Peanut Butter Brownies

November is peanut butter lovers month, now that is a holiday I can celebrate all month long!! It is no secret that I.LOVE.PEANUT.BUTTER. Actually, I love nut butter period. I have a cabinet of nut butters. Some people have a shoe addiction, well apparently I have a nut butter addiction. 

I started making these peanut butter bars back in high school and I've improved the recipe a lot over the years. One of my best friends, and lupus sister, loves these peanut butter bars. I recently made these for her and she continues to give them two thumbs up. The best thing about these bars, besides the peanut butter, is the macros. There's only 12 grams of carbs per bar and 5 grams of protein!

Peanut Butter Bars

• 1/3 cup Smart Balance light buttery spread with flaxseed, softened
• 2/3 cup zero calorie sweetener (can sub coconut or cane sugar)
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 6 Tablespoons liquid egg whites (can sub 2 eggs)
• 1 cup Jif creamy peanut butter (can sub any nut butter)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 Tablespoons water
• 1 cup gluten free all purpose flour (can sub whole wheat or all purpose flour)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• OPTIONAL: chocolate chips

In a large mixing bowl combine zero calorie sweetener, brown sugar, gluten free flour, baking powder, and baking soda.

Add in softened butter, egg whites, vanilla, and water. Stir until batter begins to form- be patient it takes some stirring and muscle. 

Once batter begins to form, add in the peanut butter. The peanut butter will make the batter hard to stir, so you can heat up the peanut butter for 20 seconds to soften it. 

Stir in the peanut butter into the batter until the batter becomes thick and all ingredients are combined.

Lastly, add in chocolate chips if using. 

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. 

Line a 9x9 pan with tinfoil- you don't have to line the pan but it makes clean up easier and makes it easier to lift the bars out- spray with nonstick cook spray or coconut oil. 

Spread batter in pan. Make sure to even spread the batter so the dough bakes evenly. Press a few chocolate chips onto the top of the dough if desired.

Bake at 350F degrees for 30-35 minutes. Check bars to see if bars are done by inserting a toothpick in the dough. If the toothpick comes out clean the bars are done, if not bake for an additional 3 minutes and check again.

Allow the bars to cool before lifting tinfoil from pan and cutting the bars. Store bars in an airtight container. 

Nutrition per bar (based on 16 bars):

MACROS: 12C/10F/5P

Nutrition Facts
Servings 16.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 147
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 10 g	15 %
Saturated Fat 2 g	9 %
Monounsaturated Fat 1 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg	0 %
Sodium 286 mg	12 %
Potassium 11 mg	0 %
Total Carbohydrate 12 g	4 %
Dietary Fiber 2 g	7 %
Sugars 8 g
Protein 5 g	10 %
Vitamin A	5 %
Vitamin C	0 %
Calcium	1 %
Iron	4 %