What is a Blondie? It is the dense, more caramel like version of a brownie, but every bit as dense and fudgy in texture. They are incredibly sweet and incredibly moreish. But what makes a good Blondie?
Quality ingredients. Good butter. I use lurkpac, lightly salted. There is a fine line between too little and too much. 125g does it perfectly. Any more and they would be greasy. I melt the butter. My ex MIL taught me to do that. It creates a perfect denseness.
I like to use muscovado sugar, or at the very least dark soft brown sugar. The higher the molasses content, the more fudge-like consistency you will get. This gets whisked into the melted butter along with 1 large free range egg and some really good vanilla.
I use pure vanilla extract, not artificial. Dont be tempted to use Vanilla Paste. These are really sweet bars, and you don't want to be adding too much extra in the way of sweetness. Extract works beautifully.
Plain flour. No leavening. Just stir it in with a pinch of salt, just to combine. Don't overmix, or you might overdevelop the gluten in the flour. Just mix until there are no dry streaks.
I like to use two kinds of chocolate chips, and again I use quality ones here. A good semi-sweet and a good white chocolate chip work well. I like the Kirkland chocolate chips you can get at Costco for the semi sweet ones, and I buy my white chocolate chips at an american supply company. Failing that, get some really good white chocolate, like Green & Blacks and chop it up.
You want the white chocolate to be somewhat creamy and not artificial . . . and you want the semi sweet chocolate chips to be really semi sweet, again not artificial tasting. With the Kirkland chocolate chips, even an hour later, they still appear moist and fudgy in the bake, not hard. I like that.
I bake them in a 9 inch square baking tin. You could bake them in a smaller tin, but you would need to bake them for longer and you won't end up with the right quality of dense fudginess. I prefer to cook for a shorter time and go fudgier.
You don't want dry Blondies. Dry Blondies are no fun. Fudgy is better.
And that's what you want. Dense and fudgy. Not raw. I remember attending a cooking show down in London a number of years back and they had celebrity chef's on baking Brownies and I was NOT impressed. Their idea of a good Brownie was a raw Brownie. Seriously. That's not a good brownie, that's a mess.
Like a good brownie, you should be able to pick up a good blondie in your hands to eat it, without it falling apart or oozing. If its oozing its raw. It should hold together with a moist dense crumb. That is what makes a Blondie a "To Die For" Blondie. End of.
*To Die For Blondies*Makes 9 largeor 18 smallerPrintable Recipe
Rich, gooey and stogged full of white and semi-sweet chocolate chips.
125g unsalted butter, melted (1/2 cup)200g muscovado sugar (1 cup, soft brown sugar with a high molasses count)1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract1 large free range egg140g plain flour (1 cup)1/4 tsp fine sea salt90g each white and semi sweet chocolate chips (1/2 cup)
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a 9 inch square baking tin and line with baking paper, leaving an overhang for lifting out of the pan.
Whisk together the melted butter, sugar, vanilla and egg until well mixed together. Stir in the flour and salt. Mix to combine. Stir in both chocolates. Spread in the prepared baking tin.
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes until the top appears set, but they still a bit squidgy beneath. Allow to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before lifting out. For 9 servings, cut into 9 even squares. For 18, cut each square crosswise into a triangle. Store in an airtight container.
I prefer to serve these cut into triangles. They are very rich and very sweet. I think a triangle gives you just enough to enjoy. Bon Appetit!
