Chewy, Chunky Blondies

One unanticipated side effect of joining Tuesdays with Dorie and Barefoot Bloggers is that suddenly it seems just plain wrong to cook or bake ANYTHING without taking pictures of it, waxing poetic about its good, bad and ugly, and sharing it all on the World Wide Web. This food blogging thing kind of gets under your skin that way, it really does. So when I realized that my daughter's wonderful teacher was having a birthday, I said to her: "I'm a baker now, you know. What do you like to eat?" She replied "Fudge. Brownies. Chocolate chip cookies. Coconut." I figured that gave me all the information that I needed to find something suitable in the ultimate baking bible:

I considered making one of Dorie's many yummy-looking chocolate brownie recipes, but I really wanted to find something David would eat (i.e., not chocolate) since we're coming off a bit of a chocolate cookie streak that did nothing for him. I thought that something with coconut would be perfect, because it was specifically on the teacher's wish list, yet I wouldn't eat as much of it because I'm not a huge coconut fan. When I found Dorie's Chewy Chunky Blondies, I knew that I had hit the jackpot. Brownie-ish? Check. Chocolate chip cookie-ish? Check. Coconut-y? Check. Fudgey? Er, maybe if I undercook them a bit. Plus, I could omit the chocolate chips from part of the batter, which would leave a few for my sweet husband, who never, ever complains, even when I bake chocolate cookies every night for a month, or send him on missions for exotic ingredients like frozen puff pastry sheets.

These came together easily. They're brown sugar based, with featured ingredients such as walnuts, coconut, chocolate chips (which I swapped with white chocolate chips for David's side of the pan) and butterscotch chips. The result? A chewy, chunky blondie.



The birthday teacher gave these rave reviews. And when I was picking up the kids in the afternoon, other teachers stopped me in the hallway and said "Did you make those brownie things? They were awesome!" Oh yes, I was a rock star that day.

David liked his too. He said that all of these desserts are starting to blend together a bit, but in general, he'd rank these ahead of the Chipsters, but behind the Apple Cobbler and the Peach Galette. Still, this is a great pan cookie/brownie option for those times that you feel like easing up on the chocolate a bit, while still enjoying plenty of chewy, chunky goodness.