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All Fridays in December need something sweet, enter these Salted Milk Chocolate and Peanut Butter Blondies.
If there was ever a chocolate bar recipe to have in your back pocket, it should be these blondies. In fact, I should really be calling these Back Pocket Salted Milk Chocolate and Peanut Butter Blondies…but I’m feeling like that title might be a little on the long side.
Point is, these are the best blondies I’ve ever had. Granted, I haven’t had a lot of blondies, nor made a lot of blondies (although I do have a recipe on HBH from my very first year of blogging…the photos are scary), but still these blondies here are the best.
Milk chocolate + peanut butter + flaky salt.
I mean, what’s not delicious about that, you know?
I mentioned yesterday that my parents have a ton of guest in town. Here’s the thing, when my parents have guests in town, that means I have guests in town too. For those of you unfamiliar, I live next door to my parent’s house, maybe a football field away from each other, and everyone who comes to visit knows two very important things, my house has the food…and the alcohol.
Sometimes I really wish this was not the case, but for the most part, I don’t mind being the place that everyone comes to for good eats. My two younger brothers, Malachi and Red are currently home and with them come friends. Many friends. Red’s home for a couple snowboard competitions, and Kai is here to film both new recipe videos for the HBH Instagram and Red snowboarding…although he’s mostly been filming Red these days.
Anyway…we have a lot of people around right now. The boys will be here into January and the rest of the family comes in a couple of weeks for Christmas (can’t wait to see my cousins!), so I’m going to have plenty of mouths to feed. This means I need some really good dinners, and even more sweet treats,, for people to snack on when they come in from the cold (and let me tell you it is cold, it’s been in the single digits all week and snowing as I write this!).
I decided to make these bars kind of on a whim this week, after many failed attempts at what could have been a very cute holiday cake, but I just could not get it right. After a few cakes, many sticks of butter, and a sweater covered in powdered sugar, I threw in the towel and baked these blondies instead.
I needed to make something that I had confidence would be a success. Thankfully these turned out amazing, because I could not deal with another failed dessert. Again, you just can’t go wrong with anything chocolate and peanut butter.
I really don’t know why this is, but it’s always the simplest recipes that I love this most. This is a one bowl, mix, and bake kind of recipe. These blondies take less than an hour start to finish, and my guess is that you may even have most, if not all, of the ingredients on hand right now.
The recipe starts with melted butter and creamy peanut butter. Add some brown sugar and plenty of vanilla extract. Then add flour and a handful of semi sweet chocolate chips, stir everything up in one bowl (yes stir). Seriously so easy.
The key is layering the blondie dough with some additional peanut butter so you get gooey peanut butter with every bite. Then just bake. But you guys? Please, please just under bake these. Over baking them is going to ruin their deliciousness. Trust me.
During the last-minute of baking you’ll add that milk chocolate and let it just slightly melt over the top of the bars. Then, add flaky sea salt.
OH MY GOSH. I think I may have just described heaven in a Christmas Blondie Bar.
For real. These are fudgy, peanut buttery, moist, doughy, sweet, extra chocolatey, and just a little salty. AKA the most perfect dessert.
Ever.
If you decide to eat these warm, I totally get that. Baked goods are better warm, no matter what any recipe says. Warm and gooey beats cold every time.
PS. packing these up in a cookie box would make anyone who loves chocolate and peanut butter very very happy this holiday season. You should do it…just sayin.
Salted Milk Chocolate and Peanut Butter Blondies
Servings: 24 blondies
Calories Per Serving: 200 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) salted butter
- 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
- 2-3 ounces milk chocolate chunks
- flaky sea salt
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.2. In a microwave safe mixing bowl, melt together the butter and 1/2 cup peanut butter on power level high, stirring every 30 seconds until melted. Stir in the brown sugar, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Add the flour and baking powder. Transfer the bowl to the freezer and chill 5 minutes or until the dough is no longer warm to the touch. Stir in the chocolate chips. 3. Spread 1/2 the dough out in the prepared dish. Dollop and then gently swirl the remaining 1/4 cup peanut butter into the dough. Add the remaining dough overtop, don't worry if it does not fully cover the peanut butter. Transfer to the oven and bake for 20-22 minutes, just until set in the center. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the milk chocolate over the blondies. Return to the oven for 1-2 minutes to gently melt the chocolate. Sprinkle with sea salt. Let cool and then cut into bars. Store for up to 5 days in an airtight container.
Friday night plans? Blondie making and eating, while watching The Santa Clause. I love December!
I’m not sure if I did something wrong. My blondies are much thicker than your photos and the chocolate chunks didn’t melt nicely. They just stayed put on top and got soft..I even left them in longer in hopes they would melt. I followed the recipe except didn’t chill the dough bc I was working slowly and it wasn’t warm anymore when it was time to add the chips. They taste good though!
Hey Tiffany,
So sorry about the texture of your blondies, as for the chocolate I would recommend using a different brand, they don’t all melt the same. I hope this helps for next time! Happy New Year! xTieghan
Fantastic, family finished the 9X13 in 24 hours. Made these as an alternate to the PB blossoms 🙂
1. Easier to make
2. Tasted way better
3. Something new and exciting
Hey Katie,
Thanks so much for giving the recipe a try, I am thrilled that it worked out for you. Happy Holidays! xTieghan
I just made these as a pre-Christmas treat – they are so good! Unfortunately I messed up at the beginning and poured the whole 3/4 cups of peanut butter in the dough, so I didn’t have any left to do the layering… A good excuse to try the recipe again! 😉 And I used rapadura sugar (that’s all I had), but they really turned out great. Thanks a lot Tieghan!
Hey Katia,
Thanks so much for giving the recipe a try! Happy Holidays! xTieghan
These were absolutely delicious! Will keep this recipe in my back pocket as it was super easy to make and a huge hit with guests!
Hey Courtney,
I am so glad you enjoyed the recipe, thanks so much for giving it a try! Happy Holidays! xTieghan
Could you use Chunky peanut butter? Any cons?
Hey Imelda,
Sure that will work! I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! Happy Holidays! xTieghan
Made these tonight – amazing. Family nearly finished the entire pan. I didn’t want to use my microwave, so I just heated in an Alcad saucepan on very low heat. Butter didn’t burn and flavor popped. I would even try these again with white chocolate – although that could get too sweet. Fantastic Friday baking 🙂
Hey Katie,
I am so glad you enjoyed the recipe, thanks so much for giving it a try! Happy Holidays! xTieghan
Have you frozen these ? Do you recommend freezing in bigger strips and cutting when ready to serve ??
Love all things HBH and have enjoyed every recipe!
Hey Lauren,
You could freeze ad individual bars or in strips:) I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
If I want to make the dough ahead of time (3 days before I want to bake it) Should I just put the dough in the refrigerator at the stage where you say to chill the dough? Then, take it out to let it soften a bit before mixing in the chocolate and putting it in the pan? Will this work okay?
Hey Chelsea,
Yes, that will be just fine to do. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
The first time I baked these they seemed to be REALLY buttery and raw even when baked. The dough cracked when it was being chilled for 5min. Then when it was done baking it was really raw and super wobbly in the middle, so I put it in for longer and it was just really oily and the edges were baked. I used unsalted butter, would that be the reason why? I tried again for the second time and got the same results 🙁
Hey Marla,
So sorry you are having issues with the dough. The unsalted butter wouldn’t cause this issue, is there anything else in the recipe you are adjusting? Please let me know how I can help! xTieghan
I made this vegan-friendly by substituting vegan Becel for the butter and 6 tablespoons of aquafaba for the eggs. I used natural peanut butter (just peanuts), and a mix of semi-sweet chocolate chips and miniature vegan peanut butter cups.
The recipe was incredibly easy, and conveniently one-bowl, with very little to clean up, and came out absolutely delicious. There are only three people in my house and I’m a little ashamed to say that it was gone in two days. ?
Hi Thea! I am so happy these turned out so well for you!! Also, these do not last long in my house either!! Thank you for trying these! xTieghan
This is my favorite blondie recipe and I’ve made these many times now. They turn out perfect for me when I add 13 minutes of baking time at the end (after the chocolate chunks have been added to the top). I love the flaky sea salt touch and something I never thought of doing before following HBH. Thanks Tieghan!!!
I am so happy these turned out so well for you, Becca! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! xTieghan
Could I do this in a sheet pan ?
Hey Ali,
If you use a sheet pan these will be much thinner than intended to be. I would recommend using a 9×13 pan. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
hi! do these freeze well by chance? I’m looking to make ahead of time for a party!
Hey Brittany,
Sure you could freeze these! I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Hi! Where do you get your milk chocolate chunks? Do you have any suggestions? Thanks!!!
Hi Lily! I get mine on Thrive market! Please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
I would like to bake these in a 9×9 instead of 9×13… Curious as to how to best do that with oven temp and baking time? What do you think?
Hi Aubrey,
I would keep the oven temp the same and add about 10 minutes to your baking time. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan