Blondies

I can’t take any credit for this recipe, except perhaps in the faithful execution and judicious sampling of said blondies. This one comes from smittenkitchen.com, which offers a lot of excellent breakfast and dessert recipes. She shares recipes for other meals, but I just don’t pay those much attention.

I think I’ve always known that blondies could be great, but more often than not, whatever you find in a store or bakery is just ok. With this recipe, I could tell something special was coming together when I was adding the chocolate and nuts to the batter. It was such a lovely caramel color from the dark brown sugar and shiny with browned butter. You really should make these and take them to a gathering or invite friends over. But you should probably avoid being alone with a big plate of them.

Technically speaking, you could swap out the chocolate for dried fruit, or use other nuts, or even white chocolate, and you could even skip browning the butter … and I’m sure those are all fine and good options. But the combo of semi-sweet chocolate and toasted pecans won over everyone at my house, including my 7 year old who said “show it to me” before she would agree to having a piece in her lunch box!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup or 1 stick butter, melted and browned
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 – 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup toasted and chopped pecans
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks
• flaky salt for sprinkling on top of the batter

Steps:

1. Butter or grease an 8×8 pan.
2. Melt the butter and brown it gently by swirling it and watching carefully to avoid letting it burn.
3. Mix melted butter with brown sugar and beat until smooth. Beat in egg and then vanilla.
4. Stir in flour and salt, and then mix in pecans and chocolate.
5. Pour into prepared pan and sprinkle with flaky salt.
6. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The top will have a shiny and slightly crackled appearance.
7. Let cool for 10 mins. and cut into squares.

Author: cardamomandcreme

I like to bake, garden, pick fruit, hike, and share good meals with friends and family! You can also follow my food adventures on Instagram @cardamomandcreme View all posts by cardamomandcreme