If that’s you, then today is your day! It’s National Peanut Butter Day in the United States!! We’ll be celebrating with a tasty treat after dinner, but more on that later.
First, I’ll share just a few peanut butter memories with you.
- My brown bag school lunch every day was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. For years. I can’t say I’m too fond of PB&J sandwiches anymore! These days I’m more likely to eat peanut butter on a banana or with apple slices, but I think I may have all of two PB&J sandwiches each year.
- One striking change of heart came when I was a senior in high school. I travelled to London, England with a group from our church to help a church plant reach out to their community. We stayed there for 10 days or so. About halfway through the trip, my host “mom” asked me what I missed most from home. As crazy at it was, I missed my PB&J sandwiches!! She went out and searched the stores until she found peanut butter and jelly for me. Peanut butter is absolutely NOT a staple in the British diet, so I can’t imagine what she paid for them. What an act of love!
I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth, as they say! Peanut butter was a cheap mainstay. So even though I don’t eat it that often, peanut butter is a MUST HAVE in my kitchen! If we don’t have a jar of peanut butter in the cabinet, we have struck rock bottom. We could be dirt poor, but if we have peanut butter, we’re still going to be okay!!
One other item on the MUST HAVE list is chocolate chips. So tonight’s tasty treat has both!
I promise you this–these treats are not on any weight loss diet. Don’t go thinking I’m sharing something to improve your health!
Here’s the recipe:
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies
Ingredients:
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/4 cup peanut butter
- 2 cups white flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 9×13 baking dish with waxed paper.
- Cream together butter and sugars in a large bowl.
- Beat in eggs one at a time
- Stir in vanilla and peanut butter until smooth.
- Combine flour and baking powder, then stir into peanut butter mixture.
- Fold in chocolate chips.
- Bake 40 minutes, or until the top is dry and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Cool pan on a wire rack for a bit to let the blondies set. You don’t want to burn yourself with melted chocolate chips, anyway!
Enjoy with a tall glass of cold milk. Yum!!
Did you grow up with peanut butter?
If so, what is one of your peanut butter memories of years gone by?
If not, what is one thing you grew up with that you feel like you still simply must have around the house, even if you don’t use it often?
Want to know more about peanut butter and its special day? Check out NationalToday.com’s article for a few interesting tidbits!
Featured Photo by Corleto Peanut butter on Unsplash
Lauri Hawley 