Crap... Valentine's Day is coming up. I already know what I'm going to give my boyfriend gift-wise, but what in the world am I going to bake for this kid? I already did the whole red velvet cake thing for his birthday, and he already got the Napoleon he has been begging me for... But seriously, what else does this picky-eater like? I think that with him, the best solution would be for me to bake something I know he already likes, rather than to try something new. He's just too set in his stubborn ways where he lives in this illusional world where it's okay to say you hate chocolate (yet devour my brownies) and that you don't like cookie dough (yet refuse to eat overbaked cookies).
If you didn't read the title, then you'd probably think I was making cookie dough batter right now, right?
Au contraire- I am baking him his beloved blondies... But this time I'd doing it right.
The previous two times I baked this recipe, I half-assed it and I broke many baking commandments along the way. First and foremost- Always toast your nuts! This goes hand in hand with toasting your coconut. (Oh, and I should mention that by half-assing it, I mean that I totally omitted these two ingredients because either I didn't have them or I just didn't want to waste precious nuts. Well my baby is getting the lavish treatment now!)
Rule #2: Get the right sized equipment! Sheesh, only now, after how many months of baking, did I finally invest in a 9x13 inch baking dish? Meanwhile, I've been using either a 9x13 pyrex or a 9x9 inch baking dish when I could have easily gone out and bought the damn thing so the recipes wouldn't have came out weird. I digress... Rule #3: Always show your baby some love (Do you get it... I'm using a heart shaped cookie cutter?).
I can proudly say that I did not break one baking commandment; and I would swear it over the baking bible if I could.
If you're like me, and if pictures are worth 1,000 words, then all you'd hear in your head is "omfg" 1,000 times over. Honestly though, tell me this blondie does not look delicious.
Somewhere along the lines of me slicing these blondies, I realized that I could no longer eat tiny cute little heart shaped pieces. No- I could not eat these and be dainty and cute at the same time... I needed thick rectangular chunks of these blondies... in my mouth... now.
Out the window went my original idea of adorable delicate blondies, and in came these thick-gooey-chewy-chocolaty-crunchy-melty-warm (yes I microwave them before I eat one... I microwave almost anything) blondies.
Don't fret- I saved the extra scraps from the few heart shaped blondies I made. To be continued...
---RECIPE---
Taken from Baking Bites.
ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1+1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup bittersweet/semi-sweet chocolate chips (semi-sweet)
1 cup butterscotch chips or toffee bits (replaced with white choclate chips, of course)
1 cup chopped pecans (walnuts, toasted)
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut (toasted)
directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer), cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, waiting until each is fully incorporated to add the next, then beat in the vanilla.
4. With the mixer on low, gradually add in the flour mixture, stirring only until no streaks of flour remain. Stir in the chips, nuts and coconut by hand.
5. Spread batter into prepared pan, using a lightly greased spatula to even it out.
6. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a tester comes out with only a few crumbs. Cool blondies in the pan, but turn them out (and then reinvert them so the top is facing up) before slicing into 32 bars.
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