chewy blondies: you were made for me

Oh lazy Sundays, how wonderful you are. You were made for sleeping in, brunching and doing a whole lot of nothing. 

I love Sundays, especially after a late Saturday night. It feels great to get a little extra sleep, have breakfast with some friends and family and either watch tv and be lazy or do some crafts. Last week was a crafty Sunday, this Sunday was for eating and baking. (Well, eating a lot is pretty much always a given in my world). And eating is just what I did, which resulted in feelings of slight nausea by the end of the night. I say those bagels and that samosa were still worth it.

I think it's important to have a day to take it easy and not worry about life's little troubles. Also, it's a great day for cleaning and reorganizing. If you're anything like me, ie: a self-proclaimed neat freak, then you must enjoy de-cluttering and organizing pantries, closets, boxes of old things, etc. What's that? I'm a weirdo who actually enjoys cleaning? Why yes, yes I am. 

 

OCD tendencies aside, I also like to just let go of things and relax once in a while without worrying about the pile of dishes or dirty laundry. It's not always easy, but it can be done with a little will power. It's been a bit of a nerve-wracking week what with a new job and all, but I think it went quite well so a little laziness was due. I'm working at a bakery and really starting to learn a lot about the pastry industry. It's definitely a tough business but I also think it can be a lot of fun and very rewarding. The early mornings aren't so much fun but I'd take this over office work any day.

And besides, if I'm thinking about having my own business some day, it's worth while to learn as much as I can about the industry through experience. Which means, more baking! 

I'm really grateful for this opportunity so far, but you know what else I'm really grateful for? These amazing blondies. Think brownies but without the chocolate. What's the point, you ask? Oh you'll know once you taste them. It's almost like brown sugar fudge. I don't know about you, but I like my brownies and blondies to be dense and chewy. No cake-like brownies for me thank you very much! 

So thanks blondies, you just made Sundays even better.

This recipe is featured on Sweet as Sugar Cookies for the Saturday link party. Check out all the great recipes from other bloggers!

Chewy Blondie Bars

These blondies are soft, chewy and delicious. But that may also be because I slightly underbaked them since I was in quite a rush to leave the house. That being said, they still ended up soooo good as they cooled. I decided to add some semi-sweet and white chocolate chips into the mix. Deeeelicious.

 
Recipe adapted from Williams-Sonoma Baking Book
Yields approximately 16 bars

Ingredients

1 cup plus 2 tbsp (155g)  flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick/ 125g) butter
1 1/2 cups (330g) packed brown sugar
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Procedure

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and line an 8 inch square baking pan with parchment paper. Mix the flour and salt together, set aside. In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter and brown sugar over medium heat stirring until the sugar has dissolved and feels less grainy. Stir until the surface begins to look shiny and just slightly bubbles (do not boil). This may take about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and leave to cool 10 minutes. 

Add the egg, yolk and vanilla and stir rapidly with a wooden spoon. Fold in the flour and salt until just blended. Stir in the chips and pour mixture into pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes until top develops a crust and a toothpick comes out almost clean. Leave to cool completely and cut into squares. Eat and give away most of them otherwise they will all end up in your tummy within a few minutes.