The Easiest Blondies Ever

Hi friends, it's your favorite neighborhood baker, Jess.  One of the things I'm always in search of is a quick baked dessert recipe with all pantry items.  You know, sometimes you just want dessert and you  don't want to have to run to the store.  Enter Deb from Smitten Kitchen and her Infinitely Adaptable Blondies.  Once I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it out!

Last weekend, on an uncharacteristically rainy and cold Saturday, I gathered my ingredients.

Not pictured: Vanilla Extract

To get started, melt the butter in a small saucepan.  You could just melt it, or you could be like me, and let it cook for a while and start to get brown.  Nothing beats that caramely browned butter flavor, so it's worth taking the extra time.

Before

After

Let the butter cool off a little bit and pour it into a large bowl.  You're cooling this off just a little so that you don't get brown sugar flavored scrambled eggs.  (Just typing that is gross).  Then, whisk in a cup of brown sugar, vanilla and one egg.

Mix in one cup of flour and 1 1/2 cups of mix-ins.  Deb mentions that you can use whatever mix-ins you have on hand.  I chose chocolate chips and toasted pecans.  Shout out to my Snow Bird in laws, who brought back some pecans from the winter Down South.  See my notes below for other thoughts on great additions.

Press the mixture into a buttered 8x8 glass or metal tray.  It's not going to pour like a usual cookie batter, so you might want to try pressing it down with a spatula or wooden spoon.

Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.  The edges will be golden brown and it will still feel a little soft in the middle.  I think that's part of what makes the good--they're still a little fudgey or doughy in the middle.  I think they'd be too tough if you overbooked them, so keep an eye out.  You can cool and cut them or just let them cool in the pan and cut as you eat them.  Honestly, I think they would keep for about a week covered, but we finished them off within a couple of days.

Notes:

• As I mentioned, Deb says you can mix in just about anything to these babies and create something delicious.  I loved the toasted pecans and chocolate chips, but you could customize these any which way you want.  Some combinations I'd love to try out--
• 1/2 cup peanut butter and 1 cup of chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup dried cherries and 1 cup of dark chocolate chunks
• 1/2 cup salted peanuts, 1/2 cup butterscotch chips and 1/2 cup toasted pecans
• 1/2 cup pistachios, 1/2 cup dried cranberries, 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

• Overbaking is the enemy of a good blondie!  Watch that they don't get too brown because they'll dry out.  Even if you would consider them a little underdone, they're probably ready to go.

• These are pretty rich, so you can serve them in small pieces.  They would be awesome as a quick dessert to take over to someone's house or to serve after a simple dinner party.  Also, kid approved (obviously!).  In fact, our preschooler woke up one morning, examined the pan and asked my husband "why did you and Mama eat two blondies because they're missing from the pan..." Busted. 

• One last serving suggestion would be a blondie sundae.  Quick story--I was once eating dinner at our favorite neighborhood place with my husband and Ry and were gifted a free blondie sundae by our waitress.  Apparently a table had ordered it, mistaking blondies for brownies and no longer wanted it.  A delicious blondie sundae on the house?!  Talk about a win!  We still talk about it months later!   Scoop some old fashioned vanilla ice cream on top and drizzle with caramel and/or chocolate syrup and you're a hero!  

Make these now and thank me later!  Let us know how they are and give us your ideas for mix-in combinations in the comments below!