Belgian Blondies

I have been trying different bar cookie recipes recently.  Last week I had tried a recipe for Margarita Lime bars that had an error on the liquid ratio, so the edges set up fine but the center was just a pool. There was no saving it, I even tried to microwave it so the center would get done, but that did not work.

Anyhow, this particular recipe did turn out to be a success.  The bars are rich, buttery and full of delicious white chocolate.  The recipe instructions had a method in which to melt the chocolate.  However when I made these, there was a certain amount of chunks that did not melt, which makes them perfect for the person that loves white chocolate.

The rich flavor makes them perfect paired with black coffee.  Also, forget the shortbread and serve these squares with a bowl of strawberries.

Belgian Blondies
adapted from Tea with Bea

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup plus 2 tbs or 2 3/4 sticks of butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 lb white chocolate (chopped into pea sized pieces)
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup of sugar
1 3/4 cup of flour
a pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 340 degrees.  Grease an 8X12 inch baking pan and line bottom with parchment, leaving an overhang on 2 sides so the bars can be lifted out of the pan prior to cutting.

Melt the butter in a saucepan and let come to a boil.  Place the chocolate pieces in a heat proof bowl and pour in the melted butter.  Stir until most or all of the chocolate is melted.  Set aside.

In another bowl,  blend eggs, sugar and vanilla extract until smooth. Pour in the chocolate mixture and stir. In another bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.  Then fold dry ingredients into the chocolate batter until no dry streaks remain.

Spoon mixture into prepared pan and smooth the surface.  Place pan in oven and bake for 28-33 minutes.  The bars are done when golden brown on top but still retain a gooey center.

Remove pan from oven and place pan on cooling rack.  After 1 hour, place pan in the refrigerator for  2 hours to set up.  After two hours, remove pan from refrigerator and run a knife down between the pan and the blondies on the sides without parchment paper.  Then lift out blondies and cut into squares for serving.

Tips and notes:
1. You can use a 9X13 size pan, but watch on the baking time. Also with a bigger pan, the blondies will not have the same height.
2. Do not use baking chips.  They are a different blend than the actual white bar chocolate and will not work in this recipe.  Use good quality white chocolate bars.
3. For a smoother bar with no chunks of white chocolate, use a grater disc in a food processer to grind the chocolate to insure that all chocolate will be melted with the hot butter.
                                  **LAST YEAR:Butter Cupcakes**

Fraternity Brunch Bars

When I went to college, my mother said that several of her friends could not believe she let me go to the one I picked.  The college has a lot of great academics, however, it also has been labeled as a big party school.

One of the memories I have is when the sorority girls were to help out the pledges at a fraternity on a raid to the the frat house.  We all gathered together, with one pledge advising us how to get into the house and what to do.  I think this was to be a raid with water balloons.  The plan was to take over, surprising the Frat brothers in the middle of the night.  The pledge leader urged everyone on and said "Let's go troopers" and proceeded to slip a large trash bag over his head.  Funny, the tough guy thought his head would poke right through the bottom, but he struggled to get it over his head and finally took it off and found some scissors  After that silliness, we were not so sure he should have been the leader.  So here we were ready to go.  Some had old clothes on, some with rain ponchos and others with zip lock bags on our heads to protecting our hair.

We moved in towards the back of the house. I opened the window to the room with the pool table and started climbing in. Halfway in, I felt the window sash hit me in the back.  At that time I quickly realized that someone had leaked our plans.  Luckily, another trooper had managed to invade the house and help me in.

Then the chaos ensued! Things flying down the hall, people running every which way. Not a single soul was surprised, they were all up and waiting  The worst was when they pulled out the fire extinguishers.  If you have never seen the effects of the spray, it is made to saturate every tiny crack and hole, even the ones so small we do not know exist.   I can remember seeing several white coated people. One poor guy with glasses looked like he was sprayed right in the face!  He had made little circles on his eye glasses so he could peer out through all that powder.

Our attire quickly become mottled with food as well as extinguisher powder.  However, one guy clearly was not bothered by this. He was the one fraternity brother that was getting the best of everyone.  I believe it was due to the initial shock of his nakedness that caught us off guard. One girl finally exclaimed with a forceful tone "Dude you really need to get some clothes on!"

Needless to say the raid was a failure.  We all finally retreated back outside and went to get some sleep.  Sadly the pledges were stuck cleaning up the mess the next day.

So for all the crazy college fraternities members as well as pledges, I dedicate these bars. The things that make these unique is the malt powder as well as the rum.  This bar has all the same qualities of a blondie, but thinner with a kick of rum.  I still am undecided if the malt taste is evident, but you can be the judge.

Fraternity Brunch Bars
by flourtrader

Ingredients
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground vanilla beans
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup chopped toasted walnuts
1 egg
2 tbs malted milk powder
1/2 cup dark rum
1 cup brown sugar,  packed
1/4 cup shortening

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour the inside of a 9X13 pan.

Sift together the salt, baking powder, baking soda, flour and vanilla bean powder.  In a separate bowl beat together shortening, sugar and egg. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, add rum and malt powder.  Place over medium high heat and stir.  Let mixture start to boil and then remove from heat. Give it one last stir and then pour into the egg mixture, blending until all ingredients are mixed together.

Mix the wet batter into the sifted dry ingredients.  Blend until smooth and and then fold in the nuts. After thoroughly mixing, spread evenly into pan.  You can use a damp knife or damp clean hands to help spread it evenly.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until done.  Center will be firm to the touch when done.  Remove from oven and let cool completely in pan.  Then cut and serve.
                                **LAST YEAR: Caramel Streusel Bars**
 

Brazilian Bourbon Blondies

Some days you are really reminded that food bloggers are such a unique niche of people out there.  When talking about my blog, there are 2 responses I sometimes get.  One is that wierd look-you know- the ones that say I have no clue of what you are talking about, but I do not want to ask.  The other one is "Now what is this blog thing??".

Not all of us dive into the social media or even concern ourselves about it.  Funny, my mom said that my uncle has a computer and all he has on it is the game of solitare.  Oh, he spends time using it, but he also spends time sleeping in front of it.

I am not sure what I would do without having the computer and all my blogger friends that share a comment interest of food.

Anyhow, on to the recipe.  The recipe below is reflective of the changes I made from the original recipe.  The sugars called for were in measurements of 3/4 of a cup.  Due to the sweetness of the white chocolate, I changed it to 1/2.  The other thing is that it took longer to bake than the recipe stated.

The bars are moist and chewy, not cake-like.  I my opinion, the flavor blend kind of reminds me of a cinnamon praline.  The white chocolate gives it the chewy texture while the brown sugar and bourbon is the height of the flavor along with the cinnamon spice.


Brazilian Bourbon Blondies
adapted from Sophisticated Cookie

Ingredients
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour 
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar (packed)
1 cup chopped unsalted Brazil nuts (boil for a few minutes if salted to remove salt)
1/2 cup white choc chips
3 tbs bourbon

Grease an 8 inch square baking pan and line the bottom and two sides with parchment, leaving an overhang on each side to use as handles.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Sift together flour and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.  Beat together butter and two types of sugars until light and fluffy.  Set is aside also.

Melt white chocolate in a double boiler.  The recipe states to let cool for 5 minutes, but my chocolate set up too fast.  I did not let cool.  Pour melted chocolate into butter/sugar mixture and beat until completely blended.  Then, with a wooden spoon, blend eggs and bourbon into the batter.

Fold the flour mixture into the batter until no dry streaks remain.  Lastly, mix in the chopped brazil nuts.

Spoon the batter nto the pan and smooth the top so all is even.  Place pan in oven and bake for 20-35 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched.  The recipe said 20-25 minutes but mine took about 33 minutes.

Remove and cool in pan before cutting. Then lift out by the parchment handles.  Cut and it is ready to serve.

The cookbook states that complete cooling is required in order for the chocolate in the bars to set up.  Also, there is a note about many blondies are cakes masquerading as blondies because eggs are used to create the texture.  I guess the author feels that "real" blondies as well as brownies require chocolate.  That is probably how some baked goods got the name of bars instead of blondies.
                       **LAST YEAR: Frangelico Ice Cream**