Peanut Butter and Jelly Blondies

The combination of sweet and salty, truly made famous by Nigella introducing us to salted caramel a while back, is thought to be addictive. Apparently our brands simply can’t get enough of the duo, and on a recent trip to Borough Market tried a peanut butter and jam blondie and WOW was it good. Brain short-circuiting good. I’d intended to take it home, but couldn’t stop thinking about it wrapped in paper in my bag and kept delving in for a small bite until it was sadly gone.

Straight away I knew I wanted to get home and try to make them and this weekend I headed into the kitchen with a jar of peanut butter and a mission. I’m pleased to say this recipe was a first time lucky attempt and I can’t stress how easy it was. Mission accomplished! Salty, sweet and unashamedly delicious these little squares of heaven are so so easy to make.

As always, the full list of ingredients is at the bottom. Pre-heat your oven to 160degrees and line an 8 x 8 tin with greaseproof paper. Then start by creaming together your butter and sugar and then add in the vanilla and peanut butter and let it mix for a couple of minutes until thoroughly combined. Add one egg and a time and continue to mix until fully combined.  I used my gorgeous Kitchen Aid with the K mix attachment.

While your batter is mixing put the salted peanuts into  a sandwich bag and bash with a rolling pin so they’re crushed into small pieces. Add about 80% of the mixture (save the rest to decorate at the end) and gently mix in. Lastly sieve in the flour, mix it in and that’s it, batter made. At this point it’s important to lick your spoon because it tastes great!

Tip the batter into your lined baking tin and then make some trenches for the jam. It’s worth thinking about how you’ll cut it up so you can ensure that each piece will have some jam on it. I like to stir the jam around a bit to make it easier to dollop. Once you’ve spooned it into the trenches I like to swirl it around a bit for maximum jammy goodness.

Lastly sprinkle over the remaining salted peanuts and pop the batter in the over for 25-28 minutes. You need to hold your nerve here as it’s tempting to put it back in the oven but you want to have that soft, squidgy middle that’s essential. If you think it’s cooking too quickly rescue it form the oven pronto.

When you remove it from the oven, leave it in the tray to cool before removing and cutting into squares. This lasts a few days in an airtight container but to be honest I doubt it will last that long once you’ve tasted them. Told you it was simple. Only one bowl to wash up and in the oven in 10 minutes, easy.

INGREDIENTS

100g Butter, at room temperature

150g Light Brown Muscavado Sugar ( You could also use a mixture of caster sugar and a darker sugar if that’s all you have.

180g Smooth or crunchy peanut butter, I used smooth in this recipe

2 Eggs

1 tsp of good vanilla extract

100g Salted Peanuts

150g Plan Flour

120g Strawberry or raspberry jam

Please please do give these a try, it’s minimum effort and maximum taste. PBJ is not just for kids you know.