When Life Hands You Lemons, Bake Something Delicious!

Yesterday, our water was turned off.  Unfortunately, we share the water and waste disposal bill with our upstairs neighbor, and something happened...I'm still not clear what what that was, but this "something" lead to her not paying the bill and us being without water until....Friday-ish??  Suck city.

Since it's nearly impossible to cook without running water (unless you get bottles and bottles of water, but we are trying to ration the water in our purifier jug), I decided to bake.  This means lots and lots of dishes piling up in the sink, but it is totally worth it!

Peanut Butter Blondies (with the much-welcomed addition of dark chocolate chunks):

Ever since I made the original Blondies last week, Alex has been requesting a repeat.  I'm not a fan of making the same exact thing back-to-back, so I found this take in "Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar".  Of course, I added chocolate chunks because that's what I do - add chocolate to any baking recipe that contains peanut butter.  They belong together.  Trust me.

Recipe:
3/4 cup peanut butter  (my absolute favorite pb is Trader Joe's organic no sugar or salt added chunky pb, but use what you like)
1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup non-dairy milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
*3/4 cup chocolate chunks or chocolate chips
1/3 cup peanuts


1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Lightly great an 8x8-inch baking dish.


2. In a mixing bowl, use a fork to vigorously mix together peanut butter, oil, and sugar.  Stir in the nondairy milk and vanilla.  Stir in the flour, salt, and baking powder.  Once you get the flour somewhat mixed in, it's easier to just use your hands to knead the dough.  It's super thick, and won't spread on its own.  Transfer dough to the baking pan and press it into place.  Sprinkle on the peanuts and lightly press them into the top.


3. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes (*it took exactly 25 minutes for my batch to get to the perfect consistency). The edges should just barely darken before you remove them.  The top will appear soft, but that's fine.  Remove the blondies and let cool completely before slicing.  I waited an hour, and should've waited a little longer.  Regardless, they were still delicious.

They have a great texture, and the peanut butter flavor is so strong!  If you're not a true pb lover, just omit the peanut topping or use creamy peanut butter instead of chunky.  This reminded me of my dad's famous peanut butter fudge, so it had that nostalgia factor on top of already being so good.

Alex approves!

These neeeeed to be enjoyed with a glass of milk.  If you're going the vegan route, my favorite drinking milk is Blue Diamond's Almond Breeze in Original (the 60 cal carton).  It's pretty much the closest I have found to dairy milk as far as taste and texture.  

Make sure your water works, because I'm pretty sure it's going to be hell trying to wash these dishes after DAYS of sitting in a dry sink.  ugh...