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Friday, December 19, 2008

Gingerbread Blondies

Okay...so, I've heard of blondies, but never knew what they were. And to be honest, I'm still not 100% sure.  All I know is that I made them and I'm in love.  Complete head over heels in love.  Once fall hits, I become a gingerbread junkie.  If there is "Gingerbread" in the title, I'm there - first in line - pushing and shoving, there's just no shame in me at times.

So, never having made a blondie -curiosity peaked and a gingerbread blondie at that - it was only a matter of time.  Oh, and did I mention they have white chocolate?  Yes, I nearly swooned reading the title:

Gingerbread-White Chocolate Blondies

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Okay - so I'm not ashamed to admit that I was too busy stuffing my face to take pictures.  I kept putting it off and my poor husband had to grab the last blondie and take a picture for me. Yes, quite pathetic, I know.

Anyway - the flavor was out of this world divine.  YUMMMM!  But, getting to the final product was not a pretty picture.  You know you're in trouble when you set off the smoke detector.  Not good.

You see, although Martha Stewart's recipe told me to use a 12x17 baking sheet, I, having so much practice making these (never) and with my perfect track history of producing beautiful final products (umm - yeah right) I thought there was no way that she (yes, she being Martha) could be correct.  So, I used a smaller ribbed cookie sheet because the dough was so thick and was not spreading across the bigger sheet. 

Stupid, stupid, stupid.  LOL -

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and from another angle:

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Now, I'm not sure if you can see what happened, but let me explain.  The dough expanded.......a lot.  And overflowed.  All over the bottom of the stove.  And the excess burnt - smoked a lot - a whole lot.  And when I opened the oven, the smoke escaped and made friends with the smoke alarm causing a wonderful high pitch toe curling noise.  A noise so loud my two 3 year olds voiced their extreme displeasure until we could pull the battery of our shrill friend.

BUT the flavor was worth it.  Yet again, I lose points in visual appeal, but that's okay - more for me ;)

Martha Stewarts White Chocolate Gingerbread Blondie from Martha Stewarts Cookies cookbook:

  • 2 3/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  • 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
  • 1/2 c plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk
  • 1 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1/3 c unsulfured molasses
  • 1 3/4 cups coarsely chopped best-quality white chocolate (10 ounces)
  • Nonstick vegetable oil spray

1. Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 12 x 17 inch rimmed baking sheet with nonstick spray and line the bottom with parchment paper. Spray the parchment and set aside.

2. Whisk together flour, soda, salt and spices in a bowl.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugars on medium-high speed until creamy and pale, about 3 minutes.  Add eggs and yolk one at a time, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.  Add vanilla and molasses and mix on medium speed until combined.  Add flour mixture on low speed until combined.  Stir in white chocolate.

4. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan and bake until golden on edges, about 25 minutes.  Let cool completely in pan; cut into 2-inch squares.  Blondies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 1 week.

3 comments:

Pamela said...

Holy Cow! Those look insanely good!! Even with the over-flow incident and the smoke alarm, they look like they were worth it! Another reason why I need to get MS Cookie Book. :o)

Megan said...

Ummm, that's the second time I've seen those in blogland this week - I have got to make some!

Gigi said...

oooo, gingerbread blondies! Oh I can't wait to give these go!