Lately, I have been absolutely addicted to blondies. I considered myself to be a brownie fan more than a blondie fan since childhood, but after all of my experimentation with developing variations of blondie recipes, I fell utterly in love with blondies. Blondies have a distinctive brown sugar flavor which caramelizes beautifully when baked in the oven. When I made my chai tea blondies a couple weeks ago, I could not stop myself from eating them. The next thing I knew, I already ate five pieces. I had to pack the blondies away in the refrigerator to keep myself from reaching for yet another piece. The best part about the blondies was they stayed moist, soft, and delectable even after a few days in the refrigerator. I couldn’t seem to get the flavor of my chai tea blondies out of my mouth after I finished the last piece. A few weeks later, my cravings for blondies struck again. This time, I ended up making some blondies in its most basic form. My basic brown sugar blondies made for the perfect dessert to celebrate my nine year anniversary with Kevin. Nine years ago, Kevin and I met through our mutual friend, Xin. Since 2010, I’ve made a variety of desserts to celebrate the day Kevin and I started dating. As my love for baking and cooking grew, Kevin’s appetite for certain treats also grew. He has become an instant fan of blondies over the last month. It seems like he has also converted from a brownie fan to a blondie fan. When making my blondies, I folded in white and semisweet chocolate chips into the batter right before baking to make the blondies more decadent. As the blondies were baking in the oven, my kitchen filled with the most wonderful buttery caramel aroma. Cooking and baking in the kitchen always seem to work as the perfect method to help me destress after a long week of work and classes. This week has been filled with projects, assignments, readings, and a prep conference call (to discuss an upcoming group presentation). Being able to step away from work and classes to bake helped me refocus my thoughts and provided a good break for me before next week rolls around.
Brown Sugar Blondies:
· ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
· 1 cup light brown sugar
· ½ cup granulated sugar
· 2 eggs
· 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
· 1 cup all-purpose flour
· ½ teaspoon baking powder
· ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
· ½ cup white chocolate chips
· ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8 x 8 baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
2) In a large bowl, combine the unsalted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition. Stir in the vanilla extract. Fold in the flour, baking powder, and salt until the ingredients are just combined. Fold in the white chocolate chips and semisweet chocolate chips.
3) Pour the batter into the parchment lined 8 x 8 baking pan. Use a spatula to smooth out the top. Place the baking pan in the oven for 35-40 minutes, until the blondies are golden brown and baked through.
Takeaways: The basic brown sugar blondies are amazing on their own. You can also add in some toasted pecans, walnuts, and/or dried cranberries for yet another variation to the blondies. White chocolate and dried cranberries are always a good combination. Toasted pecans or walnuts with chocolate chips make for an equally good combination. Test out different combinations to find your favorite.