White Chocolate Toffee Blondies

So the other night I set out to whip up a quick dessert, but wanted to do something different from my good old, easy quick dessert standby…the brownie. As it turned out, I didn’t stray far when I decided to go with a close cousin of said brownies…the blondie! Blondies get their sweet, caramel taste from brown sugar. Unlike the brownie, there is no chocolate in the batter. But all of you chocolate lovers out there need not despair, blondies are very customizable. Once you’ve mixed up the versatile blondie batter, you can throw in whatever extras you like to jazz things up. So go wild with the chocolate chips if you like! I decided to go with White chocolate and Toffee bits in these bars and was very pleased with my choice. These White Chocolate Toffee Blondies were thick and dense with both a gooey center and also a chewy outer edge. Yum, Yum, triple YUM!

And they were very easy to make. You only need dirty one bowl. Not to mention, they were somewhat addictive. Folks just couldn’t leave them alone, coming back for seconds and thirds. It’s a good thing I cut them in such small squares…You know that way there’s fewer calories…no matter how many of those little devils you snatch up! At least I’m pretty sure that’s how it works…

White Chocolate Toffee Blondies

recipe adapted from: the sweet mash

yield: 16 blondies 

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks butter​
• 2 cups packed brown sugar​
• 2 eggs​
• 1 tablespoon vanilla​
• 2 cups all-purpose flour​
• 2 teaspoons baking powder​
• 1/2 teaspoon salt​
• 3/4 cup toffee bits
• 3/4 cup white chocolate chips​

Directions:

Preheat oven ​to 350° F. Spray an 8 x 8″ baking pan with cooking spray.

Melt butter in microwave. Stir in brown sugar and let cool for 3-5 minutes until it is warm, not hot.​

Stir in the eggs and vanilla. ​

Pour flour, baking powder, and salt over the butter mixture. Stir until just combined. ​

Fold in the toffee bits and white chocolate chips.​

Smooth into baking pan and bake for 45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out with crumbs. ​If you feel the blondies are getting too dark, cover with aluminum foil.

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Cup Blondies

Hmmm…another band rehearsal. I needed to figure out what fantastically yummy snack I would have ready to energize them as they worked through their set list. I decided that I was in the mood to bake brownies or some sort of bar type dessert. I may have mentioned that I love Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and I just happened to have a bag of the new Reese’s Cup Minis sitting right on the counter. (Don’t know how they got there….) And then I remembered that Karly from Buns in My Oven (one of my all time favourite blogs) had blogged about this exact treat some time back. Everything I have ever made from Karly’s site has been off-the-hook delicious! I quickly checked her site. Just as I thought, it looked awesome…a peanut butter base filled with chocolate chips, chopped up Reese’s cups and as if that wasn’t enough, there’s a whole Reese’s mini squished into the top!

That’s what I’m talking about folks! I mean, sure, I was making these treats for the band but I would likely need to taste test one or two or maybe five or so, just to make sure they were acceptable. I wouldn’t want to serve anything not up to snuff. Yup, these Peanut Butter Cup Blondies were the ticket! So I got busy baking. The only thing I changed in her recipe was that I baked these lovely little treats in a mini muffin pan whereas she baked them in a 9×13 pan. I did change the name a bit too, she called them Peanut Butter Brownies and I christened these gems “blondies”.

The results? AWESOME! Moist, peanut buttery, chocolatey bliss! Not only did the band scarf them down, but I’d wager Santa would be delighted to find a few of these waiting for him when he comes down the chimney. Make some today!

Peanut Butter Cup Blondies

recipe slightly adapted from Buns in My Oven (Karly baked them in a 9×13 pan and I made mini muffin sized treats)

yield: 34 mini muffin sized blondies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cups packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 36 mini peanut butter cups (Reese’s are the best!)
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line mini-muffin pan with mini cupcake papers.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and eggs until well blended. Mix in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Cut 12 peanut butter cups into quarters and gently stir into blondie batter along with the chocolate chips. Use small cookie dough scoop to fill each muffin well. Place in oven for 12-15 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

Remove from oven and immediately press remaining peanut butter cups into the top of each blondie. Allow to cool before serving.

Enjoy!