These Soft Baked Peanut Butter Blondies are chewy on the inside and slightly crispy around the edges, a sprinkle of flaky salt on top make them! Made with melted butter, these don’t require a mixer and easily come together in minutes! Creamy peanut butter creates a smooth, rich dough with the perfect sweetness and nuttiness. Serve plain or decorate with frosting for a fun “cookie cake” look.
These bars are great on their own, or serve with a scoop of your favorite ice cream and a drizzsle of caramel. You could also fold in your favorite chocolate or chopped peanuts!
You might also like these peanut butter cookies or my classic peanut butter blossoms. Find all of my cookie bars here and my entire collection of baked goods here for more recipe inspiration!
What Makes This Recipe Special
- Made with melted butter: this recipe does not require a mixer, easily mix by hand!
- Perfect for crowds: this recipe is a great dessert options for crowds and parties, easily transport the bars. Add in different toppings as desired or decorate with festive sprinkles and frsoting,
- No chill time: these bars do not require any chilling time, simply mix the dough and transfer directly into a baking dish and into the oven! These bake in about 30 minutes.
- Gooey center and crispy edges: these have slightly crispy edges and stay nice and chewy in the center.
What Are Peanut Butter Blondies
Peanut Butter Blondies are dessert bars made with peanut butter and brown sugar, giving them a soft, almost fudgy center and lightly crisp edges. Unlike traditional brownies that are chocolate-based, blondies are made without cocoa powder and have a more caramel-like, buttery flavor. They’re usually made in one bowl with simple ingredients and baked in a square or rectangular pan—no mixer required!
Key Ingredients
These bars use simple pantry ingredients, several you probably have on hand. If there is a substitution, you’ll find it below.
- Unsalted Butter: if using salted butter, omit adding more salt later in the recipe. Do not substitute margarine.
- Peanut butter: classic, creamy peanut butter is best here. Jiff or Skippy brand peanut butter is my recommendation. If using a natural peanut butter or fresh ground peanut butter made with only peanuts, it will altar the texture of these cookies as natural peanut butter does not ‘melt’ in quite the same.
- Granulated white sugar: I do not recommend swapping any other type of sugar for this recipe. Other sugars can impact the dough differently and change how the cookie bakes and rises.
- Brown sugar: light or dark brown sugar will work, make sure to pack it well when measuring!
- Whole eggs: I like fresh pasture raised farm eggs if available, but any kind will work for this cookie. Let your eggs come to room temperature for this recipe, this helps the eggs incorporate better.
- Pure vanilla extract: use homemade or store-bought vanilla extract, almond extract can add additional flavor.
- All-purpose flour: no substitution here, other types of flour will change the texture and affect baking differently.
How To Make The Peanut Butter Bars
Let’s talk a little about how to make these Soft Baked Peanut Butter Blondies (The printable instructions are in the recipe card below.)
Quick overview:
- In a mixing bowl combine melted butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla.
- Mix in peanut butter. Slowly mix in dry ingredients.
- Trasnfer to greased baking pan, bake, and enjoy.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or line an 9×13″ baking pan, set aside. In a small mixing bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, stir to combine, set aside.
- In a large bowl combine melted butter and sugars, whisk well to combine. Add in the eggs and vanilla. Mix in peanut butter until smooth and fully combined.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mix to fully combine. Transfer to the prepared baking pan. Spread out evenly.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 28-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove form the oven and let cool completely before slicing. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt if desired, slice, and enjoy. Leftover bars will stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for 4-5 days.
Tools I Recommend
- USA Pan 9×13″ – my go-to s9x13 and 8×8″ pans, I love the sharp square corners and my desserts release easily!
- Rubber Spatula – a must have! I like these because they don’t come apart so I don’t have to worry about water getting inside the spatula and causing mold.
- Pyrex Mixing Bowl Set – I love this set of nesting bowls. Pyrex glass does not break easily so you can trust on these bowls for years, they come in 3 useful sizes and can stack.
- Parchment Paper – love this for linning pans, it helps to easily life out bars and brownies for slicing.
More Drool-Worthy Cookie Bars
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Blondies – the best combo of chocolate and peanut butter, these bars are full of Reese’s peanut butter cups!
- Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Bars – if you’re a oatmeal raisin fan, you’ll love these! Oatmeal raisin cookie dough with the perfect hint of cinnamon, topped with a crunchy streusel.
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Blondies – chewy cookie bars studded with oats, chocolate chips, and the perfect amount of peanut butter.
- Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars – a homemade version of the classic store-bought dough.
Baking Tips
- Bars will be fudgy, allow to cool completely before slicing for best results.
- A sprinkle of flaky salt on top adds the perfect touch of sweet and salty.
- Line your baking pan with a sheet of parchment paper to easily lift the baked bars out of the pan.
- Spray corners of the pan with cooking spray, this ensures your dessert doesn’t get stuck in the pan.
- Use creamy peanut butter for best results.
Recipe FAQs
Room temperature eggs mix together a lot easier than cold eggs, resulting in lighter, fluffier baked goods! Room temperature eggs also whip up a lot better which makes them important to use when making meringue or items that call for a lot of eggs like, angel food cake. Don’t have room temperature eggs? Set a few cold eggs out 20-30 minutes before you need them.
Yes! Combine in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or with a electric hand mixer.
No, the dough for these cookie bars does not need any time to chill – simply make and bake! If you need to, chill the dough for 1-2 hours or overnight.
Yes, if you desire a thicker, more dense bar, these can be made in an 8? x 8? pan. The baking time will need to be increased to 45-50 minutes so the dough cooks through in the middle. Note, this may cause the edges of the bars to get a bite crispier due to the longer baking time.
The dough for cookie bars is the same as individual cookies, the difference is that cookie bars or blondies are spread out into a baking pan instead of scooped or dropped onto a baking sheet. Typically, dough for cookie bars is thick just like dough for individual cookies.
Soft Baked Peanut Butter Blondies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups All-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1/2 cup Unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup Light brown sugar, packed
- 1 cup Granulated white sugar
- 2 whole Eggs, room temperature
- 1 tbsp Vanilla extract
- 1 cup Creamy peanut butter
- Flaky sea salt, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or line an 9×13" baking pan, set aside. In a small mixing bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, stir to combine, set aside.1 3/4 cups All-purpose flour, 1/4 tsp Baking Soda, 1 tsp Baking powder, ½ tsp Salt
- In a large bowl combine melted butter and sugars, whisk well to combine. Add in the eggs and vanilla. Mix in peanut butter until smooth and fully combined.1/2 cup Unsalted butter, 1 cup Light brown sugar, 1 cup Granulated white sugar , 2 whole Eggs, 1 tbsp Vanilla extract, 1 cup Creamy peanut butter
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mix to fully combine. Transfer to the prepared baking pan. Spread out evenly.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 28-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove form the oven and let cool completely before slicing. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt if desired, slice, and enjoy. Leftover bars will stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for 4-5 days.Flaky sea salt
Notes
Nutrition
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This seems like a lot of batter for an 8×8 pan, but we’ll see how it goes!
Hi, you could alternatively bake in a 9×13 pan, just alter the baking time. These bars are thick/fudgy.
Hi there, for the sugar can I just use brown sugar and does it have to be a mix of both, white and brown?
Hello! I have not tried these just using brown sugar. The taste would be the same but using all brown sugar may change the texture and color a bit.
Aren’t these just cookie bars? Blondies use all brown sugar and no white sugar, that’s what differentiates them.
You can call them what you would like!