"I'm bringing some brownies tomorrow." [collective swoon from everyone in the room]
"I'm bringing some blondies tomorrow." "Huh?! What's that?"
Do these two scenarios sound familiar? Even if you don't like chocolate, most people in North America know what a brownie is and its reputation of decadence. I often think it's unfortunate that its butterscotch counterpart does not receive as much recognition. The truth is, there are many fans of butterscotch out there and it's about time blondies become more popular.
I sometimes explain to people that blondie is just a brownie minus the chocolate. I have to admit that's not particularly effective because what's left if there's no chocolate? The main building blocks for blondies is brown sugar and butter and eggs to create a rich, soft, chewy bar cookie with deep butterscotch flavour. However, to non-bakers, these three ingredients together sound more like a grocery shopping list than a recipe for deliciousness. I think I should just stick with "rich, soft, chewy bar cookie with deep butterscotch flavour". It's amazing how baking can transform such humble ingredients.
I recently purchased America's Test Kitchen Holiday Cookies 2010 Special Issue (on newstand right now!) and was immediately drawn to the Peanut Butter Blondies recipe. A basic blondie is a great base to let the imagination run wild. Peanut butter and salted roasted peanuts add much welcomed nutty richness and salty crunch. Instead of peanut butter chips or chocolate chips, I studded mine with mini Reese's peanut butter cups that I bought at Hershey's Chocolate World. Each of these baking pieces is a miniscule version of the Reese's peanut butter cup complete with peanut butter filling and milk chocolate coating...only as big as my pinky fingernail! They are absolutely adorable and they are extinct. That's right, at last check, Hershey's no longer make these baking pieces so get them while you can. If you're in Canada, lucky for you, President's Choice has a very similar product in their holiday 2010 product line.
Bar cookies is a baker's best friend when it comes to busy (and often frantic) holiday baking. I love the dramatic black and white look when I tile brownies and blondies together in cookie assortments. Come back on Sunday and I'll show you the brownie which perfectly matches this blondie in height.
This is part of my holiday gift 2010 series. See what other goodies I came up with this year!
