Peanut butter and jelly never gets old. Especially when it’s baked into bars.
I made these blondies while I was in Aruba but held off on posting them until now because I made them on the heels of these Coconut White Chocolate Chip Blondies and didn’t want to overwhelm anyone with blondies.
I tweaked my go-to blondie recipe and the simplicity of melting a stick of butter in the microwave, adding peanut butter, brown sugar, an egg, vanilla, flour and giving it a stir makes this such a fast batter to make.
I like simple one-bowl recipes with batters that are ready to be baked in five minutes almost as much as I like PB&J.
Before baking, I added a couple big dollops of peanut butter and jelly to the surface of the batter and marbled it with a knife.
I love swirls. Especially swirls of two of my favorite ingredients mish-mashed together. Just be careful when you’re swirling not to get too carried away or you’ll end up with more muddy-mess than swirly-ness.
I used peanut butter twice; both incorporated into the batter and swirled on top so they chock full of peanut butter flavor. If I’m eating a peanut butter cookie or a peanut butter blondie, I want to really have that punch of peanut butter and these do just that.
Because only brown sugar and no granulated sugar is used, not only are they incredibly moist, soft, and dense, but the blondies take on caramel-flavored tones.
I’m also a fan of jelly in every bite. I am never stingy with jelly and the blondies are no exception. The sweet jelly balances the saltier peanut butter perfectly.
The recipe is a 30 minute project from start to finish and makes a modest 8-by-8 inch pan so you won’t be forced to consume a huge batch of PB & J.
Although I can think of worse things.
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Peanut Butter and Jelly Blondies
Makes an 8-by-8-inch pan, 9 generous squares
1/2 cup butter, melted (1 stick)
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter, melted
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 to 1/3 cup jelly (strawberry, grape, raspberry, cherry)
Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-by-8-inch pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside.
In a medium microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter, about 60 seconds. To the melted butter, add 1/4 cup peanut butter and heat for 30 to 45 seconds to soften the peanut butter. Stir until the melted butter-peanut butter mixture is smooth and combined. Add the brown sugar and stir to combine. Add the egg, vanilla, and stir to combine. Add the flour, salt, and stir until just combined, taking care not to over-mix or the blondies will be tough. Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing it lightly with a spatula or offset knife if necessary.
To the top of the batter, add 1/4 to 1/3 cup peanut butter, dolloped out in 4 or 5 tablespoon-sized mounds. Add 1/4 to 1/3 cup jelly, dolloped out in 4 or 5 tablespoon-sized mounds. Using a knife, marble the peanut butter and jelly in a zig-zag pattern, up and back, back and forth, across the pan until peanut butter and jelly is dispersed and marbled; do not over-do it or surface will look muddy rather than swirled or marbled.
Bake for 22 to 27 minutes, or until edges begin to slightly pull away from sides of pan, center is set and golden, and a toothpick comes out clean; do not overbake. Allow blondies to cool for at least 45 minutes before slicing and serving. Store blondies in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
The blondies are ripe for substitutions and variations. Add about 1 cup of any of the following stirred into the batter: peanut butter, chocolate, butterscotch, or white chocolate chips; toffee bits, fresh or frozen fruit including cherries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries; diced or whole peanuts, slivered almonds; diced candy such as Peanut Butter Cups, Reese’s Pieces, Peanut M&Ms, Peanut Butter M&Ms or whatever strikes your fancy.
To keep gluten-free, use your favorite gluten-free flour blend.
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Related recipes:
Chocolate Chip and Cherry Blondies – thanks to many of you who’ve made these and reported back; you can use any fruit, fresh or frozen, including peaches, nectarines, blueberries, strawberries
Coconut White Chocolate Chip Blondies with Chocolate Drizzle
White Chocolate Chip Blondies with Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting – If you don’t like coconut, go for this version rather than the one above
Strawberry Jelly Rolls – Full of jelly and a sneaky shortcut is used so these are ready from start to finish in under 15 minutes
Cinnamon Sugar Crust Cream Cheese and Jelly Danish Squares – They taste like an Entenmann’s-brand danish and are a snap to make
Do you like peanut butter? Jelly?
I love them both, big time.
All peanut butter recipes here
All peanut butter and jelly recipes here
The only combo that could possibly trump PB & J is PB & Chocolate.
However, both PB & J and PB & C have their time and place.
Any favorite dessert recipes using either peanut butter or PB & J?
Feel free to link them up.
Have a great week!
I’m thinking you can overwhelm your readers with blondies like these any old day! I LOVE the swirly effects of the pb and j. I bet your precious Skylar loves these, too! She must have THE best brown paper lunch in all of San Diego!! I bet little apple butter or blueberry jam would swirl well also! :-)
I bet apple butter or blueberry or grape jelly would be great in them, too. I actually was giving these to her and Scott in their ‘beach snacks bag’ for times when he’d take her out for a couple hours. She was the most popular kid on the beach I think :)
Oh lordy, another recipe I’ll need to try! By the way, I made your strawberry cake mix cookies yesterday as we had friends over and everyone loved them! Now, I am dreaming up all kinds of flavored cake mixes I could try….
Oh yes, the cake mix cookies are awesome and so easy – spice cake mix is great if you like spice cake, red velvet, lemon, funfetti, or even just chocolate. Have you seen this post?
https://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2012/06/recipes-using-cake-mix.html
I could never get sick of bars/blondies! The swirls totally make these gorgeous. I want one now
Wait, I’m sorry–did you say you didn’t want to “overwhelm” anyone with… blondies? How is that humanly possible?! Lol. I’m with Sally when I say I can bypass chocolate for brown sugar, oatmeal, or caramel/butterscotch ANY day, any time. Blondies are my jam–uh, literally here too! :) love the PBJ twist. PBJs never get old, do they?!?
They never get old for me either! Every now and then I have someone write to me telling me I ‘make the same things over and over’ and it’s always a bit of a head-scratch but I DO try to vary things for that reason :)
You can never have too many blondie recipes in your drawer (or inbox!) I love how chewy these look on the inside…I want to grab one of the screen to pack for today’s lunch. If I have to spend my weekend in continuing ed class, then I should atleast have something fabulous to eat : )
continuing ed all weekend? You’re a Saint! Hang in there!
Looks amazing! Definitely a recipe I need to try out. Thanks for sharing!
PB is my favorite food in the whole world! Love it more than chocolate OR ice cream and these bars look AMAZING!!!! Simply beautiful!!!
thanks, Teri!
Easy, dense & GORGEOUS Averie! I love your go-to blondie recipe. And even though I’ve never tried it myself, the whole no-fuss thing, 1 bowl, small batch… is very enticing! And look how moist those babies look. Wow.
You are the queen of recipe ease, which I just LOVE. People are looking for no-fuss, easy, and quick recipes and yours really shine! Stunning photos. I have loved all of your Aruban photo shoots and this one is no exception. The swirls are just beautiful and I just want to dive right through the screen and taste all that jelly! I would go with raspberry! Yum.
You know I love my PBJ, girl!
As I look back on these pics from my San Diego desktop, I don’t like the pics as much. They are so golden. Yes, blondies are golden but I swear my Macbook monitor is just calibrated differently or the tone-quality of the light in the room I edited was deceiving or maybe my eyeballs were sunburned. I dunno. I like them but there’s always things I wish I could change. Don’t we all have that :)
And yes, these are such a one-bowl, EASY recipe. You’d love them!
This is so fun!! Love this idea. Best combo ever.
Anything with PB & J is a BFF of mine! Pinning these beauties now! Hope you are having a great weekend!
And thanks for the Pin my friend. Hope YOU are having a great weekend, too. Mine….busy and running around. You know, the usual :)
you know i adore all your PB and Jelly recipes. I think its because the batter, it’s just so delicious!
Yum, the marbling technique worked in your favor. The tops are so beautiful!
Wow these look great I love P,B, & J. I am going to have to try these
These look gorgeous Averie, so moist and chewy!
Wow, they look like fudge! Beautiful peanut buttery and sweet jelly fudge. YUM!
I don’t using baking soda/powder in either my blondies or my brownies because I love the density that’s created – fudgelike indeed!
I love peanut butter and jelly it reminds me of being a kid. I also love peanut butter and chocolate – I’m thinking reading this recipie that the PB & J Blondies may need chocolate chips put in when I try cooking them !
Enjoy the chocolate chips if you try them!