Friday, April 2, 2010

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.

22 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

This blondie fanatic is all over your latest recipe! :)

hobby baker Kelly said...

Aha! Sweet. I so definitely have to run to Totem Lake and grab the cookies and make these this weekend. Very fabulous.

Ilva said...

I have been wanting to make Bondies now for a loong time, maybe this is the moment and recipe to use? yes I think so! Happy Easter Lynn!

Cara said...

Those cookies sound like the perfect blondie addition!

Melinda said...

Oh, that is such a good idea! They sound really good to me. I'll let you know when I bake them.

I loved your Simple Bites post about the fear of yeast and Easter bread you made. It was lovely! x

Peabody said...

Those sounds awesome! I love chopping things up and throwing them into baked goods. :)

Unknown said...

Now THAT is what I call a blondie. I think blondies are, by definition, dense and gooey, almost "undone." My favorite! These look great!

Anonymous said...

Oooh they look fantastic -- and creative! We do love TJs, so those maple sandwich cookies could be on the list this week... if only to pulverize them and put them in these yummy blondies!

Anonymous said...
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natalia said...

Wonderful ! Happy Easter !!

grace said...

well, i have to say it might be difficult to keep myself from devouring those cookies straight from the package, but if i could, this is a clever use for them! good thinking, lynn!

Amy @ cookbookmaniac.com said...

Holy Moly, not only are those maple cream filled cookies super-pretty they made the blondies super-tasty. nice one!

Kathleen said...

These sound delicious. You are a very clever gal!

Abby said...

They look perfect! I've never thought to add cookies to brownies - only candy - nice twist! (My husband calls these chewies. He's odd.)

Anonymous said...

This couldn't come at a better time! I baked blondies last week and was seriously disappointed. They were kinda crumbly. Love the heavenly in these blondies. :)

Barbara said...

What a fabulous flavor to add to your blondies! I love maple cream. These look wonderful!

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

The Girl Guides (when I was a Girl Guide..so many years ago) used to sell a Trefoil shaped maple cookie. Dare has the maple leaf shaped ones so these would be delicious in blondies!!

Karen Baking Soda said...

Uhoh.. now we don't have any maple-anything in Holland but I do have some coffee cream filled wafers.. and I happen to love blondies. Hmm do you think the wafers will get soggy clumps in the batter/finished blondies? Guess I have to try!

Unknown said...

Ahhhhh, this looks amazing! I used to love those maple leaf cookies as a kid and haven't had them since. These blondies seem like a good enough reason to buying up a bag!

♥ Vanessa said...

I will definitely be making these, thanks for posting!

Elle said...

Love blondies, perhaps more than brownies (don't tell) and adding crushed sandwich cookies to brownie batter is a great idea which you made even better. Yum!

eatme_delicious said...

Ooo love the idea of crushing up maple sandwich cookies and adding them to blondies!!