PB&J Meets PB & Chocolate

I love peanut butter.  I love peanut butter with chocolate, I love peanut butter and jelly, I love peanut butter by the spoonful.  You already know this, but I just had to get it off my chest.

I expressed my love of blueberries and peanut butter before, and then I combined chocolate and blueberries.  And of course there were all the times I put together peanut butter and chocolate.  It was only a matter of time before the three collided.

Over the weekend I put three of my favorite flavors into one and made Blueberry Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Bars.  These aren’t the prettiest bars I’ve ever made, but oh boy are they delicious!  This was one of those times where I could have eaten the whole batch out of the oven!  They smelled amazing and the melted dark chocolate, juicy blueberries and flavorful peanut butter cookie base had an amazing balance.  It was a good thing I had a birthday barbecue to bring these to because otherwise my waistline would have been in big trouble!

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Blueberry Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Bars

Note: The dough may be very crumbly. Press it down tightly into pan before baking to prevent the bars from being too crumbly once they are done.

Yield: Makes 24 bars

Ingredients

• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups salted natural creamy peanut butter
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup dark chocolate chunks
• 1 1/2 cup blueberries

Cooking Directions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and baking soda, set aside
3. Using a mixer, in a large bowl beat peanut butter and sugars on high until light and fluffy
4. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until combined
5. Reduce speed to low and stir in flour mixture just until combined
6. Stir in blueberries and chocolate chunks
7. Press dough into a 13×9 baking pan lined with ungreased parchment paper
8. Bake for 20 or until firm and a knife comes out clean

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Have you ever eaten a dessert by yourself that you were supposed to share with friends?