08 August 2010

Blondies with Milk Chocolate Chips

I need a go to blondie recipe. I went through my bookmarks and felt that the simplicity of these blondies might result in what I wanted. What was the outcome?  I broke my father's camera.


Since I have been seriously thinking about starting this blog (all of two weeks ago) and starting this blog (all of one week ago) I decided that, as with all other baking bloggers, I should start taking pictures of my finished product. While setting up my Blondie pose (that sounds interesting) I found myself with slightly greasy/buttery hands. As I finished up the first round of shots I attempted to turn the camera off. Suddenly the camera leapt from my hands and landed lens first (fully extended of course) on the floor. You know what I got? "Lens error, restart camera". Now, an intelligent person would have washed their hands before handling an expensive piece of electronics, but then again, an intelligent person would have used the wrist strap attached to the camera.

Were the Blondies worth it at least?  
No.  Not because they weren't good, because they were, but simply because I don't normally spend hundreds of dollars on a single baked item :).

What I can tell you is that the blondies had a great top crust, were soft and chewy, and had a very distinctive buttery flavour.  I've tried a bunch of blondie recipes in the past, but I wasn't thrilled about any of them.  Usually more cakey then I like, and I like my blondies the way I like my brownies, dense and chewy.  These ones were pretty close and oddly enough the most simple. However, as with all blondies (and maybe this is just my experience) when given some time to sit they eventually taste like big cookies.  Not that this is a bad thing.  Though it may not have helped that I decided to use Milk Chocolate chips (at my brother's request) as the mix-in for this recipe. Anything would work, but I honestly think that the next time I make these I'm going to use a salted peanut. As I was eating the blondies I definitely felt that this additional texture and taste would be a great compliment.


The only adjustment I made to the recipe was to reduce the sugar by a 1/4 cup. This is something I almost always do when I see a sugar measurement of 1 cup. I'm not a huge fan of sweet, I much prefer rich, so when I see a sugar amount that high for this size recipe I always scale it down. I'm very glad I did, because although not overly sweet, even with the reduction I could probably taste the sugar a little more then I wanted to. Next time I might try to take it even lower or try some honey in part (something I have been fixated on recently).

So I now owe my Father a new camera, but at least I have a reliable Blondie recipe, and a lesson for life: Wrist straps are not for decoration :).

~ Adam

**Note: For updated impressions click here


Blondies with Milk Chocolate Chips
Adapted from Simply Recipes

Recipe yields 9 to 30 blondies (or heck, 1 if you really want :)).

1 cup all purpose flour (I ran out of AP bleached so I used unbleached, 130g)
½ tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda (I scoop and sweep a ¼ tsp, and then dig out half)
¼ tsp salt
½ cup butter, melted (113g)
2/3 cup + 1 tsp packed dark brown sugar (165g)**
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup Milk Chocolate chips or whatever you want (60g)

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 8x8 cake pan (I like to line the pan with aluminum foil and leaving an over hang. It makes it much easier to take out when you're ready to cut).

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips (or what have you).

In a another bowl combine butter and sugar and stir until combined. Stir in egg and vanilla until everything is fully incorporated.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and fold into each other until just combined.

Spoon batter into prepared pan and spread evenly (batter will be quite thick).  Place in oven for 20 – 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean (mine were done in 20).

Wait until completely cooled and cut into 9 – 30 pieces (I cut mine in 30).

**Originally listed as 3/4 cup. ~ Adam (27-10-10)

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