Peanut Butter Blondies

This is a recipe that I decided to make at the last minute when I found out I was having lunch with a vegan friend.  I chose it because I had all of the ingredients on hand, it was a bar cookie which is less work than scooping out individual portions, and it was described as appealing to people who like really peanut buttery desserts.  I had no expectations and just hoped they would turn out reasonably good.  I ended up getting such a huge reaction from my friends and actually had several people describe these as one of the best desserts they’ve ever had.

This recipe got me excited about Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar again.  When I first got the book I had really high hopes since I’m such a fan of the authors’ cupcake cookbook.  The first cookie recipe I tried from it was great, but the second really wasn’t very good.  After my success with this recipe I’m going to put the cookbook back in more regular rotation.

Peanut Butter Blondies

from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar

• 3/4 creamy peanut butter (a commercical no-stir variety works best)
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup non-dairy milk (or regular milk if you’re not vegan)
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/3 – 1/2 cup salted peanuts

1. Preheat oven to 350º.  Lightly grease a metal 8 x 8 baking dish.

2. In a mixing bowl use a fork or whisk to vigorously mix together peanut butter, oil, and sugar.  Stir in the nondairy milk and vanilla (be careful – it will splash!).  Stir in the flour, salt, and baking powder.  Once you the flour somewhat mixed in it’s easier to just use your hands to knead the dough until soft.  (My dough never got stiff enough that this was necessary.  I just used a rubber spatula.)  Transfer the dough to the pan and press into place.  Sprinkle the peanuts on top and lightly press them into the top.

3. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes; the blondie edges should be just barely darkened.  The top will appear soft and that’s okay.  Remove the blondies from the over and cool completely before slicing.