Blondies

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter, melted
• 1 cup (220g) tightly packed dark brown sugar or 40g of molasses and 180g of granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup (128 g) all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup (60 g) butterscotch chips

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Lightly butter and flour an 8x8 inch pan
3. Whisk together the melted butter and sugar in a bowl.
4. Add the egg and vanilla extract and whisk
5. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and mix
6. Add butterscotch chips
7. Bake for 18 to 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean
8. Cool and cut into squares

You can substitute chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, or white chocolate chips for the butterscotch. You can add nuts, too. Or a tablespoon of orange zest, coffee extract or powdered coffee, a half teaspoon of cinnamon. To get softer bars, use cake flour instead of all-purpose flour. Consider topping with caramel icing.

To make a double batch, double the recipe and use a 9x13 inch pan. Extend the baking time to 25 to 30 minutes.

Notes

You can make dark brown sugar by adding two tablespoons of molasses to a cup of granulated sugar. According to https://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/food-volume-to-weight, molasses is 21 grams per tablespoon. Also, a cup of granulated sugar is 200 grams. So, if I add 40 grams of molasses to 180 grams of sugar, I'll get 220 grams of dark brown sugar.

You can also make blondies with honey instead of brown sugar. My son calls those "platinum blondies" because they are lighter in color. According to the same place honey has the same density as molasses, so I can just add 40 grams of honey to 180 grams of sugar and get something that's a lot like dark brown sugar.

There is some question about the temperature to use. When I have 350 degrees on my oven thermometer, it takes much longer to cook than it says at Simply Recipes. 35 to 40 minutes for a single batch or 40 to 50 for a double batch. I suspect that the temperature needs to be different for best results, so you may have to fiddle with the time and temperature to get it to all come out.

https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/blondies/

-- Jonathan Guthrie - 2020-07-03