Chewy Chunky Blondies

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was selected by me! It was my turn to pick this week and I think I picked a great recipe. I couldn’t believe it was my turn to pick and I was ecstatic when I got the email asking for my pick. What to pick? I knew right away that I wanted to pick cookies, because they are my favorite. I poured over the book and came up with these. I love bar cookies. I love quick recipes. I love cookies with lots of add-ins. This recipe was winner on all levels.

All the add-ins, ready to go!

When I first started baking, bar cookies were my favorite to make. You can really do a lot with a bar cookie: multiple layers, interesting combinations, the limits are really endless. I baked a lot and often took what I made to work (that hasn’t changed!) and my boss at the time asked me to bake for an upcoming company meeting. I was really excited since it was my first paying gig. For that meeting I made three different types of bar cookies. I’ve made a couple of those cookies for this blog (here and here), since they remain sentimental favorites.

These blondies are great since you can adapt them to your taste. I used chocolate chips, toffee chips, pecans (since I don’t really like walnuts), and coconut. You could use different chips if you wanted, and I know many of the other Tuesdays with Dorie bloggers made some really interesting variations. I took these to several different people and everyone loved them. The complexity and the different layers of flavor were really wonderful. I think I made a great pick and thanks to everyone for baking with me this week!

2 cups flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1-1/2 cups (packed) light brown sugar
½ cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped into chips or 1 cup store bought chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips or Heath Toffee Bits
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9” x 13” baking pan and put it on a baking sheet.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add both sugars and beat for another 3 minutes, or until well incorporated. Add the eggs one by one, beating for 1 minute after each addition, then beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing just until they disappear into the batter. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the chips, nuts, and coconut. Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and use the spatula to even the top as best as you can.

Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the blondies comes out clean. The blondies should pull away from the sides of the pan a little and the top should be a nice honey brown. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for about 15 minutes before turning the blondies out onto another rack. Invert onto a rack and cool the blondies to room temperature right side up.

Cut into 32 bars, roughly 2-1/4” x 1-1/2”

Recipe from Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, page 109