Pay Day Blondies carry on theme

I had a little trouble narrowing the focus of today’s cover story. Should I write about recipes inspired by our favorite candy bars or recipes featuring our favorites?

Eventually I settled on recipes that use candy as a central ingredient, which tied in nicely with Halloween.

Happy Halloween, by the way. May your day be filled with lots of treats and only fun-spirited tricks.

But before I made up my mind regarding the focus of the story, I developed this recipe for Pay Day Blondies. It is simply too good not to share. It was a huge hit with my family and my co-workers.

If you like Pay Day candy bars, you’ll love this blondie.

Pay Day Blondies

For the base:

½ cup butter

1 ½ cups packed dark brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking

powder

½ teaspoon salt

For the topping:

3 cups miniature marshmallows

2/3 cup light corn syrup

¼ cup butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 cups peanut butter chips 2 cups salted peanuts Coarse salt, for sprinkling

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with parchment paper, leaving plenty of overhang.

In a small saucepan over low heat, melt butter and add brown sugar. Stir constantly until sugar is completely moistened and mixture begins to bubble. Pour mixture into medium mixing bowl; cool. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Beat into egg mixture. Pour batter into prepared baking pan. Bake about 25 minutes, until firm to touch. Remove from oven and sprinkle with miniature marshmallows. Return to oven for 1 to 2 minutes or until the marshmallows begin to puff. In a saucepan over medium heat, cook corn syrup, ¼ cup butter, vanilla and peanut butter chips until melted. Remove from heat and stir in the salted peanuts. Spoon mixture over top of marshmallow layer and spread to cover. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Cool completely before serving. The bars will be easier to cut if allowed to set overnight. Makes 24 servings.