Blondies are Delicious!

Why are brownies so delicious? I know, this post isn't about brownies, but it's worth considering the question first. Personal opinion: Brownies are delicious because they satisfy certain needs: when done right, they're chocolatey, moist, and just the right kind of chewy. (Maybe some of you prefer your brownies cake-y. That's okay too, I guess) I don't even know. They have this texture that is just absolutely mind-blowing.

I think what I'm trying to say is that sometimes, you want the texture but not so much the taste. Maybe you're not in a chocolate mood. Maybe you're not the biggest fan of chocolate (*cough* *cough*) Either way, a blondie is an excellent alternative. It's like a brownie, but instead of chocolate, you have a nice caramel/butterscotch/brown-sugar flavor. They're deep without being too deep. And you can always add more or fewer chocolate chips to suit your chocolate tastes.

That being said, I decided one day to make blondies. The problem is, I'm a bit crazy, and the house didn't have butterscotch chips. 1 + 1 equals I make my own butterscotch. Let's get to the recipe.

Ingredients!


4 tbsp butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
¾ cup heavy cream

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 egg
vanilla
2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips


Yes, there is a space there in between some of the ingredients. Yes, vanilla is listed twice. This has to do with the whole making-butterscotch-thing. I used the recipe found here, but I'll describe my own experience with the whole process. All the butterscotch recipes I found seemed a little over-dramatic, with their dire warnings of having everything nearby and measured because otherwise you'll burn it all and everything will be ruined forever! As long as you know where the ingredients are, or have already brought them out on the counter, you have time to measure things as you go. Baking is not the LHC. Small errors can and do get lost in the noise. You're fine.

Directions!

Anyway, here we go with the instructions. (Step 0: Preheat your oven to about 350F.) First you're going to want to melt the butter in a medium-size saucepan. (Low to medium heat is fine -- you don't want to be a scorching temperatures) Keep in mind the fact that you will a) be adding a cup of sugar and b) these things like to bubble up well beyond the capacity for bubbling you assumed they had. When your butter is basically melted, toss in the brown sugar and stir it all together. At this point, it resembles something delicious. Resist temptation to eat. It gets better.

Wait for a bit, stirring to make sure you don't scorch the poor thing. It may not look like much, but after a while, the sugar will start to melt and the whole thing will start coming together into one giant mass. When it starts looking more like liquid than, well, sugar soaking in butter (this is a judgement call), you can add the cream. The recipe advises using a whisk at this point and that's a pretty good idea. It'll help incorporate the cream better, but it's not super-essential. Now cook this baby, but not too much. At the maximum, you should be hitting soft-ball stage, but thinner than that is fine. (If you're testing for hardness, feel free to take this moment to sample some of the butterscotch. It's really quite tasty.) Once you're satisfied with the butterscotch, take it off the heat and set it aside to cool for a bit. (I'm a fan of the refrigerator. Anyone else?) We'll need it in a second.

Now, while that's on its way to room temperature, mix together your dry ingredients here: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.You can sift if you're feeling nervous about your flour, otherwise, it's not really worth it. Set that aside.

Is your butterscotch cool yet? Is it? Well, okay, is it hot enough to cook the egg if you put the egg in? Ah, then we have a problem. When you feel the butterscotch has cooled down enough, you're going to want to whisk in the egg and a decent amount of vanilla. (That may be personal preference talking) If the temperature is really a source of worry, and your butterscotch is liquid enough to permit it, I'd say start with mixing the butterscotch into the egg. It's easier to bring the egg up to temperature of the butterscotch because the butterscotch currently has a majority vote. Eitherway, get that egg and vanilla in there.

Then start adding the flour mixture, a little at a time. You should end up with a delicious, medium-light-brown batter Try and keep it as smooth as possible. This recipe advocates sprinkling your chocolate chips on top, but I just mixed them in. They're all really going to end up on the bottom anyway. Do as you see fit. Pour that mixture into a buttered 9x9 pan. (There's really enough butter already in the butterscotch, but just in case) Slide that pan into the oven for 20-30 minutes (keep an eye on it, of course) and voila! blondies made from your own butterscotch. And it wasn't even that hard!

For the record, I doubled (tripled? I don't really remember) the recipe, because I had a bunch of people to feed. Compliments from all quarters. Really tasty with ice cream and even tasty when frozen solid (it was liquid nitrogen ice cream and we had extra LN2).

If you would like a picture, I only have this one of the batter in the pan. The blondies got eaten too quickly to snap any shots in between oven and stomach, so you'll have to deal with the raw goods.


Have fun making and baking!

~Chef G