Something about blondies really gets my motor humming. I love brownies, and I really love chocolate chip cookies. But put a thick-cut blondie in front me and suddenly I go as wild as an ape. A blondie is like a chocolate chip cookie but, like, more of it. That’s my kind of 500-calorie snack.
With that in mind, it only makes sense that I would try to bake my own blondies, so that I might gorge on them whenever I see fit. I started off on my blondie journey by just using regular chocolate chip cookie dough, spreading it evenly inside a Pyrex dish. Then I moved onto Smitten Kitchen’s blondie recipe. Smitten Kitchen recipes are almost always money in the bank, but I wasn’t quite satisfied with the results of this one. They were a little too dense to scratch my blondie itch. But Smitten Kitchen author Deb Perelman said to tinker with her recipe, so I did. A lot. Because we lack a JUMP TO RECIPE button here at Defector, I’ll blow past the rest of my thinking process so that you don’t get all pissy. Let’s get right to the good shit. This makes 24 bars.
INGREDIENTS:
-1 stick butter, melted and browned (see directions)
-1 egg
-1 tbsp vanilla
-1 cup brown sugar, packed
-1/2 tsp baking soda
-1/2 tsp baking powder (which is different from baking soda, don’t ask me why)
-1 tsp flaky sea salt, plus extra for sprinkling on top
-1 cup flour
-1 cup chocolate chips
-3/4 cup oats
-1/2 cup ground pecans (I put chopped pecans in a bag and crush them with a rolling pin)
-1/2 jar Luxardo cherries, with syrup
DIRECTIONS:
-Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Grab a large rectangular baking dish and coat the inside with cooking spray.
-Place the stick of butter in a saucepan and melt it on medium heat. After the stick has melted, keep it on the heat and continue stirring the butter until it starts bubbling and doing all kinds of crazy shit. After a while (longer than you’ll want to wait), you’ll see little brown flecks appear on the bottom of the saucepan. Great success. Using a rubber spatula, transfer the browned butter, bits and all, to a mixing bowl and let cool (again, longer than you’ll want to wait).
-Dump the egg, vanilla, and sugar into the cooled butter and stir it all up.
-Now mix in the baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
-Now mix in the flour until a dough forms.
-Add in the oats, ground pecans, and chocolate chips and stir until they’re mixed completely. Now is a good time to grab a small hunk of the dough out of the bowl and eat it. You know, to make sure it’s good.
-Dump in the cherries and syrup and stir until evenly mixed. Luxardo cherries ain’t cheap, so sub in whole dried cherries if you prefer. Personally speaking, I like-a the juice.
-Dump the dough into the greased Pyrex dish and spread it out evenly.
-Toss in the oven for 25 minutes and bake until the center of the blondies are cooked through. I use my finger to conduct this test, because I don’t believe in the toothpick method.
-Remove from the oven and let cool (one more time, longer than you’ll want to wait).
-Eat.
There you have it. Share them with no one.
