White Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Blondies

Peppermint is often paired with dark chocolate, but it can be an excellent match for white chocolate, too. White chocolate is creamy and sweet, and can serve as a very nice counterpoint to strong, bright peppermint. This is exactly how these flavors come together in these White Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Blondies. The easy to make bar cookies are buttery, chewy and tender, with a creamy sweetness from white chocolate and a bright flavor of peppermint that pops without overwhelming the other flavors in the bar.

I made the bars with chopped up peppermint bark, Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips (full review coming soon) specifically. Many types of peppermint bark, including the Andes chips that I used, include a bit of chopped up peppermint that gives them a bit of a crunchy texture. This alone will add a subtle hint of crunch to the blondies that give them a little texture, however it’s a much more subtle crunch in a blondie than it is when eaten plain, so I opted to add some sliced almonds to the bars to give them a little more texture. The thin almond slices add crunch and a hint of almond flavor without taking away from the mint or chocolate.

Any peppermint bark – so long as it has white chocolate and a generous amount of peppermint – can work in this recipe, so you can use what you have on hand or any brand that you pick up in the store. If you don’t have peppermint bark, however, you can easily substitute it by combining a few tablespoons of crushed peppermint or candy canes with a cup of white chocolate chips.

White Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Blondies
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup Andes Peppermint Crunch or chopped peppermint bark
1/2 cup sliced almonds, divided

Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8×8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in salt, egg and vanilla extract until well combined. Add in flour and stir until no streaks of dry ingredients remain. Stir in peppermint bark bits and 1/3 cup sliced almonds until they are evenly distributed.
Transfer dough to prepared baking dish and spread into an even layer.
Sprinkle remaining sliced almonds on top.
Bake for about 30 minutes, until bars are set and the edges are just very lightly browned. Cool completely in the pan before slicing.

Makes 16.