A couple weeks ago, I enjoyed another Happy Magazine Day with the arrival of Cooking Light’s September, 2011 issue. When I saw ‘Light Brownies’ featured on the cover, I was intrigued. When I saw Peanut Butter Cup Blondies, I could not race to the store fast enough to pick up peanut butter cups!
These bars are easy to make and bake up into something amazing. From the original recipe, I substituted half of the granulated sugar with brown sugar. I also used skim milk, since that’s what I had on hand and generally prefer. I used chunky peanut butter, and the little peanut chunks throughout the bars were awesome. Last, I used milk chocolate chips instead of semisweet, but either would be great. Dark or white chocolate chips would also be a delicious way to mix it up.
Chewy, peanut buttery, peanut butter cuppy, and oh so good, these bars are simply dreamy. I adjusted the serving size from 20 to 16. They are substantial enough to feel like you’re getting a big treat, yet they still come in under 200 calories per bar. Not bad!
Peanut Butter Cup Blondies
Yields: 16 to 20 bars
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar, packed
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt (optional)
- ⅓ cup natural peanut butter (creamy or chunky)
- ¼ cup butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 2 tablespoons skim milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- ¼ cup milk or semisweet chocolate chips
- 4 (0.75-ounce) peanut butter cups, coarsely chopped
- Cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 9 x 9 inch baking pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk to combine the flour, sugars, baking powder, and salt (if using).
- In a separate medium bowl, stir to combine the peanut butter, butter, milk, vanilla and eggs.
- Add peanut butter mixture to dry ingredients, and gently stir until combined. Fold in chocolate chips until combined (do not over mix).
- Pour batter in prepared baking dish. Arrange peanut butter cups over batter.
- Bake for 19 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs clinging. Cool in pan on a wire rack.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 192 ~ Carbs: 26g ~ Fiber: >1 ~ Fat: 8.6g ~ Protein: 3.4g
Adapted from Cooking Light
I can’t believe these are under 200 calories per serve. Off to buy peanut butter cups to make some of my own!
Well done cutting back the calories on these little gems! They look perfectly chewy in the picture. Great post.
Ooo these could be dangerous little treats for me to be around. Everything I love is in them. Is it bad I’m seeing this as an idea for Christmas packages? 🙂
Yumm, these look delicious!
We are having guests tomorrow night and I’ve been looking for something simple to make…score!
I’m a huge fan of all things chocolate and peanut butter, I just can’t believe that they aren’t a million calories a piece! Mmmm, must make soon!
How did I miss this in my magazine! So glad you made them, I will have to try these soon! They look amazing!
Delicious! I’ve received my magazine, but haven’t got that far!
These look so yummy! hard to believe they are under 200 calories. I will take mine with a cup of coffee. Black.
Great job cutting back the calories in this recipe! Can’t wait to give these a try.
Making these right now! Cant wait to see how they turn out!
@Brandy V: I’m so jealous…enjoy!
Just discovered these through Food Buzz – they look so good! Will definitely be coming back to read more posts 🙂
Wow, these look addicting! Good thing the wedding was last weekend 😉 ha!
Oh, these look so good….
#1-YUM. I love pb cups!! #2-I adore your blog, it’s completely adorable and I’m so happy you friend requested me on FoodBuzz!
In the pic, this looks like it has about 15-20 chopped up peanut butter cups in it, but the recipe only calls for 4?
I used 4 peanut butter cups: cut them in 1/8ths and then if some of those pieces were larger, I cut them again. I was surprised at how much 4 actually yielded.
Would it make a difference it regular peanut butter were used? I don’t have natural on hand.
Thank you
Regular should work just fine. Enjoy!
Is there a way to not use butter, and just make it a bit healthier. By the way I do like how you’ve managed to cut back on the calories. Also is there a way to make this gluten free, maybe by using a different type of flour. If not, then I will do my best to alter the recipe myself. The reason I ask is not to offend, but it’s to accommodate to the people i will be baking these for.