Heavenly Blondies

One thing food blogging has done for me is make me more willing to experiment in the kitchen. I take inspiration from cookbooks, magazines, and other food blogs and see how I can twist a recipe to make it my own.

Recently my sister came up for a visit and together we made a recipe she'd had bookmarked since December, brownies with peppermint cookies crushed up in them. They were really good. But I didn't want to blog them since I hadn't done anything different with them.

After my sister went home, though, my glance lit on a box of cookies my son had successfully begged for at Trader Joe's, Maple Cream Sandwich cookies. Hmmm, maybe I could crush those up and put them in....blondies!

I roughly chopped the cookies and stirred them into the batter of browned butter blondies. The flavors went together perfectly. I underbaked my blondies just a tad, so they sank in the middle when they cooled, but that gave the blondies a fudgy texture. The cookies sort of melted into the batter giving unexpected subtle bits of maple cream. I(f you don't happen to have a Trader Joe's near you, I'm sure you could use a different brand of Maple Cream-filled Sandwich cookie.)

My expert panel of taste testers said, "Holy moley, these are good! What's in them? Can I have another? Pleeeease?"


Heavenly Blondies

1-1/4 cups (2-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 tsp salt
2 cups packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2-1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
10 oz roughly chopped Maple Cream-filled Cookies (about 12 cookies)
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1- Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. Line a 9 x 13-inch pan with aluminum foil, leaving foil hanging over all the edges. Butter the foil and dust with flour.

2- In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the butter until it turns golden brown. It will bubble and froth up, then subside. Remove from heat and set it aside to cool.

3- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

4- In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine browned butter and both sugars; stir with a wooden spoon until combined. Attach bowl to mixer and add eggs. Using the paddle attachment, beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and beat to combine. Add the flour mixture, stirring till combined, then gently stir in the chopped cookie bit and the walnuts. Pour into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a spatula.

5- Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes (do not overbake!). Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Using the foil overlap as handles, take the blondies out of the pan and transfer to a cutting board. Cut the blondies into squares.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, although you shouldn't be surprised if they don't last that long.