Blondies : Revisited

I have made it somewhat of a tradition at work to bring in something for my team before I go on vacation. Granted I have only done it twice before, so I should probably say that I have recently installed it as a tradition. The first two times I brought in my favourite brownie recipe (which has since changed) and felt that this time I should bring in something different, and not chocolate. This was part of the reason I went searching for and made a new blondie recipe the other day.

This also marks the first time I have repeated a recipe (a rare thing on its own) in such a short span of time. So with the other batch fresh in my mind, here's a bit of a Blondie update.

I decided that this time I would go with my gut from last time and use salted peanuts instead of the chocolate chips. I measured out 1/3 of a cup of peanuts (about 41g), rough chopped them and added them in place of the chocolate chips. This ended up working very well and accomplished almost exactly what I wanted it to. The contrast in the textures was quite nice and although for the life of me I couldn't taste the salt, I was told by the people at work that they could, and that it was a nice balance to the sweetness of the Blondie (as I had hoped). However, what I didn't do was further reduce the sugar. I was worried that because I was adding extra salt and the neutral flavour of peanuts any less sugar might be a bad idea. It definitely tasted less sweet this time, which I assume was a result of the peanuts.

There was somewhat of a difference in how the finished product came out though. The same top crust was not on this batch, and I noticed that the blondies overall were a little more chewy then last time (a good thing in my book). I think I may have slightly overworked the batter as I was incorporating the dry ingredients and this may have lead to the difference in the finished texture. It also may have had to do with the way I stored them. Originally I cut them and left them out with only plastic wrap overtop. This time they had not cooled completely and I had them locked in an air tight container, causing them to become a bit chewier.

Overall though they still turned out great, everyone enjoyed them, and I enjoyed baking them again. It's a great simple recipe that is now two for two. However, next time I definitely think I am going to use Reese Peanut Butter Chips :), because I mean, Peanut Butter.

~ Adam

Recipe can be found here