Blondies

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Hubby and I decided to send baked goods to our moms on Mother’s Day this year. Of course I was happy to help. I wanted to make something that would travel well and (of course) something I’ve never made. Since we were preparing for our kitchen renovation at the time, I also wanted to use up some of the random half bags of cookie mix ins.

Blondies fit my requirements perfectly. This blondie recipe is pretty well known. I made one batch with just dark chocolate M&Ms and another batch with some white chocolate chips, toffee bits, and chopped walnuts. Both batches turned out great and the one with the white chips turned out better than I expected. That combination of mix-ins tasted like butterscotch.

Blondies – from Blonde Ambition in the Kitchen

6-7 TBS butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder (optional, creates lighter blondie texture)

“Add in” (see below)

Preheat oven to 350.
Line an 8×8 pan with foil and lightly spray with PAM.
In a large microwave safe mixing bowl melt the butter. Allow to cool for 5 mintues. Mix the brown sugar with the melted butter and beat until smooth. Beat in egg and then vanilla. Add salt, stir in flour and baking powder (if using). Mix in any additions (some ideas below).

Pour into prepared pan and use a greased spatula to evenly spread mixture in pan and level the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until set in the middle. (I baked for 22 minutes)Cool on rack before cutting.

Add in ideas:
1/2 to 1 cup chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, white chocolate or butterscotch chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans, walnuts, almonds
1/2 cup M&M candies1/2 chopped Reese’s PB cups
1/4 cup toffee pieces
1/2 tsp mint extract in addition to, or in the place of vanilla extract

Bars and Brownies, Dessert

9 comments »

11 Responses to “Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Bars”

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stephchows — October 27, 2009 at 2:26 pm

mmm they look so super moist!
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2

Cupcake Activist — October 27, 2009 at 4:11 pm

Yum! Those look really good! I’ve never tried white chocolate with pumpkin.
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3

nutmegnanny — October 28, 2009 at 1:41 am

Wow white chocolate and pumpkin! What a delicious combination…yum!
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4

Erin — October 28, 2009 at 2:02 am

I made those last year, and MAN OH MAN aren’t they good!
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5

Sweet and Savory — October 28, 2009 at 4:01 am

I have in the oven, a chocolate-pumpkin streusel brownie. Now, I want to make this too.

You have great recipes. Thanks.
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6

The Novice Chef — October 28, 2009 at 4:03 am

These look delicious! And I totally do not blame you for having a couple before taking them to give away!
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bridget {bake at 350} — October 31, 2009 at 12:44 pm

I love that you ate 2 while you were cutting them! 🙂 That sounds familiar!

They look wonderful!
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Tessa — October 31, 2009 at 5:33 pm

These are the same bars I made, but I added cinnamon chips per recommendation from Maria at Two Peas in their Pod. They were great! Glad to see they turned out well for you too!
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Ingrid — November 2, 2009 at 7:05 pm

I totally agree I’m not crazy about chocolate and pumpking together. Another great flavor with pumpkin (in my opinion) is gingerbread.

I’m definitely adding this to my list of pumpkin recipes that will be baked from here until the kiddos say no more! 🙂
~ingrid
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10

Jade — November 3, 2009 at 10:13 pm

I love making bars. These look amazing. I will definety try these soon!
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Jessica — October 29, 2010 at 1:21 pm

I made these last night to take tailgating at a college football game tonight and they are SO yummy! I used semisweet chips instead of white chocolate, but I bet they’d be good either way! I’m Really glad you warned that the mixture might look like it curdled after adding in the pumpkin, because I think it would have freaked me out and I would have thought I did something wrong!