Soft, ultra-chewy, and packed with flavor, these peanut butter blondies will be your new go-to dessert to impress even the biggest peanut butter fanatics. They’re incredibly quick to throw togetherโa 1-bowl, no-mixer-required, no-dough-chilling recipe. Reese’s Pieces add a wonderful sweet crunch in each bite!
If you’ve poked around my site before, it’s no secret that I adore peanut butter treats. I make peanut butter blossoms year-round (who said they can only be enjoyed as Christmas cookies?), I’ve used these peanut butter cookies as inspiration for 8+ other cookie recipes, and this chocolate peanut butter cake is one of the most decadent beauties to come out of my kitchen.
So it will come as no surprise that my first-ever recipe published on my site in 2011 showcased… peanut butter!
These peanut butter blondies are an ode to the recipe that started it all, a reader and personal favorite that now includes even more Reese’s Pieces. Because who doesn’t love even MORE ways to incorporate peanut butter flavor into every bite?
These Peanut Butter Blondies Are a Forever Favorite:
- Soft & ultra-chewy, and packed with crispy Reese’s Pieces
- Only 1 bowl needed
- No mixer required (just like these soft-baked M&M Cookie Bars)
- Super simple from start to finish. Prepare and bake the blondies in less than an hour. The hardest part is waiting for them to cool!
- A year-round favorite welcome at Halloween parties, summer BBQs, Christmas celebrations, and spring picnics
- Convenient for cutting, stacking, and transporting
One reader, Gina, says: “Sally, I made these yesterday with cut-up Reeseโs miniature cups and only sprinkled the top with the Reeseโs Pieces and they were OUT OF THIS WORLD! Everyone loved them and they were gone in seconds. โ โ โ โ โ ”
Let me show you how easy this is.
You need a 9×13-inch pan, mixing bowl, whisk and spatula, a few staple baking ingredients, plus some Reese’s Pieces candy (or M&Ms). Did I already mention how EASY these are?
Ingredients to Use & Why
- Unsalted Butter: Just like with chocolate chip cookies, use melted butter to create the chewiest blondies. Cool the butter for just a few minutes so that it’s not piping hot, but don’t leave it so long that it starts to solidify again.
- Brown Sugar: You’ll reach for brown sugar here for its deep flavor, and also because it creates a softer, chewier, and thicker baked treat. All characteristics that make for the tastiest blondies!
- Peanut Butter: While natural-style peanut butters are great for eating and cooking, they can dry out baked goods. To avoid a crumbly blondie, use a creamy processed peanut butter like Skippy or Jif. If you’re looking for a recipe that uses natural peanut butter instead, it does work well in peanut butter banana chocolate chip oatmeal bars, peanut butter trail mix bars, and healthier no-bake chocolate fudge oat bars.
- Eggs: You need 2 whole eggs + 1 extra egg yolk. The extra egg yolk creates a chewier, denser texture. Without it, blondies can taste a little dry and sandy. We use an extra egg yolk in dark chocolate cranberry blondies for the same reason.
- Vanilla Extract: If you have homemade vanilla extract on hand, you can absolutely use it here!
- All-Purpose Flour: To add structure. Be sure to spoon and level your flour so that it isn’t under-measured (overly gooey, greasy blondies) or over-measured (dry, sandy blondies).
- Baking Powder: For a little lift.
- Salt: Flavor enhancer, and to balance the sweet.
- Reese’s Pieces: The star of these blondies. If you love the added texture they provide in these blondies, you’ll also enjoy them in this peanut butter pie. (Have you tried that one yet? It’s an absolute must for any peanut butter lover.) They’re also give the perfect amount of crunch to my Reese’s peanut butter white chocolate bark.
Easy 1-Bowl, No-Mixer, No-Chill Recipe
After the thick batter comes together in your mixing bowl, fold in the Reese’s Pieces, spread into your prepared 9×13-inch baking pan, and sprinkle some extra candies on top for good measure. Pop them in the oven and they’re done in half an hour. (Well, except for the hard part… waiting for them to cool.)
The next time you need an easy-to-make crowd-pleasing dessert, or just have a mega peanut butter craving, reach for this recipe.
From my kitchen to yours, I hope you enjoy this very special recipe; it was the first recipe ever published on my website and I’ve gone back to re-photograph and republish it some years later. It began a delicious career and introduced me to so many sweet readers from around the world. Thank you, from the bottom of my peanut butter-loving heart, for making and trusting my recipes. Whether you’ve been following since the beginning or joined along over the years, thank you for being here. Let me know if you give these blondies a try!
More Blondies to Love:
- Milk Chocolate Mocha Blondies
- Brown Butter Apple Blondies
- Candy Bar Blondies
- Cake Batter Blondies
- Biscoff White Chocolate Blondies
- Snickerdoodle Blondies
Peanut Butter Blondies
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 18 large blondies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Enjoy soft-baked and flavor-packed peanut butter blondies made in only 1 bowl. Feel free to replace Reese’s Pieces with M&Ms, chocolate or peanut butter chips, or use a mixture of these add-ins.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (170g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 2 cups (400g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 3/4 cup (190g) creamy peanut butter
- 2 large eggs + 1 extra egg yolk
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flourย (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 and 1/4 cups (about 260g) Reese’s Pieces
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ยฐF (177ยฐC). Adjust oven rack to the center rack position. Line the bottom and sides of a 9×13-inch metal or glass baking pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the sides to easily lift the bars out of the pan. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the melted butter and brown sugar together until combined. Whisk in the peanut butter, then add the eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla. Whisk it all until completely combined.
- Add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Fold the batter together using a rubber spatula. Batter is very thick. Finally, fold in the Reese’s Pieces. Spread evenly into prepared pan and sprinkle with a couple extra Reese’s Pieces on top (for looks), if desired.
- Bake for 30 minutes, then test the blondies with a toothpick. Insert it into the center of the pan. If it comes out with wet batter, the blondies are not done. If there are only a few moist crumbs, the blondies are done. Keep checking every 2 minutes until you have moist crumbs. They taste a little dry if you over-bake!
- Allow the bars to cool completely in the pan set on a wire rack. Once cool, lift the bars out of the pan using the paper overhang on the sides and cut into squares.
- Cover leftover bars and store at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Baked and cooled blondies freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw bars overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9×13-inch Pan (or Glass Pan) | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Spatula
- Peanut Butter: While natural-style peanut butters are great for eating and cooking, they can dry out baked goods. To avoid a crumbly blondie, use a creamy processed peanut butter like Skippy or Jif.
Reader Comments and Reviews
These PB Blondies are superb and mine looked just like Sallyโs! My friendโs hubby kept cross examining the layers and asked what the โmiddleโ one was! (Just blondie magic!) I might increase PB to 1 full cup as friend thought PB flavor was โgentle.โ Sallyโs Team: Would that mess up recipe? Itโs a winner either way. Made for 4th of July reunion!
Perfect recipe for Father’s Day! So delicious, we cannot stop eating them! Added 1 bag of peanut butter chips in place of Reese’s Pieces. Baked them in Wilton square cavity pans, #30 scoop to fill, ~23 minutes, made 30 Blondies. Sprayed the pan with Baker’s Joy and added 1 strip of parchment paper. This was probably overkill but they came right out, removed them after a minute or two and cooled on rack. Next time, will remove them from the oven at 20-21 mins and let cool in pan? So happy to discover a recipe that will have a “next time”! No surprise, though, Sally knows her stuff!
These turned out great! I added in butterscotch chips (3/4 c) instead of Reeses Pieces (at my husband’s request). I took half of the batch to a small gathering and they were a hit!
Hi Sally – can I use gf flour to make these gluten free? Thanks!
Hi Walter, I haven’t tested it myself to be certain, but many readers have used my bar recipes like this with a 1:1 GF flour substitute. Let me know if you try it!
Hi, curious if anyone tried with gluten free flour? I have to make a couple of gluten free desserts in a couple of weeks. Any suggestions for any of Sallyโs other recipes that have been tried with 1:1 gluten free flour? Thanks
Hi Gina, You might be interested browsing all of our naturally gluten free recipes.
These are another perfect Sally recipe. I canโt believe I havenโt made these before!!! They are so delicious. I sometimes find that Blondies can be a little too sweet, but the peanut butter is just so perfect to offset that, at least in my opinion. I didnโt have any Reeseโs pieces, but I did have PB cups that I chopped up, along with semisweet and PB chips. These are dangerously good. Thank you for sharing such another great recipe.
Would using crunchy peanut butter alter the texture? Thanks!
Hi Beth! Crunchy peanut butter is more dry. We recommend sticking with creamy for these blondies.
Could I use Reeseโs peanut butter cups instead of pieces? Thanks!
Hi Julie, can’t see why not!
Made this with my toddlers and it came out exactly like the pictures and as described it was so easy and my kids enjoyed it just as much as I did ! Most definitely will be making this again!
Could almond flour be substituted for some or all of the AP flour? And what about oats for part of the flour? Thank you!
Hi Suji, almond flour is not a suitable substitute, and using oats would take some testing. For best results, stick with the recipe as written!
For the peanut butter, do I need to adjust the amount of sugar if I use unsweetened peanut butter? Itโs not natural, just unsweetened.
Thanks!
Hi Erica, the blondies should still be plenty sweet without adding more sugar. Enjoy!
I would give this TEN STARS! I have made this twice with different mix ins, and it is unbelievable! The recipe is very easy , the Blondies are super dense, chewy and unbelievably delicious. Sally is number one for a reason y’all!!
*I wanted to add that I baked my Blondies in a 11×13 (1/2 sheet pan), I think this made all the difference as far as them being cooked through. I could not be happier!
These blondies are so good that I just made them for the second time this month! The batter does appear greasy when you first pop it in the oven, but I havenโt had any issue with mine being raw. Mine have taken around 34-36 minutes to cook. I keep an eye on them and pull them when the tops just start to crinkle. I saw another commenter say they used a 1/2 sheet pan and I might try that next time for less tall bars.
Followed the instructions exactly and weighed the ingredients, had an oven thermometer and yet as other’s echoed, it unfortunately turned out too raw and completely undercooked.
A pass for me ๐
These were fabulous! I’m not a fan of Reese’s pieces, so I used peanut butter chips instead, and just used the natural peanut butter I had on hand. The texture was top notch!
Hi Sally I love this recipe. I was wondering if I could use bread flour to make them chewier as you can do with brownies? Or since it involves peanut butter would the bread flour only ruin them? Thank you in advance!
Hi Mel, we haven’t tested it, but that should work fine. Given the higher protein content in bread flour, you may need to tinker with the wet ingredients a bit. Let us know if you do any experimenting!
So I tried this and they were good! The bread flour did make em chewier, but I noticed they cooked a bit faster than the all-purpose flour version (26 minutes they were done). It might be that I got a new oven between last I made them with all-purpose and these with bread flour though.
I love these blondies! I typically use peanut butter m&ms instead of Reece’s pieces due to personal preference, but these are always the perfect holiday treat!
This recipe did not turn out for me. Maybe it was the type of brown sugar I used, or maybe I didn’t stir the ingredients enough? I’m fairly certain I measured everything correctly though. The blondies turned out greesy and almost sandy in texture, like eating raw brown sugar. They didn’t hold their shape at all but crumbled apart and were pretty gross overall. I wouldn’t recommend this Blondie recipe.
After I make it. Could I put it in the fridge so I can run to the store for the reeses? Then take it out of the fridge put the reese in and bake it.
Hi Seajay, You could mix together all of your dry ingredients before heading to the store, but we recommend waiting until you get back to mix together the rest and bake.
My toothpick came out clean at 32 minutes but after cut the center pieces looked gooey inside. I used glass pan with parchment paper liner at 350 degrees. Edges were getting too brown, and I did not want to overbake which has happened to me with your chocolate chip blondies. Should I reduce temperature and bake longer?
Hi Chris, the centers of blondies will be chewier than the edges. Did you use a toothpick to test for doneness? While you could try reducing the temperature a bit, we’d recommend keeping the same and tenting the pan with aluminum foil towards the end of bake time. This will prevent the edges from overbaking, while allowing the centers to continue baking through. Thank you for giving these a try!
This is my most favorite recipe from Sally! SO packed full of peanut butter goodness! Peanut butter blondies for the win!
This is my most favorite recipe from Sally! SO packed full of peanut butter goodness! Peanut butter blondies for the win!
These are AMAZING and so moist! I made two changes. First, my son has celiac so I made them using the King Arthur Measure for Measure gluten-free flour. Second, instead of Reese’s Pieces, I added about a cup each of chocolate chips and butterscotch chips. Holy moly are these delicious! Thank you!
Oh my goodness! Followed the directions as listed & came out perfect texture & taste delicious! After they cooled, I melted 2 ounces of Ghirardelli semi sweet chocolate baking bar & drizzled over the top & these are perfection! Another wonderful treat that went right into the familyโs Christmas tins to be shipped! No matter what recipe I try of yours, they never disappoint! Thank you and Happy holidays Sally!!
OMG, so good. Even my son who may be the pickiest person on the planet couldn’t stop eating them. And if you add the Reeses Pieces, they are a beautiful Fall treat.
Theyโre yummy, but I wish that the consistency were a little firmer. Even after completely cooling theyโre a bit soft and greasy. Itโs fine for me, but I wanted to share them with a group and think that they are too soft. I cooked them five minutes longer than noted and I followed the instructions to look for a few moist crumbs on a toothpick.
Super easy, good texture. I used semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of Reeseโs Pieces and they werenโt quite sweet enough for me – didnโt realize that the Reeseโs Pieces would bring much more sweetness. If making the same substitution again I would up the sugar a bit!
You used to have Valentineโs Day peanut butter blondies. What happened to that recipe? It was perfect
Hi Taylor, we recently removed that older recipe from our site. If you email us at sally@sallysbakingaddiction.com, we’d be happy to share a copy with you. Thank you!