Classic soft and gooey blondie bars, with chocolate chips in every bite – just the way a blondie should be!
I know…
You’re wondering about the title.
It’s really my friend’s fault.
When I brought the blondies to a party on Friday night and people were going crazy for them, she said it was clear the blondies had seductive powers. This sparked a conversation over other things with seductive powers… and soon the blondies were being compared to hot fudge sundaes, Tollhouse cookie dough, Ben & Jerry’s, George Clooney, and Ryan Reynolds. I was told that if I ever posted the recipe on the blog, I had to call then Ryan Reynolds blondies.
So here we are.
(Hopefully if he ever happens to somehow stumble across this post, he will be flattered and not think it’s too crazy!)
Unlike Ryan Reynolds, these chocolate chip blondies are not married… meaning you can keep them all to yourself. And trust me, you’re going to want to keep them all to yourself – they are so soft and gooey, with rich chocolate in each seductive bite. You also don’t have to compete with Blake Lively for their affection, which is good because it would be kind of impossible, because she’s kind of perfect.
The recipe was adapted from my Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars, only these make a much larger batch, and the amount of sugar has almost been cut in half… yet they are still somehow just as good!
(See the video, above)
Of course there’s a video too, because there had to be a video. You need to see the blondie-making in action.
Call them whatever you’d like, but definitely be sure that you try these blondies!
The bars are or can be egg-free, dairy-free, vegan, gluten-free, paleo, keto, and refined-sugar-free. If you need them to be nut-free, just swap out the peanut butter for your favorite allergy-friendly alternative, such as sunflower butter or pumpkin seed butter.
If you make them, feel free to tag me on Instagram, @ChocolateCoveredKatie, so I can see and like your photos!
Ryan Reynolds Blondies
Ryan Reynolds Blondie Bars!
Ingredients
- 2 cups peanut butter OR allergy-friendly sub
- 1/2 cup applesauce
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup flour, such as oat, white, spelt, sorghum, or even almond
- 1 tbsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup sugar, unrefined if desired (or xylitol for sugar-free)
- 1/2 cup or more chocolate chips – I used 1/2 cup in the batter, plus more on top
- up to 1/2 cup milk of choice, as needed
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 9×13 pan with parchment. Stir together all ingredients to form a batter (see the video above if you want to watch the bars being made). Add milk of choice to achieve a cookie-dough-like batter – the amount needed will depend on the flour and type of nut butter you use. Smooth batter into the pan. If desired, press more chocolate chips on top. Bake 15-20 minutes on the center rack. They’ll look way underdone – let them cool for at least an hour, during which time they firm up, and they firm up even more overnight (covered loosely on the counter).
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Now I need to make some Orlando Bloom or Joe Manganiello brownies 😉 haha, I love the story of the name of this recipe! These blondies do indeed look seductive, but they will ALL be mine!
Too funny!
Oh wow, sorghum is an option too?! I’ve been looking for a recipe to use sorghum in, thanks! And obviously these look divine 🙂
you have the best blog name! i love it!
I made these yesterday morning so they’d be ready by dinner time. Oh wow are they good! I can see why they are called Ryan Reynolds blondies now! 🙂
These were so good. I used powdered peanut butter mixed with water. Also I cut the recipe in one-fourth and put it in two little pans since it’s just me. They firmed up enough to eat after 20 minutes. I can see bringing these to a potluck. Love the recipe.
Katie, I love the story and really enjoy films with George Clooney and Ryan Reynolds! Who can forget some sweet Orlando Bloom and Leonardo DiCaprio…and I enter my cougar years I love seeing Zac Efron! So…perhaps I made a poor peanut butter choice because I literally grabbed the ‘cheap stuff’ my husband uses in his bear bait food mix. I used oat flour. Coconut sugar, unrefined…trying to counteract the garbage peanut butter choice! LOL Last night the pan was super watery, probably oily. Today they seem to have more shape, but they look more like ice cream topping than able to cut nicely as shown in your beautiful pictures. Not that I’m complaining…nothing like a good topping to some plain ice cream! What flour thickens it a bit more, and which type peanut butter do you use?
ps…I did double the recipe and cooked it in my BIG casserole pan.
Thanks for always keeping me in my chocolate!
I think in your case it is probably because of doubling the recipe, not a flour choice. Doubling a recipe does not always work just by doubling every ingredient. For example, Katie had to change the sugar amount, milk amount, and the baking time from her original chocolate chip peanut butter bars in order to get a good result. Katie’s tried all of the flours listed, and I’ve personally tried the oat, spelt, and a white flour version. I think my favorite was the spelt version. But the peanut butter should not matter either. In any case I think your photo looks delicious!
Hmm.. I made these with Oat flour, half the sugar in the form of honey and coconut oil because I didn’t have apple sauce. Milk was not needed because of the liquid substitutes, but I would say that the peanut butter to flour ration is very off – they are GOO-EY. Basically just peanut butter mixed with sugar! They’ve been sitting out for 3 hours and haven’t settled anymore, hopefully they will firm up the longer they stick but if I make these again I would definitely add more flour.
You replaced a solid ingredient (sugar) with extra liquid, so of course yours turned out gooey. Granulated sugar and honey are not the same thing and can’t be substituted in a one to one ratio in baked goods
I am not trying to be rude, but I am amazed by this comment. It’s thanks to your substitution that the recipe didn’t work, and it isn’t Katie’s fault.
As long as you’re okay with the possibility of an unexpected result, feel free to make substitutions with any of Katie’s recipes. But if you want to not risk it, it’s always best to try the recipe as written, at least the first time so that you can see how they’re supposed to turn out. Hopefully your bars still taste good!
Swapping applesauce for coconut oil is unlikely to be a good choice as cooking apple sauce will thicken it, cooking coconut oil will just make it thinner. Also the honey instead of sugar again is an issue as others have already pointed out.
I made them with oat flour and almond butter and will definitely make them again. Five stars
Thank you so much for this recipe Katie!
I am my kids and all of their friends’ favorite person after making these and serving them to a group of hungry teenagers who could not devour the blondies fast enough! None of them were vegan, but that didn’t seem to stop them! Thank you for another terrific recipe 🙂
these are so good! i cut the recipe in half and it worked perfectly. some things i will do differently next time…i will use mini chocolate chips and i think they would still taste really good if i cut the amount of sugar. thank you for another great dessert!
I commented earlier about making a half recipe with almond butter, no sugar, no chocolate, with raisins. This time I made a half batch with chocolate chunks, a little over half the indicated sugar, and commercial peanut butter, with my granddaughters assisting. I baked the blondies for 12 minutes. These turned out great and yummy. As another commenter mentioned, I would use mini chips next time for better chocolate distribution. Not doing so was my bad call. What a fabulous, flexible recipe.