My Bestfriend's Back

Brown butter blondies

My boyfriend has been away on business trips for what feels like all winter. ("Business trip" sounds like something our dads do, doesn't it?) He has been busy flying up and down the east coast, meeting with boat people about boat things. That's what he does- all the boat things. I am not a boater /sailor/yachtie or whatever you call it and sometimes this lack of understanding makes me feel a little simple. (Why don't we call it left, right, front, back? I didn't do well in French class; you expect me to speak boat, too?)

But I do my best to be a supportive girlfriend by asking questions about boat things, not running us aground when we're out in the sailboat, and bringing yummy snacks whenever we do something boaty. And since he is coming home from a boat business trip, why not celebrate with some yummy baked treats? And because I'm an English teacher the title is alliterative: Brown Butter Blondies.

Foamy goodness!

Have you ever browned butter before? It's a really simple extra step you can add to lots of cookie or bar recipes where you don't mind adding a bit of a nutty flavor. That's really all it does, but it's a fun step that I think really adds to the complexity of flavors. To brown butter, you just throw your butter in a pan and melt it down over medium heat.

After a while, the butter will start to get foamy. Get stirring. Nice and slow so it doesn't slosh out of the pan (guilty). Keep stirring and watch it change colors from a nice pale yellow, then to more of a tan color, and finally to a light caramel color. You'll smell the change take place and you'll just know it's ready. Take it off the heat. Now, if I weren't lazy, I'd throw it in a container, plop it in the fridge, let it firm up for several hours, and then take it out to soften again about an hour before baking. I skipped this step tonight and I'm regretting it. Texture is everything when baking.

See all those brown bits? You want those.

See my Peter Rabbit spatula? I decided that seeing as how I'm hosting Easter this year, I can buy myself a little hostess present. I love Beatrix Potter and have to practice self-restraint in not buying all the Peter Rabbit things.

Thank heaven for scoopers like this guy.

So a little mixy mix later and I've got this yummy batter. At this point, I'm regretting not having let my browned butter cool and firm up a bit. But, lesson learned. I dropped large ice cream scoop sizes of dough/batter/yummy butter goodness into this heavily greased baking pan. What would you call this type of pan? I have no idea and, in fact, I rarely ever use this pan, but tonight I thought, Oh this would make every piece a corner piece. Win!

These guys ended up a little darker than I would have preferred so my recipe will reflect a reduced baking time. But if you like a nutty cookie type flavor, these will be heaven to you. My dear boyfriend, I'm thinking, may prefer my Barefoot Contessa version over this new recipe I developed. But sometimes it really is the thought that counts. Sometimes I let him rattle on about tides and wind and I do my best to understand and listen carefully. And sometimes he's brave and tries a new recipe. Love is quite the adventure.

Let these suckers cool before you try
to wrestle them out of the pan.

Give this recipe a whirl and let me know how you make out. If you don't have this funky pan hanging around, I'm sure an 8 x 8 would work fine. Just increase the baking time to around 20-22 minutes. -Jill

Brown Butter Blondies

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 tbls. vanilla extract
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 cup AP flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/8 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt (if not using salted butter)
• 1 cup chocolate chips/ M & Ms/ your favorite chocolatey candy

Directions

1. Melt and brown the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. The butter will get foamy- that's good. Stir and warm until the butter changes from a light yellow to a caramel color and smells good and toasty/nutty. Remove from heat, pour into a small container, and store in fridge. Allow to cool and solidify. Then set on counter and allow to soften (at least an hour).
2. Preheat oven to 350. Spray your pan with cooking spray. An 8x8 will work, as will the pan I pictured in my post.
3. Cream the butter and sugars. Do this in either a stand mixer (yay, lazy!) or in a bowl with an electric hand-held mixer (boo, holding stuff). You want this mixture to get light and fluffy. Aim for around four-five minutes of creaming.
4. Drizzle in the vanilla. Mix. Scrape. Drop in the egg. Mix. Scrape.
5. Sift your dry ingredients. With mixer on low, pour in the dry, sifted ingredients and mix until just combined.
6. Add your candy, chocolate, nuts, whatevers and mix (either on low or by hand) until just combined.
7. Pour/spread into prepared pan. Bake. In my pan, 16 minutes was perfect. If using an 8x8, start watching it after the 18 minuted mark. Depending on your particular oven, you may need up to 24 minutes.
8. I find these tasted even better the next day, so if you don't love the flavor right out of the pan, give them a few hours.