Well, that's never gonna happen.
These gooey, heavy-on-the-vanilla (read: aphrodisiac) blondies will have to do.
But I can't hide my true colors, so I made them bittersweet and a tad nutty too.
Dark-and-nutty blondies
Makes 36
Adapted from Cook's Illustrated
- 1-1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. (heaping) salt
- 12 Tbsp. (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled (save the wrappers for greasing)
- 1-1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 4 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
- 1 cup pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare a 9-in x 13-in baking pan by lining its bottom and two sides with foil and then using the butter wrappers to grease the foil.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
In a larger bowl, use the whisk to combine the melted butter and brown sugar together until homogenous. Add eggs and vanilla and mix again. The result should smell positively amorous.
Switch to a rubber scraper to fold your dry mixture into your wet mixture. Resist overmixing.
Fold in your chocolate and nuts and then tip the batter into your prepared pan, smoothing its surface with your scraper.
Bake for 20-24 minutes (erring on the side of under), pulling the pan when the blondies' tops are shiny, crackly, and the color of expensive highlights.
Set the pan on a wire rack to cool before airlifting the foil from the pan and onto a cutting board.
Cut the glorious creatures into 2-inch squares, storing survivors in the fridge.
You could freeze half the pan right away to impose some limits--until you realize that they are just as luscious straight from the freezer (with your head still in the freezer).