Peanut Butter and Jelly Blondies

As a kid in school I remember anxiously opening my lunch bag to see what I was in store for that day. I always hoped for pizza, but that was a rarity. I always hoped for fruit roll ups, but again, I'd have to trade my string cheese for junk food that good. What I could always count on though, was a great sandwich, and my favorite was peanut butter and jelly. It was the only sandwich that I didn't mind being a bit soggy by the time I got to it.  I was feeling a bit nostalgic last week and wanted to indulge in one of my favorite flavor combinations in a new way.

I started thinking about how amazing a peanut butter blondie would be, but rather than topping it with chocolate (which frankly would probably be perfect as well) I thought it would be great to bake in some really good jam and create the flavor I had loved growing up. What resulted was one of the easiest, yet most delicious treats I've ever made. Kids will love this, adults will love this, you will love this.

Start with some all natural, creamy peanut butter. Try not to eat it straight out of the jar like me. 

This is the mixture of butter, brown sugar and peanut butter. Again, try not to eat this directly out of the pan with a handful of chocolate chips. Patience. It gets better.

Once the batter is placed into the greased baking dish, glob on whatever flavor of jam you happen to have on hand. I used strawberry, but next time maybe I'll try blackberry. 

Grab a glass of milk, and attempt to not to eat the entire dish of these. That was the hardest part of all. These treats are gooey, but that is how they are supposed to be. Think brownies. Only they're made of peanut butter. And called blondies. I would have taken this over a sandwich any day. 

Peanut Butter & Jelly Blondies

Adapted from Joy the Baker

5 T unsalted butter, cut in half

1 C dark brown sugar

1/2 C creamy, natural peanut butter

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. salt

1 C all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease and line an 8 x 8 baking dish. 

In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and sugar together. Remove from the heat and add the peanut butter, stirring to cool. Wait a few minutes and add the egg and vanilla (you don't want scrambled eggs in your batter :). 

In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Add the peanut butter mixture and stir until the flour is just incorporated. The batter with be thick and grainy. Mash the batter into the prepared baking dish and spread to fill it out. Using a spoon, scoop about 9 tablespoons of jam onto the dough as pictured above. Then, using a knife or toothpick, spread the jam and slightly mix it in with the batter for a marbled effect. 

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the edges are golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool thirty minutes before slicing, if you can wait that long :) This would be amazing with some cold vanilla ice cream, but a tall glass of almond milk did me just fine. You could also double the recipe.

Enjoy!