The last few weeks have seen a bit of a break from baking. Maybe it’s the warmer weather (she says, on a day when it’s pouring down with rain), the summer holiday season or the inevitable consequence of over a year of cookbook testing, writing, eating and promoting. There have been sweet treats, of course, scoops of ice cream I haven’t made myself (on holiday in Italy, it’s allowed), shop bought cantuccini (see previous bracket) and all the fresh fruit that the season can bring. There was a pistachio cake for my birthday a few weeks back which I filled with a pillow of whipped cream and fresh raspberries, but it disappeared before I got the chance to take any photos, and sometimes (always) living in the moment is more important than snapping it for posterity.
To ease myself back into the baking groove, I made blondies. Blondies are the epitome of simplicity – bung everything in a bowl, stir together, then bake. There’s little in the way of whipping or folding or decorating and the result, though less nuanced and elegant than other bakes, is sweetly delicious as only a combination of flour, butter and sugar can be. Here I’ve added peanut butter to the batter because I had some going spare, plus a swirl of homemade blueberry jam just because. Eat warm from the oven with ice cream, chill in the fridge for a fudgier affair or freeze half the batch to stop yourself from eating them all in one sitting.
Ps. if you’re a fan of the peanut butter and jam combo, there are recipes for Peanut Butter Jammie Dodgers and Peanut Butter & Jam Arctic Roll in my book, Homemade Memories. Just saying.
- 115g butter, melted and cooled
- 180g peanut butter
- 180g light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 160g plain white flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp flaky sea salt, plus more for sprinkling
- 2 - 3 tbsp blueberry jam (or your favourite jam)
- Butter a 20cm square baking pan and line the base with baking parchment. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C fan.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the cooled melted butter, peanut buttter, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet until smooth - you will have a pretty thick batter- then scrape into the prepared tin. Dollop spoonfuls of jam over the top and swirl gently.
- Bake for 30 - 35 minutes (mine took 30) or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out pretty much clean. Sprinkle with a little flaky sea salt and leave to cool completely in the tin before turning out and cutting into squares.
- Will keep in an airtight container for 2 - 3 days.
I also am just getting back into a baking groove… the upcoming fall season doesn’t hurt either!
The texture of these blondies looks like heaven!
Yes, can’t wait to get into some serious pumpkin/chocolate/cinnamon style autumn baking 🙂 x
This looks so good! Especially with blueberries in season right now, I am going to have to give these a try!
I’ve had a very similar summer – lots of ice cream and treats baked by other people but not a lot of anything much coming out of my kitchen. These may just be the recipe that encourages me back to my poor deserted oven…
I was JUST having a conversation with my cousin about how many great recipes I miss out on simply because I’m not a huge peanut butter fan! I recently invested in some peanut, cashew and hazelnut butter which I like more than peanut on its own… I might give this recipe a try with that 🙂
You could definitely make these with a different nut butter, I think hazelnut would be amazing with raspberry jam 🙂 x
I’ve had a pretty slim baking summer as well and finding it hard to get back in a routine that feels good again. I love this blondie combo! So good. And happy belated birthday!
Thanks Tessa! It feels like such a long time ago now!
I hear ya, I’ve been on a break over the summer as well. But I saw this post and realized how badly I needed peanut butter jammy blondies in my life Right Now and so I shall be pre-heating the oven the moment I get home from the office. Yum!
This is like food porn for me 😀 anything with peanut butter is a winner. Think I might have to make these at the weekend x
Ha, you should!
These look amazing and are now on my to-do list for the weekend! I was just wondering what kind of PB you used, so what you would recommend? Do you think the flavour of the blondies would be effected by using normal PB vs 100% nuts (no sugar/salt added) PB?
If you use peanut butter with sugar in they will just be a little sweeter! X