Boozy Blondies

Hello again, dear readers. No, I haven’t been to Bora Bora or anything like that.  I’ve been busy at work on an exciting new project.  And when I’m closer to something definite, I will definitely share it with you.  There’s still a lot going on in the bb kitchen, and Novio is not being deprived. My camera and laptop are being somewhat neglected.  I did manage to get to the last FBLA meeting, where the food theme was picnics.  I love blondies and I do a number of variations on the recipe you can find here. But since I knew no children would be present, I decided to shake things up a bit  and add  some rum per Alice Medrich’s Blondies recipe. Rum really livens things up when doing anything chocolate-related.

I just might make a habit of this

I found this recipe in Medrich’s Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-In-Your-Mouth Cookies.  Thank you, once again to Hanni at Spots on Pots, for directing me to this wonderful volume.

The blondies bake in an 8″ square pan. Here’s a simple way to line a pan in foil according to Alice…

Can’t go very far without chocolate and walnuts…

Here’s an interesting and simple procedure…

Begin by melting butter in a saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in all the other ingredients. Forget the bowls with these bars!

Add flour and stir until just incorporated, along with half the walnuts…

Rather than incorporate all the walnuts and chocolate chips into the batter, scatter half the walnuts and all the chocolate chips on top. That gives us a much more nutty and chocolatey taste sensation. I’m not arguing here!

This not-so-boozy brunette will be getting along very well with these boozy blondies.

Boozy Blondies

slightly adapted from Alice Medrich’s Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-In-Your-Mouth Cookies

Ingredients:

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Position rack in center of oven/

Line an 8″ square baking pan with aluminum foil, using the following method: Use a sheet of foil 4″ wider than the bottom of the pan.  Turn the pan upside down and center the foil over it.  Fold the excess over the sides of the pan, score the perimeter and fold and crease the corners over, as though wrapping a gift. Slip liner off the pan.  Turn pan rightside up and insert the liner.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl, and whisk together. (OK, I used a little bowl here, but it wasn’t essential.)

Melt butter in a medium sauce pan.  Remove from heat and stir in brown sugar until melted.  Using a wooden spoon, beat in the egg, vanilla and rum.  Stir in flour mixture followed by half of the walnuts.

Spread batter in the lined baking pan.  Sprinkle the remaining walnuts and then the chocolate chips evenly over the top.

Bake for 20-24 minutes, or until the nuts look toasted, the top is golden brown and the edges have pulled away from the sides of the pan.

Cool blondies in the pan on a rack.

Lift the edges of the foil and transfer to a cutting board. Cut into squares.

Keep in an airtight container for 3-4 days.  Blondies can also be frozen.

Makes 16-20 blondies.

Hurray for Blondie-wood!