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 together—a 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 Reese’s miniature cups and only sprinkled the top with the Reese’s Pieces and they were OUT OF THIS WORLD! Everyone loved them and they were gone in seconds. ★★★★★”
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:
- Salted Butterscotch Blondies
- Milk Chocolate Mocha Blondies
- Brown Butter Apple Blondies
- Candy Bar Blondies
- Cake Batter Blondies
- Biscoff White Chocolate 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 flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 and 1/4 cups (about 260g) Reese’s Pieces
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). 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.
Keywords: peanut butter blondies, blondies
Loved this recipe – only change was i reduced the sugar to 1.5 cups . Topped it off with bitter ganache to balance the sweetness and it was a hit. Thank you so much Sally for the effort you put into testing recipes and posting them!
★★★★★
Unfortunately these did not bake up well at all. I think there may be too much butter in the recipe? I baked for an hour which resulted in the tops of the blondies being overdone but the bottoms were completely raw.
★
I love to make these with a combination of Reese’s pieces and M&Ms. So good and so easy!
i halfed the recipe and instead of doing another half egg yolk, i added in half a tbsp of milk. i personally suggest only cooking it for around 15 mins, as i left it in for around 20 minutes and it got a bit dry and slightly less tasteless.
★★★★
I made these for my son a few months ago and they were perfect! I just tried a new recipe yesterday (because I couldn’t find this one); they did not set up well after baking, and they just weren’t as good. Needless to say, I had to do a bit of searching to find your recipe on the web! So glad I found—and this time I’m going to save it!
★★★★★
The batter tasted good, but even after 38 minutes of baking time, the blondies were overdone on top and too doughy-undone underneath in the center pieces.
★★★★
Looks great! Do you think you could sub the same amount of tahini for peanut butter to make tahini blondies?
Hi Kate, we haven’t tried it ourselves so we’re uncertain of the results. Let us know if you do give it a try!
Thank you so much for the recipe. Just made them (without Reese’s) and they are incredible. Love the easy directions and clean up. They are really perfect if you want a brownie but can’t have chocolate.
★★★★★
These were so easy to make and they came out so delicious
★★★★★
Just made these for the first time and damn they are fabulous! I ate way too many and just sent my son to the store so I can make more! Oh so good!!!!
★★★★★
Can I use mini muffin pan instead of 9 by 13 baking pan? How should I adjust the baking time?
Hi Ivy, Yes this should work! We’re unsure of the best bake time for mini blondies in a mini muffin pan, but bake them at 350°F. You may want to start checking for doneness at 12-13 minutes. Use a toothpick to test for only a few moist (not wet) crumbs.
Love this recipe! I only used 300g of sugar instead of 400 as the recipe says though, still sweet enough!
I made these as part of a Christmas cookie bundle gift, and they were SO tasty. Each person who got them loved them, and I quickly decimated the leftovers. Next time I’ll add chocolate chips and/or drizzle some on top, but that’s just me. They are a peanut butter lover’s dream as is.
★★★★★
To any bakers in the UK with limited access to sweetened dessicated coconut and block cream cheese I would really recommend omitting or reducing the salt addition. It was a lovely recipe as always and so moist but the saltiness in the after taste was not really pleasant 🙁
Have combined this recipe with the cheesecake part of your cheesecake brownies, as well as adding some chunky raspberry jam rather than Reese’s or chocolate) to make a sort of PB&J cheesecake blondie and OH. MY. WORD. Sally!!!! You’re a GENIUS. This is the best thing I’ve ever made! I shared them with my neighbours (as I live alone and COVID isn’t helping…) and all of them sent me messages saying they were the highlight of their day! Thank you so much for sharing and your whole website, such an inspiration! Hope you and your loved ones are all safe and well. Lots of love!
★★★★★
Made this recipe but swapped out chocolate chips (they’re what I had on hand) for the reese’s pieces and they tasted amazing! Also used natural peanut butter and it worked fine. They got my boyfriend’s approval and now he’s asking for more haha. I only wish I could have shared them with more people!
★★★★★
I actually forgot to add the salt and baking powder until it was too late and it still turned out to be the best thing I have ever baked. I added some chocolate drizzle to the top and it was so good I feel like my spine was going to melt. I am writing this during the quarantine of 2020 So I have nothing better to do then bake. Next, I will make another and present it to my brother who has given up sweets for lunch!
★★★★★
Really loved how these turned out! I substituted the Reece’s for white chocolate and drizzled some melted white chocolate on top after they had cooled down. Delicious! Thank you for the recipe 🙂
★★★★★
baked and eaten! couldn’t wait for them to cool all the way. DEEEE-licious!!!
Used chopped chocolate because no reeses pieces. Whisked manually. Strongly recommend using power mixer! It’s heavy thick batter.
★★★★★
Sally, if I wanted to make these more cakey, rather than dense, would I just cream the butter and sugar instead of melting the butter? (I love the taste of this kind of thing, but not a fan of fudgy textures).
Hi Carmen! You can definitely try the creaming method here. I fear the blondies may taste a little dry, so let me know how they turn out. A splash of milk may help.
I made these bars for a birthday party. What a hit!! The yummiest bars I have ever made and so easy! Thank you Sally for your spot on recipes. You are now my go-to for all of my baking recipes.
★★★★★
These have gone down incredibly well with my family this evening! I made them with my three year old while her big brother was at nanny’s and they were great for her to help with. We halved the recipe to fit our 8×8 tin and 30 minutes was just right. Husband has eaten two in one sitting and just asked if he can have another! Making your dinner rolls with the kids as tomorrow’s project 🙂
★★★★★
I love that you are making treats – and memories – with your kids! So sweet!
Would you please let me know if you use natural creamy peanut butter (just peanuts and salt) or do you prefer baking with the style of peanut butter that has added fats and sugar (like Kraft creamy). Thank you for your time, I appreciate your help!
commercial brands like jif and skippy are best for baking to maintain the proper texture in a recipe. This, of course, depends on the recipe itself but all of mine are best with this type. I love eating the natural kind, but for baking– the sugary stuff.
Sally, I made these yesterday with cut up Reese’s miniature cups and only sprinkled the top with the Reese’s pieces and they were OUT OF THIS WORLD! Everyone loved them and they were gone in seconds. Thank you so much for another amazing recipe!
Hi Sally! I just made these and they taste amazing! However, I had to cook them for about 40 minutes and the inside still feels very under baked and almost wet, I followed the recipe exact(that I know of), do you have any idea why this would have happened?
Hi Kelly! Did you use a smaller pan? All ovens are different and I encourage the use of an oven thermometer. My new ovens are even off by 15 degrees and sometimes take longer to bake items. Continue baking until cooked through.
Excellent outcome! Wanted something out of the ordinary and these came out great! Had no Reeses but put the pb and chocolate chips in batter,and whole salted peanuts ontop. House smells awesome. Thanks alot! Kathleen
Hi Sally, I’m another admirer of yours from across the continent..just wondering can I replace the Reese’s pieces or not use them at all? I just can’t find them here but I’d very much like to try this recipee, easy and sounds delish. Many thanks
You can leave them out. 🙂 Or replace with nuts or chocolate chips.
Everywhere I use this recipe, it’s a huge hit. They don’t last very long. I generally do 1 c Reese’s pieces, 3/4 c peanuts and 1 c chopped peanut butter cups.
These are amazing! Thanks!
I made these on Thursday and they were gone before I could blink. This was recipe was ridiculously easy and so so good. Thank you!!