Emily Luchetti's Blondies

Blondies - made August 18, 2022 from The Fearless Baker by Emily Luchetti

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 9 x 9-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar together until smooth. Scrape down the sides sand bottom of bowl to keep mixture even textured. Beat in egg then vanilla extract. Add the flour, baking powder and salt, mixing until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. 
3. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs or clean and top is a light golden brow, about 30 minutes. Cool completely before cutting.

Since I'm still trying to eke out my dwindling supply of unsweetened chocolate, I've switched to trying out more blondie recipes, especially from my existing baking book collection. I'm not a huge blondie fan. Most of them are essentially brown sugar bar cookies without chocolate.

I did like Alice Medrich's version though and thought I'd try out this one from Emily Luchetti. Unlike Alice's version, this one didn't call for rum and while I thought I might try adding a dash, I refrained so I could make this as it was originally intended to be. Except that went out the window as I decided to swap out the chocolate chips called for in the original recipe and substituted white chocolate instead.

This was okay (remember my picky taste buds where "okay" to me might be greeted with more enthusiasm by someone else). But it was okay in terms of being a nice cakey brown sugar bar cookie. The white chocolate adds considerably to the flavor profile so if you prefer "real chocolate", use semisweet or milk chocolate chips instead of white chocolate.

But now that Alice Medrich has spoiled my taste buds with rum, I think I will lean towards adding rum into blondie recipes to kick up the flavor profile.