A Southern Grace: blonde ambition

March 27, 2008

blonde ambition

Yum

First of all, I'm about as far from blonde as you can get. Further, when given the choice between two fellas of different hair color, I typically go for the darker-haired one. That being said, there is one instance when I prefer light to dark--in my bar-type desserts. For some inexplicable reason (given my love for chocolate), I like blondies better than brownies.



I felt the itch to bake yesterday, and even though I got home late and had other things that needed to be done, I fired up my oven and raided my cabinets. What can I say--I've got distorted priorities (although some would argue that my priorities are perfectly in order).

My cabinets were pathetically bare. I was able to come away with a couple things begging to be used--some orange-flavored dried cranberries and a chocolate power bar left over from the Naturals Expo. Hmm. After rummaging through my myriad of recipes, I found this one from Smitten Kitchen. Deb always does good work, so I knew it would be a winner.


Here's her recipe with my additions:

Blondies by a Brunette
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup orange-flavored dried cranberries
1/2 cup dark chocolate, chopped

Spray an 8×8" pan. (Sadly, I don't have an 8x8" pan, so I used a 7.5x11.75" pan instead. What a random size. Anyway, that's why my blondies are a bit thin.)
Mix melted butter with brown sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and then vanilla.
Add salt, stir in flour. Mix in cranberries and chocolate.
Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 350°F 20-25 minutes, or until set in the middle
.



Are they delicious? Definitely.

What's my next purchase? An 8x8" pan.

Did that other stuff get done? No. No, it didn't. Whoopsidaisy. :)

10 comments:

Patricia Scarpin said...

I have never tried blondies! And I do have a bag of orange flavored cranberries in my pantry. :D

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Melanie said...

Oh so delicious - I love blondies, too, and the combination of cranberries and dark chocolate sounds divine!

Cakespy said...

I love blondies better too--sometimes it is too much chocolate in brownies, to the point where you can't even taste the difference! With blondies you can taste the chocolate bits so clearly against the softcookie-esque perfection.

Emily said...

I like blondies AND brownies. I don't like to play favorites, but I think I would rather have a brownie.
These look scrumptious...

I'm trying to use up stuff in my kitchen, too. Any ideas for a bag of dates? Don't say sticky toffee pudding. I've done that.

Anonymous said...

Yummy Yummy Yummy!! Those blondies look delicious with that melted chocolate pieces oozing out. Amazing!

Anonymous said...

That is THE BEST blondie recipe! It's definitely my go-to recipe. YUM!

The Peanut Butter Boy said...

Good lord....these look delicious. Great recipe and very nice pictures, thanks for sharing!

And I am ever so glad that you enjoyed the Peanut Butter Omelette =)! I got some weird looks for that one.

- The Peanut Butter Boy

test it comm said...

Those melted chunks of chocolate look really good in those blondies.

Anonymous said...

these look amazing! I usually go for plain blondies, and would have never thought to include cranberries (eeep or orange-flavoured ones!). i'm pretty excited to try this out!