National Blonde Brownie Day

My sis sends me a listing of Bizarre holidays at the beginning of each month. I usually don't share the whole calendar with the co-workers but sometimes will pick a day (such as national pie day, or national cookie day, etc.) and bring them a treat in for that day.

This month I decided to post the calendar in the break room - several of them were looking forward to National Blonde Brownie Day (today) and National Chocolate Cake Day (next week). Well... I'm not going to make them a chocolate cake (since I'm not overly crazy about it) and since I've never made blondies before, thought I would give my hand a try at that.

A while back, I saw a recipe for Snickerdoodle Blondies on My Baking Addiction's site (she had seen it on other sites) so I decided that would be one of the recipes.

Then I thought - let me seek out the World's Best Blondies - so I googled "world's best blondies" and of course several came up but the one at Simply Recipes caught my attention due to the addition of the butterscotch chips - which made these Blondies a bit different from the others.

Then I thought - well, let me try my favorite recipe site, so I went to Allrecipes.com and found this high rated Blonde Brownies I recipe and I liked that it had walnuts in it so picked it to try.

I tasted the batter of each one before I baked them and must say that I thought the batter of the Blonde Brownies I had the best taste. Then I tasted them all when they were baked and also thought that one was the best (I am sure the walnuts had a lot to do with that fact). My second fave was the Butterscotch Blondies and coming in a close third was the Snickerdoodle Blondies.

All three were great - my Snickerdoodle Blondies did not come out near as pretty as the ones on Simply Recipes and they were a tiny bit dry but I realized my mistake after re-reading the recipe. One, I melted the butter instead of letting it be room temperature and two, I attempted to mix all in one bowl instead of using two separate ones. They were still DELICIOUS but just not as pretty as moist as the original recipe.

My co-workers love them all but only one admitted to trying all 3 kinds - he liked the chocolate/walnut version the best too but admitted he was a huge fan of chocolate.

Snickerdoodle Blondies

Adapted from My Baking Addiction.com

Ingredients

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon grated or ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups packed brown sugar (I used light)

1 cup butter, room temperature

2 eggs, at room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

a pinch nutmeg

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease and/or line a 9×13 inch pan. Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and set aside.

2. In large bowl, beat together butter and brown sugar for 3-5 minutes. Add in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla, and beat until smooth.

3. Stir in the flour mixture until well blended. Spread evenly in prepared pan (mixture will be somewhat cookiebatter-ish, so it’s best to spread it out with a greased spatula or your hands). Combine the granulated sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a little bowl. Evenly sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over the top of the batter.

4. Bake 25-30 minutes or until surface springs back when gently pressed. Cool before cutting.

Makes 20-24 bars.

Butterscotch Blondies Recipe

Adapted from Simply Recipes

Ingredients
1/2 cup of butter, melted
1 cup of tightly packed dark brown sugar (I used light)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon of baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1/3 cup of butterscotch chips

Directions:

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly butter and flour an 8X8 pan. Whisk together the melted butter and sugar in a bowl.

2 Add the egg and vanilla extract and whisk.

3 Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, mix it all together. Add the butterscotch chips.

4 Pour into the pan and spread evenly. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool. Cut into squares and serve.

Makes 9 blondies. (I actually cut them smaller into 16 servings)

Blonde Brownies I

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Measure 1 cup sifted flour. Add baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Sift again. Add 1/2 cup chopped nuts. Mix well and set aside.

Melt 1/3 cup butter. Add 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar and mix well. If shortening is used, add 1 tablespoon hot water. Cool slightly.

Add egg (beaten) and vanilla. Blend well. Add flour mixture, a little at a time, mixing well.
Spread in 8 x 8 inch pan. Sprinkle 1/2 to 1 cup chocolate chips on top. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool and cute into 16 squares.

(note: the directions never tell you when to add the walnuts and it says to put the choc chips on top. I didn't use chocolate chips but used chocolate chunks instead. I mixed both the chocolate chunks and the walnuts right into the batter - I didn't sprinkle anything on top)