chocolate chip blondies

I am a relative newcomer to blondies, so I have yet to find a standby recipe. I found a promising recipe in Bon Appétit’s July 2009 issue, for Chocolate Chip and Peanut Blondies. Knowing the qualities that I desire in a blondie, I decided to tweak the recipe a bit; I roughly doubled the recipe to ensure thickness, I added bread flour to increase chewiness, and I substituted white chocolate and butterscotch chips for the peanuts to achieve my ideal flavor combination.

These are one-bowl (well, one-pot) blondies, so the batter comes together very quickly. What takes much longer (close to forever, according to my family) is waiting for them to cool once they come out of the oven. For a chewy texture, the blondies must not be overcooked; I took them out of the oven a couple minutes early, with consideration of carry-over cooking.

The height and texture of the blondies were perfect; they were almost two inches tall and were soft and chewy. The flavor wasn’t exactly right, though. The blondie itself was delicious, but the chips (especially the butterscotch and white chocolate) made it far too sweet.

Update, July 16: I made the blondies again, with the suggested chocolate chips and roasted peanuts, and they were really great. The recipe below reflects these improvements.

Chocolate Chip and Peanut Blondies
Adapted from Bon Appétit, July 2009

1 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. bread flour
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 sticks butter
2 c. packed brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 c. roasted peanuts, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 9-inch baking pan.

Whisk flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl. Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat. Remove, add sugar, and whisk until smooth. Cool mixture 2 minutes. Whisk in eggs and vanilla. Using spatula, stir in flour mixture, then chocolate chips and peanuts. Spread into pan.

Bake blondies until edges just begin to pull from sides of pan, about 30 minutes. Cool completely in pan on rack.