Nutella-Swirled Chocolate Chip Blondies

Nutella-Swirled Chocolate Chip Blondies - made August 26, 2014, modified from Averie Cooks

Quick, easy bar cookie alert! If you like chocolate chip cookies and Nutella, this is their bar-form cousin. The original recipe was a peanut butter version, made so by the addition of peanut butter chips but I like to showcase Nutella on its own and not have it compete with another strong flavor so I opted to use chocolate chips instead and keep the chocolate theme going.

This recipe is so easy, there’s not much I can say about it. It’s also delicious as I’ve become used to all of Averie Cooks’ recipes being. Be generous with the Nutella and swirl it with the batter but don’t over-swirl if you like the decadence of Nutella to be distinguishable. And who doesn’t because isn’t that the point of adding Nutella to baked goods? If I wanted to improve these just the tiniest bit, I might double the recipe but bake it in a 10” or even 9” pan to make the bars a little thicker. But I’m greedy like that.

1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), melted

1 large egg

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup chocolate chips

about 1/3 cup Nutella (more if you wish)

1.  Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside.
2. In a large, microwave-safe bowl melt the butter, about 1 minute on high power.
3. Cool briefly before adding the egg so that it doesn't cook. Add the egg, brown sugar, vanilla, and whisk until smooth.
4. Add the flour and stir until just combined, don't overmix. Stir in the chocolate chips.
5. Turn batter out into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula.
6. Evenly add and swirl the Nutella. To create the marbled pattern shown, drizzle Nutella over batter in 5 wide, evenly spaced, parallel lines, each spanning the length of the pan. Like 5 rows of long train tracks. Rotate pan 90-degrees. With a toothpick, starting at the top of the pan, "draw" 4 or 5 evenly spaced lines through the Nutella. You're dragging the toothpick perpendicularly through the first set of lines to create the marbling.
7. Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until done. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. Allow bars to cool in pan for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving.