These blondies are a jam-packed with things that make me very happy.
A super soft, buttery, brown sugar base, loaded with peanut butter chips, and swirled with Nutella.
I used my go-to blondie recipe that never lets me down. The batter comes together in one bowl, in 5 minutes, without using a mixer.
That’s especially important when you don’t have a dishwasher, and each and every dirty dish counts.
I’m on vacation and don’t want anything fussy or that takes more than 30 minutes from start to finish.
Although I sometimes can’t find tomatoes or cream in Aruba, I spotted a bag of peanut butter chips in the local grocery store. Sold. Never mind that they were $6 dollars. I love peanut butter, what can I say.
Use chocolate chips if you can’t find peanut butter chips, or if you’re feeling more frugal.
Everything tastes better with swirls, especially swirls of Nutella. I was going to use peanut butter, but wanted a pop of chocolate. You don’t even have to dip your fingers in it for this recipe.
If you don’t have Nutella, try Homemade Peanut Butter or Homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter. The recipe is highly adaptable, another reason I love it.
While they bake, the butter and brown sugar caramelize, and the bars take on caramel and vanilla flavors.
They’re supremely soft, moist, and dense. No chemical leaveners such as baking powder or soda are used, and you’ll just want to sink your teeth into these softies.
Mine are especially soft and gooey because my kitchen here is un-airconditioned. It was 88F and very humid when these pictures were taken. Everything melts and gets very soft. In more normal conditions, your blondies won’t be as soft and melty.
The peanut butter chips are the perfect flavor nuggets, adding bursts of peanut butter flavor, without overtaking the flavor and making them taste like peanut butter blondies.
Not that that would be a bad thing. There’s a recipe for Peanut Butter Blondies with Nutella Swirls in my cookbook and they’re wonderful.
These were so good. And a little messy.
And that’s what napkins are for.
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Nutella-Swirled Peanut Butter Chip Blondies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, 1 stick, melted
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips
- about 1/3 cup Nutella (Homemade Peanut Butter or Homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside.
- In a large, microwave-safe bowl melt the butter, about 1 minute on high power.
- Wait momentarily before adding the egg so you don’t scramble it. Add the egg, brown sugar, vanilla, and whisk until smooth.
- Add the flour and stir until just combined, don’t overmix.
- Stir in the peanut butter chips.
- Turn batter out into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula.
- Evenly add and swirl the Nutella. To create the marbled pattern shown, drizzle Nutella over batter in 5 wide, evenly spaced, parallel lines, each spanning the length of the pan. Like 5 rows of long train tracks. Rotate pan 90-degrees. With a toothpick, starting at the top of the pan, “draw” 4 or 5 evenly spaced lines through the Nutella. You’re dragging the toothpick perpendicularly through the first set of lines to create the marbling.
- Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until done. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. Bars shown in photographs were in 90F Caribbean heat and humidity, and very soft and melty. Allow bars to cool in pan for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving. Bars will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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What’s your favorite fast and easy go-to dessert? Favorite way to use Nutella or peanut butter (chips)?
Those swirls, I want to swirl right into these blondies!! Hats off to you for baking in 88F and humidity. That sounds rough, I wouldn’t have the patience. LOL
It’s hella hot but hey, mama’s gotta pay for this vacation :) Blogging goes on!
These are jam packed with things that make me happy too! LOVE these!
:)
This is evil evil evil :) Love it.
Hey girl! I hope you’re enjoying Aruba and your vacation :) I love your quick, simple and no fuss desserts like this one. There are just those nights where you don’t want to or have time to wait for eggs or butter to come to room temp or get out 10 different appliances to whip up dessert. You just want dessert and you want it now, right? These blondies look amazing and I love all the gooey Nutella seeping out! I so want one right now and it’s 9:00 in the morning :) xoxo, Jackie
What you said, totally agree! No need for 10 appliances and eggs/butter to room temp, etc. These are the EASY cure for all that monkey business :)
These look like absolute heaven, I love that swirl of Nutella. Pinned!
thanks for pinning!
You know I hide the Nutella from myself because I can’t stay out of it so there is DEFINITELY a jar in the back of the cabinet. I haven’t made blondies in forever — these look so chewy and soft and perfect!! Happy vacationing!
I have to hide my homemade PB from myself b/c I cannot even trust myself around it. LOL https://www.averiecooks.com/homemade-honey-roasted-butterscotch-white-chocolate-peanut-butter/
Yay! I LOVE 5 minute, 1 bowl recipes! Can’t go wrong with Nutella in blondies, either :) Hope you’re enjoying Aruba!
Thanks Christy – we are!
Yeah, these would make me very, very happy! The look insanely delicious and those swirls of Nutella could not be more perfect!! Oh and the caramel and vanilla flavors going on are so my thing. I love this bar!
I want to try your bars, and you can try these. Wish we could do a swap :)
That first line made me smile- “jam-packed with things that make me very happy”. It’s funny how baking and baking products can really lift your mood! These look delicious and I love that you need minimal dishes. Less fuss = more time to eat!
Amen to the last sentence!
No dishwasher? That’s a scary thought. These blondies look ridiculously good. The gooey messyness totally has my mouth watering.
What’s even scarier is that when I go to the grocery store, I never know if I’ll even be able to get butter, eggs, milk, lettuce, or salad dressing. But it’s an adventure. You just have to embrace it!
These actually look extra gooey and delicious in their soft, melty state! Peanut butter in any form can do no wrong. I even have a small bottle of PB extract with the intent of trying to make salt water taffy some day (one of those bucket list candy projects).
PB extract to make salt water taffy sounds incredibly amazing!!! I think you should sell it! And I’m buying :)
I seriously love a good blondie recipe. I make super easy Kentucky Bourbon Blondies. Agh. So good!
Kentucky Bourbon Blondies = OMG I want!!!
Did you see this https://www.averiecooks.com/no-ice-cream-maker-salted-caramel-bourbon-nutter-butter-and-chocolate-chunk-ice-cream/
I must be crazy but I love making brownies or chocolate desserts when it is warm. The butter at least comes it room temperature quicker ( I am impatient especially for cake). The crackly top of these brownies are so pretty, normally only achieved with chocolate ones. Well done!
Thanks, Belinda. The beauty of these is that I use melted butter, so it’s super fast :) No need to wait at all. And I find that when I use melted butter, I get the crackly top on my blondies and bars, whereas with creamed butter, I don’t – as a general rule.
The messier the dessert the better the dessert!
Nutella and peanut butter! I love it. And I like the simplicity of this recipe. Thanks for sharing!
simple is the best!
These look EXTRA gooey and perfect! And I love that they’re so SIMPLE!
super duper gooey! and simple, yes!