I basically live my life like a 7 year old.  From holiday to holiday.  It’s constantly in the back of my mind. “Which holiday is next?” I decorate for all of them.  I basically take down my Christmas decor and replace it with Valentine’s Day.  Which I replace with St. Patrick’s Day. Which I replace with Easter. Which I replace with 4th of July… You get the picture.

The funny thing about having a food blog though is that I absolutely get the most traffic the months of October, November, and December.  Incidentally, it’s also the time of year that I have the worst natural light for photographing food, the least time, and the time of year I cook a lot of “repeats” meaning favorite dishes and desserts that are already on the blog, not warranting any new posts.

So, when January comes along I get excited because I can start trying out new things, and I love to find a new holiday dessert.  I saw these m&ms at Target and I couldn’t resist them.  I brought them home to decide what to bake with them, and ended up going with my peanut butter blondies.

Oh my gosh. Slightly underbake these, let them cool completely, and you will be in peanut butter and chocolate heaven.  And they are so festive and sweet that you could wrap them up for your sweetie as a Valentine’s gift.

Enjoy these!

Ingredients:
1 stick of room temperature butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (I bet crunchy would be awesome too.)
1 egg
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup of Valentine’s Day m&ms (or other chocolate pieces of your choosing.)

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350°.  Spray an 8×8 pan with non-stick cooking spray and line it with a parchment paper sling.

Cream together the butter, sugars, vanilla, and peanut butter until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs, and mix well.

Add the flour, baking powder, and salt, and mix until just combined.  Mix in the m&ms by hand, reserving about 1/4 of them to place on the top.

Spread your mixture into your pan, and press down around the sides. You may find using a spoon that is slightly wet the easiest way to do this.  Then, press the remaining m&ms into the top, spreading them out (this is solely for looks.)

Bake 25-30 minutes ( like them after 25 when they are still a little gooey.)  Remove from the oven and cool.  Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  Enjoy!