter in the prepared baking pan. Sprinkle an extra handful of peanut butter chips across the top, if desired. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

 Tips:
Using the parchment paper is definitely the way to go here. Not only will your blondes lift right out of the pan, but also your blondies will look so much nicer with perfectly clean knife cuts and your pan won't get ruined!
Be sure to add the salt. It's absolutely the key to this recipe's success! I added 3/4 tsp of kosher salt, but you could even push it just a tiny pinch more. It's the salt that makes it taste peanutty!
For a little burst of color, try using Reese's Pieces instead of the peanut butter chips! And if you simply MUST have chocolate, add some chocolate chips or M&Ms!