I succumbed to a bag of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup eggs at an after Easter sale (my all-time favorite candy).  They were 50% off and I did an unfortunate thing by walking into the store hungry.   Once I got them home, I didn’t want to eat them all straight out of the bag (which I easily could have done), so I gave some thought to how to cook with them.   Thanks to a basic recipe by Mark Bittman, this is what I came up with.  They were really, really good and I’ll definitely make them again.  It’s a great way to use up extra peanut butter cups if you have them kicking around.

Three out of the four boys gave them a double thumbs-up.   The one that lives on peanuts and peanut butter sandwiches didn’t care for them.   I guess he eats so many peanuts as it is that he didn’t want to taste them in his dessert as well.  It was definitely his loss.

Peanut Butter Cup Blondies
Recipe adapted from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus a little for the pan
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
pinch of salt
1 cup flour
8 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, chopped into large chunks

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.   Grease either an 8 or a 9″ square baking pan or line the pan with aluminum foil and grease the foil.

Melt the butter over low heat.    Stir until it is just melted.  Don’t let the butter brown.   Using a mixer, mix in the sugar, vanilla and egg.   Mix in the peanut butter and the salt.   Stir in the flour, making sure that you don’t overmix the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan.   Sprinkle the peanut butter cups on top of the batter.   Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, or until barely set.   Cool on a rack before cutting.

Yield:  ~12 brownies

One year ago: Caramels
Two years ago: Yucatán Pork Tenderloin
Three years ago: Carole’s Country-Style Spare Ribs
Four years ago: Buttermilk Bran Muffins