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.

A Blondie By Any Other Name

Today's post is a special request. I made this outside of my regular baking schedule because 1) it gave me and excuse to try another dessert, and 2) the special request came from Veggie Girl, and I think she's awesome.

Veggie Girl is one of the happiest faces in food blogging. When I go to my favorite sites to read and comment she's already been there. And she always finds something positive to say, even if the recipe is just a plate full of meat. Veggie Girl is a vegan and is super creative about veganizing baked goods and giving old recipes a vegan twist. So when she put in a request for blondies, how could I say no? This is not a vegan recipe, so she'll have some experimenting to come up with a vegan cousin to it.


I made these for my daughter's Bible study group. When she was living at home I used to provide a dessert for them almost every week. Sarah makes wonderful meals to take, but she says the dessert end of things has been sadly lacking. When I heard that the bachelor men in the group were bringing packaged grocery store cookies for dessert, my heart was smote. How could I leave this wonderful group of people who'd come and weeded our whole yard before the wedding with no decent dessert?

I took the special request in hand and adapted a couple of recipes to fit the occasion. But there was a problem. Here's the script as related by Sarah:

Group: What's this?

Sarah: It's blondies.

Group: What's a blondie?

Sarah: It's a brownie without the chocolate.

Group (pouting): Oh, no chocolate?

Sarah: It's really good. It's just something different. Just try it. You have a piece with the ice cream on top.

Group: (takes a piece, nibbles indifferently)

Sarah: It's meant to have the ice cream on it.

Group: That's ice cream? I thought it was yogurt. (Takes a scoop of ice cream on a different plate)

Sarah:(getting frantically frustrated) It's ice cream and it's meant to go on top. It's a topping for the blondie. Put the scoop on top of the blondie and eat them together!

Group (gets the idea and eats it as prescribed. Eats more. Clutches stomach and moans): Oh, that was so good. I ate too much.

To avoid further such episodes of confusion, I'm renaming these:



Walnut Bars with Maple Walnut Ice Cream
- adapted from Taste of Home

3/4 cup butter, softened
2 cups packed brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1-1/2 cups toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped

Maple Walnut Ice Cream with Wet Walnuts from The Perfect Scoop
Salted Caramel Sauce from The Perfect Scoop (optional)

1- Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. Grease a 9 x 13-inch pan. If you want to have very tidy squares, line the pan with parchment paper so that it hangs over the edges of the sides. You can use this to lift the bar out of the pan after baking.

2 - In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

3- In a mixing bowl, cream butter and brown sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.

4- Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture. Stir in the toasted walnuts.

5 - Spread the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the middle comes out clean. It might look a bit underdone in the middle, but that's OK. Cool on a wire rack.

6 - When cool, cut into 20 squares. If you put parchment in the pan, lift the blondies out, peel off the paper, and place on a cutting board before cutting.

7 - Serve with a generous scoop of ice cream. You can, of course, use a store bought ice cream, but this ice cream is so amazingly good, you'll be missing out. Drizzling with sauce is a delightful option, but not necessary for enjoyment of this treat. Due to the timing of things, mine was served without.


Note: Even though the pictures bear my watermark, they were taken by my super-talented daughter. Isn't she great?

Indecision Brownies

I am plagued by indecision. I admire those women with absolute certainty in all areas of life who can purchase an entire outfit, including shoes and handbag, in under a half an hour. I am a handwringer, always unsure. Is it the best choice? Might the other one be better?

I'm pitiful when it comes to ordering at a restaurant. I either order something I already know I like, as that eliminates the decision making process, or I'll make the waiter come back 4 more times to ask if I'm ready to order yet. When the "yet" starts sounding a little testy I"ll make a desperate stab at something on the menu, then think as he's walking away, "Oh no, maybe I should have ordered the salad."

Indecision can paralyze me in the kitchen, as well. The question of what to bake - cookies, or muffins? a cake or a pie? - can make me pace back and forth from cookbook to cupboard to cookbook to freezer. And then nothing gets baked. And my family isn't happy.

So, recently when faced with a dilemma of choice, brownies or blondies, I turned to my favorite source of wit and wisdom - movie quotes. In the wonderful movie, Groundhog Day, Bill Murray asks a fellow drunk if he'd like to throw up on the sidewalk or in the car. The drunk cogitates a few moments and says, "I think.....both."



So here I give you Indecision Brownies. The best of both worlds swirled together. It's an easy decision to make.

Indecision Brownies

I recommend that you read through the recipe and have everything measured out and ready to go on the counter. Putting it together is a bit of a juggling act.

3/4 c. unsalted butter, divided
3 oz unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
1/8 tsp salt, plus a pinch
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract, divided
1-3/4 cups cake flour (210 g), sifted and divided
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (optional)
1/2 cup white chocolate chips (optional)

1- Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan. Preheat oven to 350 deg. F.

2- In a medium mixing bowl stir together. 1 cup of the flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/8 tsp salt and white chocolate chips (if using). Set aside.

3- In a large saucepan (#1) over low heat, combine 1/2 cup of the butter and the chopped, unsweetened chocolate. Stir often until melted. Remove from heat.

4- In a medium saucepan (#2) over low heat, melt 1/4 cup of the butter. Remove from heat.

5 - Into saucepan #1 stir in 1 cup granulated sugar and a pinch of salt. Add 2 eggs and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Stir until well blended.

6 - Into saucepan #2 stir in the brown sugar. Add 1 egg and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Stir until well blended.

7 - Sprinkle 3/4 cup of the sifted cake flour over saucepan #1 and stir just till blended. Gently stir in the dark chocolate chips, if using.

8 - Add the contents of the mixing bowl to saucepan #2 and stir till well mixed.

9- Alternate blops of batter from saucepans #1 and #2 into the prepared pan until all the batter is in the pan. Drag a table knife through the batter to marble the batter, being careful to evenly distribute the two batters, but not make a homogenous mixture.

10- Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost completely clean.

11- Transfer to a wire rack to cool. You'll have tidier squares if you wait till it's cool to cut, but if you can't resist, dig in while still warm.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondies

My husband switched groups at work and asked me if I could make something for him to take in to his new co-workers. I had a recipe I'd been wanting to try, so of course I was happy to oblige. I am always up for a brownie, but I wanted to change things up a bit with this delicious blondie, stuffed with vanilla chips and walnuts.

My husband had been introducing his co-workers to my blog so they were anticipating food from the cookie baker. When he brought in the container, eyes lit up, faces perked up, and the blondies vanished in a flash. He reported back that they were appreciated, and that I had one marriage proposal and one offer of adoption.

Since I already have a husband, and I think it's tacky to propose to someone via their own husband, I'll politely decline that offer. Also, I have a wonderful father, so, thank you, no, for the adoption offer.

You can see that having a recipe like this in your arsenal is a powerful weapon. If you want to know how to marry a millionaire, try baking him some of these. They may seem like misfits in a world dominated by brownies, but that makes them stand out. Seriously, even a prince would fall for a showgirl if she was hanging out at the bus stop holding a plate of these.

This is one of those bars that is addictive. My husband was happy to take them to work because if they'd stayed in our house he would have eaten the whole pan. You might find you make a habit of making these often, or just every seven years or so, when the itch strikes. It's just possible, too, that they might lead to a little monkey business, so be careful how you wield this great power!

Gentlemen Prefer Blondies

1 12 oz. bag vanilla chips (or white chocolate)
6 Tbsp butter
3 eggs
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375 deg. F. Line a 9 x 9-inch pan with parchment paper so that the ends of the paper extend over the edges of the pan. This will make it easy to remove the blondies from the pan. Make sure the corners are folded into place.

2. Set a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Place 3-1/2 oz. of the vanilla chips with the butter in the bowl and stir till melted. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool slightly.

3. Put the eggs and light brown sugar into a large bowl and whisk well, then whisk in the melted white chocolate mixture.

4. Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl and gently fold in along with the chopped walnuts, vanilla extract and the remaining vanilla chips. Be careful not to overmix.

5. Spread the mixture out in the prepared pan and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, or until risen and golden brown. The center should be firm to the touch but will be slightly soft until it cools.

6. Remove from the oven to a cooling rack to cool. When the blondies are completely cool, use the parchment paper to carefully lift the whole thing from the pan and set it on a cutting board to slice it into bars.

Notes: I was not thinking when I grabbed a pan to make these and only realized after they'd baked that I'd used an 8 x 8-inch pan. They came out a little taller and a little gooier than the recipe intended, but still delicious. Also, for attractive, evenly sliced bars, be sure to wait till they're completely cool. But if you can't wait, I don't blame you. Some like it hot.

(If you're a Marilyn Monroe fan, tell me in your comment how many references you spotted. There might be a lame prize involved.)