chewy, chunky blondies

I’m putting myself on a diet. And by diet, I do mean a change in my eating habits that I have no intention of making permanent. Beach Trip is in two weeks, and it’s time to buckle down. My normal eating and exercise habits keep me healthy and slim enough to feel good most of the time. But most of the time, I’m not wearing a bathing suit.

So, for two weeks, I’m eliminating dessert. Sigh. At least Tuesdays with Dorie gives me a bit of an escape clause. I’m required to bake for this group, right? And while I can give the treats away, I am most definitely not going to give away something I haven’t tried myself.

And so I did eat one square of blondie. One little square. One teeny, tiny square. And that one square of thick, chewy, peanut buttery, chocolately cookie will have to hold me over until next week’s TWD recipe. Beach Trip can’t get here soon enough.

Nicole chose this, and she has the recipe posted. For the mix-ins, I used 1 cup (6 ounces) chocolate chips, 1½ cups (8 ounces) miniature peanut butter cups, and 1 cup (5 ounces) peanuts. I also decreased the brown sugar from 1½ cups to 1 cup and used salted instead of unsalted butter.

One year ago: Dorie’s Vanilla Ice Cream
Two years ago: Summer Fruit Galette

Comments

  1. Yours look perfect. I like the mini peanut butter cups, great add-in!

  2. Who did you give the rest to?! I wouldn’t be able to resist 😉

    Wei Wei

  3. Ohhh yummmmm

  4. Oh yum! I love those mini peanut butter cups. Have fun on your beach trip!

  5. The mini peanut butter cups… throwing those in there is the greatest idea!! These look delicious!

  6. Oh wow – no dessert for 2 WEEKS? Can people do that? Sometimes when I’m feeling a bit bigger than I want to I think “Hmmm, maybe I should just cut chocolate and PB out of my diet.” Considering those are two of my main food groups, I would probably lose a few pounds…but I have never done it because when it comes down to it, I just can’t do it.

    So that’s basically a really long way of saying – wow! Your willpower ASTOUNDS me!

    And those bars look fantastic!

  7. You really have willpower and I admire that so much. I have none. I could have eaten this entire dish but I did give some away thank goodness. They look wonderfully sinfully delicious.

  8. Love those mini peanut butter cups..

  9. Great looking bars!! I love those mini pb cups for baking. I thought about using those, or pb chips, but went with the butterscotch, this time! 😀

  10. Those look soooooo good. I used up all our peanut butter adding it to chocolate desserts this spring.

    Before our wedding I was working out and eating really well, I lost a few pounds and (more importantly) toned up a lot. My husband’s pre-wedding diet was 6 weeks without Chipotle. He lost five pounds. Jerk.

  11. Um, are you kidding me with those?! You always have the most mouth-watering images! This is right up there with that cookie dough entry from 2 years ago.. I’m salivating!!!!
    Speaking of “diet”, you might enjoy my “Thinny Thursday” entries at DessertDarling.com. Everyone kept asking me how I stay thin while I eat so many desserts, so I finally gave in and started blogging my Thin Tips at
    http://www.dessertdarling.com/thinny-thursdays/

    Have a great Vacay!!!

  12. I make something like this also, but never thought of putting in mini peanut butter cups! What an amazing idea!

  13. I can never find those mini pb cups! I’m jealous you’ve got them. The blondies look awesome.

  14. Those look delish! I need to get back into TWD….

    P.S. I need to jump on the limiting desserts bandwagon… a mean man at my gym said to me today “it looks like you’ve gained some weight”. Thanks dude, but my jeans have already told me that one…

  15. Mmm…these look delicious! I hope you enjoy your beach trip!

  16. Haha! I guess “beach trip” is code for no more brownie recipes for a while? Ah well, I think I can wait a little while and put up with some healthy recipes 😉 These look so chewy and moist and yummy!

  17. Yes, these are not what you want to be eating before a beach trip. Luckily, there are no beaches where I live (just rocky shores) so I try not to worry about these things. Thanks for baking with me this week!

  18. WOW! How did you manage to only eat one!?

  19. OMG the mini reeses just did it for me — yummmm!

  20. these look so delish-I’ve never seen those mini reese’s!

  21. Hehehe I can so relate. I’m off sweets for 2 weeks too, it’s been a week and I haven’t succumbed! Oh, and don’t you mean to say blondies instead of brownies in the title?

  22. bridget says:

    Avanika – Oops! Thanks!

  23. baking these things before a beach trip is totally dangerous– they are too good! those baby PB cups are a smart addition.