Chewy Biscoff Blondies

Chewy Biscoff Blondies - made May 4, 2012 from The Traveling Spoon's blog

I love biscoff cookies and they're about the only thing I'll eat on an airplane (you can keep the peanuts and pretzels, thanks).  Then I heard about biscoff spread buzzing in the foodie blogosphere so I had to look into that too.  I found the biscoff knockoff at Trader Joe's called Speculoos Cookie Butter Spread.  According to the amazon reviews, it was close to the original biscoff spread so I thought I'd try it before "the real thing" since it was cheaper (almost $9 for a jar of biscoff spread from amazon - ouch).  I saw this recipe from The Traveling Spoon's blog so it seemed like a good contender for my first foray into baking with biscoff spread.  Her picture looked so incredibly yummy.

I did modify the recipe slightly (modifications included below).  Unlike the average cookie butter fan, I didn't have any problem not eating the spread right out of the jar.  I have enough vices and didn't want to pick up another one (side note to all nutella lovers: much as I like baking with nutella, I don't eat nutella "straight" out of the jar either).  Which means I had a full jar to work with so I increased the amount of cookie butter to 1/3 cup to put into the blondies.  Mine turned out pretty well but I think I could've used more cookie butter for a more pronounced biscoff taste so I'm suggesting 1/2 cup below with an increase in coconut oil for more liquid.  They weren't dry but they weren't as gooey as I would've liked so I would probably shave a minute off the baking time as well.  But otherwise, this was a great blondie.

4 generous Tablespoons coconut oil (I got mine from amazon but saw later that Trader Joe's also carries this)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup Biscoff Spread or Speculoos Cookie Butter
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 - 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8x8-inch baking pan with foil and spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray. In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt coconut oil, Biscoff spread, and brown sugar until just combined. Stir until smooth. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, in a small mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside. Stir egg and vanilla into the cooled Biscoff mixture, until just blended. Add the dry ingredients and stir until smooth. The mixture will be very thick. Fold in chocolate chips.

Transfer mixture into the prepared pan, spreading evenly with a small offset metal spatula. Bake for 20 minutes or until the edges just begin to brown. Cool in pan on a wire rack.