You never know when inspiration will strike…
Over the weekend, a few of my hubby’s out-of-state friends came to stay with us for a few days. They have been hanging out and playing a lot of Xbox. Since they hadn’t been to Hershey before, though, we decided that we had to take them to Hershey’s Chocolate World. It is certainly a tourist trap, but it’s something you just have to do when you’re in town. And, there are singing cows. You just have to take my word for it.
While the singing cows are really quite entertaining, the other good thing about Chocolate World is the giant marketplace of every Hershey product imaginable. While I don’t eat a lot of chocolate bars or other candy, I always have to peruse the baking section. Yesterday, I was immediately struck by a bag of chocolate covered toffee bits. I handed them to my hubby to purchase with the giant bag of Reese’s Pieces that my husband already had in his hand. I promised the men cookies, and no one argued. It’s nice having a few extra taste testers around!
Originally, I intended to make the peanut butter cookie recipe that was on the back of the bag. It sounded good. But, then I remembered that I had some mini peanut butter cups in the pantry that I’ve been meaning to bake with. So, I decided to use both. Instead of baking cookies, I went to one of my favorite go-to recipes, my peanut butter blondies. I adjusted the recipe a bit and make some peanut butter and toffee loaded cookies.
Because the batter was warm as I was adding in the peanut butter cups and the toffee bits, they kind of mixed and melted into the batter and added a bit of a chocolate swirl. As a result, the blondies don’t really have chunks of peanut butter cup or toffee. Instead, they just have this great, rich peanut butter flavor with little pockets of peanut butter and toffee. I like them that way, but you could certainly allow the batter to cool to room temperature before stirring everything in to avoid the melting.
Peanut Butter Toffee Blondies
(Makes one 9 by 13-inch pan, about 24 servings)
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 8 ounces mini peanut butter cups
- 8 ounces chocolate covered toffee bits
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with baking spray (or lightly grease). Set aside.
Meanwhile, combine the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir occasionally until the butter is completely melted and the ingredients are evenly mixed. Continue to cook until the sugars start to melt a bit, but do not allow the mixture to boil. Cook for an additional 5 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat, and stir in the peanut butter. Allow the mixture to cool until it is cool enough to touch (or to room temperature, if you prefer). Stir in the eggs and the vanilla extract.
In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sea salt, and baking soda. Pour the peanut butter mixture into the dry ingredients, and stir until just combined. Fold in the peanut butter cups and the toffee bits.
Transfer the batter to the prepared baking pan. Bake for about 25 – 30 minutes, until the blondies start to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (or with just a few wet crumbs). Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting into squares.
Toffee is underused in my opinion! Such underrated deliciousness! These look amazing…
The bars look delicious Jen. You keep making the *out-of-state* friends treats like this they may never want to leave!
Love the texture and I can never say no to toffee. Now if only I can have one now ….
These look SCRUMPTIOUS! I love all the elements. Great job, Jen!
YUM! Yay for peanut butter goodness, right? You and Jessica (at How Sweet it Is) are making me drool today…hehe. At least it’s in a good way, right?!
This is one of those recipes that I’m definitely going to have to adapt for us peanut-allergic types. It sounds so warm and amazing!
Visiting Hershey, PA is on my bucket list so we can visit Chocolate World. I know I’d have to work extra hard not to load up on baking goodies! Your blondies look fantastic, I’m sure the guys loved them :)
The blondies look great.
Peanut butter cups and toffee could make for the best blondies ever, these look delicious!
I need one of these right now. They look delicious.
As one of the aforementioned visitors – I can attest that these were, in fact, delicious. The only problem with visiting Jen was that she was constantly distracting me from her previous creation with something new and equally awesome. Thanks Jen!
I love the peanut butter and toffee additions. I also think I like the fact that they melt in there – sometimes you want chunks, sometimes you don’t!
YUM – these look fantastic. Must try!!
Thank you for sharing your recipe; I just made some of these for my sister’s fiance. Hope you have a lovely weekend. x