No trick to these treats

Well, Halloween is over, so hopefully my girls will settle down a little bit before they start getting all worked up about Christmas.  I can hope, right?  Even after 12 years in Texas, I'm still not really used to the fact that it's not really cold for Halloween.  I can remember, as a kid, trying to fit sweaters under my Halloween costume so I wouldn't freeze to death.  I think there's only been one year since Brianna started trick-or-treating that it was actually chilly enough that she needed a sweater or jacket.  We certainly didn't this year--it was probably about 75ºF out when we headed out just after dark.  We didn't stay out long, though, since I was still getting over the cold I've had for the past week.  Even so, both girls came home with quite a bit of candy.  J said it was a somewhat slow night for handing out candy, too, so we actually had some left over.  I picked all the Almond Joys out of the bag and took them to work (no need for coconut in this house!), but still have some good stuff to eat, without having to swipe candy from my children. =)  They're getting old enough where they might actually notice if all the peanut butter cups disappear without them eating any...

In the midst of all the Halloween excitement and sugar, I almost forgot about this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe.  Which would have been a shame, since it has the wonderful combination of chocolate and peanut butter.  Nicole of Bakeologie picked the Peanuttiest Blondies for us to make this week.  I actually didn't make a lot of changes for a change.  I did leave out the cinnamon, since I don't like it with chocolate.  And my girls don't like nuts in things, so I substituted peanut butter chips for the chopped peanuts.  I lowered my oven temp to 325ºF since I was using a dark pan, and ended up baking my blondies for 45 minutes.

The verdict?  Well, I took a bunch of these to work, and they were devoured in no time, so I think they were a hit. =)  I really like them, too, and so does J.  I just realized that B&G haven't tried them, since they've been so preoccupied with all the candy.  So I guess I'll just have to make them again. 

Nicole has the recipe on her blog.  And to see what everyone else thought of this week's recipe, check out the Links.  I leave you with a picture of my trick-or-treaters.  I'm convinced that Brianna still wants to dress up as a princess, but doesn't want to admit it because it's not cool for a second-grader to dress up as a princess...

Belle and her sister, the Bride of Darkness