Blondies!

Buttery, chewey, delicious blondies.  YUM. 

See what I mean? (and I don't know what happened to the one on the top...)

I came across a recipe for bondies, tried it, liked it, changed it! ;) I can't help it! This is a really easy recipe...one for which I do NOT want to know that calorie count.  Heck, I don't want to know the calorie count for anything I eat.  I'm a firm believer that things just don't taste as good if you are well informed of nutritional content.  I have had a recipe for blondies for a while (that I can't find...sad) but it calls for cream cheese and several ingredients.  Aaaand it is rather expensive to make, and makes a large batch...which in all honesty, I can handle the large batch part. :)  I enjoy inexpensive recipes that I can whip up with pantry items, though.  This recipe is one of those.  I think that's a good and a bad thing.  I can't tell you how many times I was craving it and whipped a batch up on the spot.  My jeans might not appreciate that.  On to the recipe!

Blondies
ingredients
1 1/2 stick salted sweet cream butter (I usually use unsalted, but love the flavor the salted gives these!)
1 1/2 c dark brown sugar
1 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

directions
Preheat oven to 350.   In small-medium saucepan, melt butter and brown sugar.  Cook about 5 minutes or so over medium heat (lower if needed-you don't want to boil this), until sugar is melted-stirring often. Set aside to cool slightly.  In medium bowl, wisk together flour, salt, and baking powder.  In a large bowl, wisk together eggs and vanilla.  Add small amount of butter/sugar mixture while wisking to temper the eggs.  (Don't add too much at first, or you will scramble the eggs. Yuck)  Slowly pour in the remaining butter/sugar mixture, wisking the whole time.  Once well incorporated, wisk in the flour mixture, just until incorporated. Don't over mix!  At this point, you can stir in anything you like...macadamia nuts would be incredible, dried cranberries, white chocolate chips...you get the idea.  Do what feels right. :)  Grease and flour (or spray) an 8x8 baking dish. (Next time, I'm going to try muffin tins, and make blondie cups.)  Pour the batter into the dish.  You can bake plain ( like the one in the left of the picture) or swirl somthing yummy in.  My favorite is Nutella.  I dropped small balls of Nutella about 1 1/2 inches apart and used a knife to swirl it through the batter.  Peanut butter would also be delicious!  Bake for about 30 minutes.  The top will be nice and golden!

My husband doesn't like Nutella-GASP-I know, right? I still love him tremendously though. So, when I make these, I don't swirl Nutella throughout...just on half. 

*baking tip-use room temperature eggs when baking.  When all of your ingredients are the same temperature, it will turn out so much better! You can set them out on the counter for a while, or to speed things up a bit, place the eggs in a bowl of warm-NOT HOT-water.

Cool slightly and enjoy!