Peanut butter blondies with a thick layer of chocolate fudge in the center! These decadent peanut butter fudge bars are easily made from scratch, then top them off with flaky sea salt! Simple, from-scratch peanut butter chocolate treats that are easy to make and are extremely addictive!
Hello again, fellow peanut butter and chocolate lovers!
I know there are a lot of you out there, because every time I post a recipe that uses both peanut butter and chocolate (like this buckeye recipe or these peanut butter bars) my blog seems to explode with people scrambling for the recipe.
Can I just say that you guys have excellent taste? Your love of all things peanut butter and chocolate seems to match mine, so today I’m sharing these peanut butter fudge bars with you, and I think you’ll love them as much as I do.
I’d made peanut butter fudge bars in the past following an old recipe that used yellow cake mix. It wasn’t bad, and always disappeared within a few hours. For my own recipe though, I knew that I wanted to make everything from scratch.
The blondie layer is based off of my peanut butter bar recipe from a few years ago, slightly modified so that it’s crisp on the outside but soft beneath your teeth. It’s buttery, light, and complements the fudge layer perfectly.
It may take a few seconds longer than a box-mix to put together, but it’s easy to make and easy to work with.
Then there’s the fudge.
Mmmm, is there anything better than a thick chocolaty layer of homemade fudge?!?
This one is so simple to make, just 5 ingredients, and it uses condensed milk, so there’s no candy thermometer required.
Making it does require dirtying another dish, but it’s worth it. To make it, you’ll just combine the ingredients in a saucepan until melted, then pour them over your peanut butter blondie base.
While the fudge itself doesn’t need to be baked, we obviously need to bake our peanut butter dough, and fortunately the fudge holds up just fine in the oven. However, it will still need some time to set so that it can firm up before you can easily cut into it and have neat peanut butter fudge squares.
Or you can attack the whole thing with a spoon while it’s still hot and just go to town on that chocolatey, melty fudge-ness, I don’t judge.
Enjoy!
In addition to this one, I have another peanut butter and chocolate recipe scheduled for you next week — one with a Halloween theme. Also, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that you enjoy pumpkin recipes just as much, because that’s basically all I’ve been baking this past week…! If there’s another certain recipe or type of recipe you’d like to see, please let me know in the comments!
And don’t forget that at lunchtime today (12:00 EST) you can catch me on my first Facebook Live; I’ll be making my pumpkin cream cheese muffins, hopefully I’ll see you there!
Peanut Butter Fudge Bars
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Layer
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened (113g)
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter (125g) -- do not use natural peanut butter that separates
- ½ cup sugar (100g)
- ½ cup light brown sugar tightly packed (100g)
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ⅓ cup + 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour (180g)
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Fudge layer
- 1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips (255g)
- 1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk (397g)
- 2 Tablespoons butter (28g)
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C)
- Prepare a 9x9 pan by lining with aluminum foil or parchment paper -- use enough so that it hangs over the edge of the pan (this will make it easy to lift the finished bars out of the pan). If using aluminum foil, lightly butter the foil. Set aside.
- In KitchenAid or with electric hand mixer, cream together butter and peanut butter.
- Add sugars and beat sugars until well-combined.
- Add egg and vanilla extract, stir well.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Gradually, on low speed, add flour mixture to peanut butter mixture, pausing occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl.
- Press half of the peanut butter bar batter evenly into the bottom of your prepared pan. Set aside the remaining batter while you prepare your fudge.
Chocolate Fudge
- Combine chocolate chips, condensed milk, and butter in a medium-sized saucepan over medium-low heat.
- Stir frequently until chocolate chips are completely melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract and salt. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.
- Pour chocolate mixture evenly over your prepared peanut butter blondie base.
- Sprinkle fudge with remaining fudge mixture.
- Bake on 350F (175C) for 23-25 minutes. If desired, sprinkle with flaky sea salt while still warm.
- Allow to cool completely before cutting and serving. Because the fudge will need to set, it may need to set as long as 4-6 hours before the fudge is completely firm.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
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Diane Cohen
These are amazing bars, so soft and delicious!!
Jessica
When you say the fudge needs to set, should it set at room temp or in the fridge? I left mine out to cool for about an hr but have now moved it to the fridge for the remaining 4hrs or so. Please let me know if this is right!
Sam
Room temperature is fine, no need to refrigerate 🙂
Shawnna Griffin
hey girl- these look amazing! Y’all have a great weekend!