Peanut Butter and White Chocolate Blondies

I finally got round to making the Peanut Butter and White Chocolate Blondies I'd bookmarked in Rachel Allen's "Bake" over a month ago.

I changed the recipe slightly as I used unsalted butter and added a little sprinkle of vanilla salt at the end.

Mixing the blondies

As I'd left the butter and peanut butter at room temperature, it was soft enough to mix with a spoon rather than get the electric-whisk out. As I didn't want to make it too bread-like, I was also keen not to over-process the flour too much.

Fresh out the oven

Blondies are like brownies but without cocoa powder or chocolate to make them dark. I baked them for 30 minutes, but I think on reflection they were a bit biscuity around the edges. Next time I'd go for 22-25 minutes so they go fudgey instead.

The other problem with them was the white chocolate. I'd chopped it to a medium size but it melted away and you didn't get the discernible chunks that I wanted. I'd make it with bigger chunks next time, perhaps just breaking the bar in to squares and then halving them.

Finished product

I served these at a dinner party held by my flatmate, and they would have been great with some ice cream on the side. Unfortunately it was a bit of a last minute thing so we hadn't stocked up on ice cream and other goodies. I saved a few to have to myself, and fed some to T when he came round to do some DIY for me. They tasted best warm straight out of the oven, but they held up pretty well stored in some tupperware for a couple of days. I really liked the crunch of the peanuts compared to the soft cake, and it would have been better with some creamy bits of white chocolate thrown in there too!

As I'd made my own vanilla salt from sea salt crystals and an vanilla bean, there was an occasional crunch of salt too. I am a big fan of the salty/sweet combo so I really liked this element, although as the peanut butter had salt in it I only put a little in as I was scared of making it too salty. I'm sure you can get low-salt peanut butter at the health food store so next time I might buy this and control the salt myself.

They are probably pretty unhealthy but they were tasty so I don't feel too bad...