BYOBrownies: Peanut Butter Biscoff Blondies

It’s time to party with some squares of glory! Because it’s #BYOBrownies day!

Today you will find batches of warm delicious brownies (or blondies/bars/etc.) on some of your favorite blogs including Dessert For Two, Chip Chip Hooray!, and In Katrina’s Kitchen, and also here on The Spiffy Cookie! It began with a discussion about how spending a Friday evening devoid of human interaction required the company of a batch of brownies, and how we should all just get together and bake brownies. No humans + brownies = humans! Pardon me while I sing “my brownies bring all the boys to the yard” in my head. Maybe it should be “my brownies bring all the fat kids to the yard”? Anyway…

Unfortunately we do not live anywhere near each other to make this dream come true, so we decided to do the next best thing and throw an online BYOB party – Bring Your Own Brownies! It’s like a cookie exchange party but with brownies, and any variation of a brownie is acceptable such as blondies, cookie bars, and what not. Which means once you are done here, make sure you check out Dessert For Two, Chip Chip Hooray!, and In Katrina’s Kitchen for more BYOBrownies action.  And then share your favorite recipe using the linkup toll at the bottom of this post! It’s a link up party completely dedicated to all things brownie/brownie-like!

For my contribution of #BYOBrownies I actually made blondies. And these are not just any old blondie, they are Biscoff and peanut butter blondies! Because I am completely incapable of sticking to just one flavor, and after my infatuation with cinnamon I felt the need to try out the cinnamon-spice flavor with peanut butter. May I also mention that they are topped with a frosting that resembles the uncooked blondie batter? Oh yea I did that. Even went out of my way to crumble it up a bit after spreading it on top to make it look doughy-er, for your viewing pleasure. Don’t ever say I didn’t do something for you.

In case you were wondering, that is a cake stand turned up-side down upon which those blondies sit. And yes I painted it to look like a tree with funfetti sprinkles all around it. Yes I, me, Erin, painted myself a funfetti-tree cake stand and it makes me super happy every time I look at it. One day I’ll bake you a cake and you’ll see it right-side up.

PEANUT BUTTER BISCOFF BLONDIES

Makes about 24 bars

Ingredients:

BLONDIES

8 Tbsp of unsalted butter

6 Tbsp of Biscoff spread

1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup of old fashioned rolled oats

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup peanut butter chips

FROSTING

8 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup Biscoff spread

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

2-3 Tbsp milk

1 cup peanut butter chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 13 x 9-inch baking pan with cooking spray or grease with butter and flour.
2. Add butter and Biscoff to a microwave safe bowl, and heat in 30 second increments until melted. Let cool completely.
3. Mix the flour, oats, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, mix the cooled butter/Biscoff and sugars until they are combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and stir until mixed. Gradually add dry ingredients and mix until a dough forms – it will look crumbly at first, but it will come together. I even used my hands to bring it all together. If necessary, add 1-2 teaspoons of milk. Fold in the peanut butter chips.
4. Spread dough in the prepared baking pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out almost clean. Remove from oven and cool completely.
5. While the blondies are cooling, prepare frosting. Place butter and sugars into a medium bowl and cream together on medium speeduntil light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add vanilla and beat until combined. Add flour, and salt mixing on low to combine. Add milk a tablespoon at a time until the frosting resembles a soft dough, then add the peanut butter chips. Spread over cooled cookie bars then cut into squares and serve.

Source: Blondies adapted from How Sweet It Is. Frosting adapted from Picky Palate.