Rhubarb Blondies

 

I am always looking for more ways to use rhubarb, since I have the obligatory big patch of it in my very Midwestern backyard. It’s the first thing that’s ready to eat in the spring, but it continues to grow all summer long, and I’m always a little nervous that I’m not going use it as well as I could. When I saw a “Rhubarb Blondies” recipe in Sister Pie by Lisa Ludwinski, I knew I had to try it.

I took a few liberties with the original recipe and ended up with a pan of soft, buttery and rich bars, somewhat cake-like rather than dense and chewy like a more traditional blondie. They can still be easily be cut into squares and eaten out of hand, however, and still have the buttery richness of a blondie, so I’m sticking with that title.

The pockets of sourness from the rhubarb balance out the hefty dose of brown sugar, and plenty of white chocolate chips bring in more sweet vanilla flavor. While I do love this combination, I’m thinking the soft crumb of these bars could also accommodate other juicy mix-ins, such as berries or stone fruits. Nuts (the Sister Pie recipe includes almonds) would also be good additions, and I think the blondie base here could hold a lot of other good things, with or without fruit, such as dark or milk chocolate, instant coffee powder, or whole grain flours.

If you think it’s too weird to put rhubarb in a blondie (I wondered about it at first), or if you can’t think of something this soft and moist as a blondie, then think of this delicious pan of sweet treats as something else. Think of them as “Rhubarb Bars,” or some such thing if you must. Just make them and call them what you want and be deliciously happy!

Rhubarb and White Chocolate Blondies

Adapted from a recipe in Sister Pie by Lisa Ludwinski

If wrapped tightly, these bars will be good for a few days at room temperature. The rhubarb may release more juice as they stand, however, making for even moister bars.

1 ¼ sticks (½ cup plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter

1 cup chopped rhubarb stems

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

½ cup dark brown sugar

½ cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon fine salt

1 cup white chocolate chips, or finely chopped white chocolate

Coarse sugar to sprinkle on the top of the batter, if desired

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line an 8-inch baking dish or pan with parchment paper. Leave some excess parchment overhanging, so that the bars can be easily lifted out of the pan. Set aside.

2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Set aside to cool.

3. In a small bowl, toss the rhubarb with the 1 tablespoon granulated sugar. Set aside.

4. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or another large bowl if mixing by hand) combine the melted butter, dark brown sugar, and light brown sugar. Beat together on medium speed for a few minutes, or until very smooth. Slowly beat in the eggs and vanilla until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice to ensure that everything is incorporated.

5. In a medium-size bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly beat the flour mixture into the sugar mixture until the flour is just moistened. Stir in the rhubarb mixture and the white chocolate.

6. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking pan. Sprinkle the top with coarse sugar if desired.

7.  Bake at 350 F for 30-35 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs and no wet batter. Cool completely. Lift everything out of the pan using the parchment overhang and cut into squares.

Makes 9-12 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Rhubarb Custard Bars, Rhubarb Pudding Cake, Walnut and White Chocolate Blondies, Apple Cinnamon Blondies, Peanut Butter Butterfinger Blondies

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Walnut Blondies

 

Let me just start by saying that I love these Walnut and White Chocolate Blondies!!

I was just going to make some simple blondies. You know, the simplest of simple bars. Kind of a chocolate chip cookie-flavored brownie. I started with this recipe at Smitten Kitchen, and, intrigued by the browned butter recommendation in that recipe, started doing some fiddling and tweaking.

What I ended up with was a wonderfully nutty bar with an almost gooey (but not quite), moist chewiness, and a delightfully sweet, somehow caramel-y flavor. I made that browned butter, swapped some of it out for walnut oil, and exchanged half of the flour for whole wheat pastry flour. I also stirred in some walnuts, then thought, do these need some kind of chocolate? Yes, I answered. White chocolate chips. Why not?

The resulting bar cookies really made me happy. The flavor of the brown butter and walnut oil were fabulous together, and the extra nuttiness of the whole wheat flour was a great compliment to those unctuous fats. The crunchy walnuts were right at home, and the vanilla-sweet white chocolate got gently caramelized during baking, contributing to the complex flavor. The interplay of all these wonderful ingredients was even more delicious than I expected!

These chewy bars can certainly be varied to meet your personal tastes or even just satisfy your need to try as many versions of the classic blondie as possible. The method is, of course, super easy, so you can make blondies over and over as needed to satisfy all your blondie lust. That’s a thing, right? Or is it just me?

Walnut and White Chocolate Blondies

Based on a recipe at Smitten Kitchen

¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter

¼ cup walnut oil

1 cup light brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup whole wheat pastry flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ cup chopped walnuts, toasted if desired

1 cup white chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray an 8-inch baking pan with cooking spray, or grease it as desired.

2. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Continue to cook the butter until it stops bubbling and turns golden brown. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.

3. In a medium-size bowl, whisk together the walnut oil, brown sugar, and egg until smooth. Whisk in the browned butter until completely combined. Whisk in the vanilla extract.

4. In a small bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, whole wheat pastry flour, salt, and baking soda. Whisk or sift together.

5. Add the flour mixture to the liquid mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in the walnuts and white chocolate chips.

6. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan, and smooth it out evenly. Bake at 350 F for 25-35 minutes, or until set and glossy on top and a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached. Cool in the pan on a wire rack.

Makes about 16 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Peanut Butter Butterfinger Blondies,  Graham Cracker Almond Bars, Oatmeal Pecan Chocolate Chip Bars, Whole Wheat Butterscotch Pecan Bars,

Apple Cinnamon Blondies

This is a simple recipe that will quickly get something cookie-like, cake-like, and apple-y ready for dessert or afternoon snacks or lunchboxes. It makes up a pan of blondies studded with apples and walnuts and spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg. They are moist, but not quite as moist as, say, an apple cake, and, like other forms of brownie or blondie goodness, are cut into neat, slim, hand-held squares that can easily fill a cookie niche.

This pan of goodies mostly involves melting and stirring, plus a little peeling and chopping of an apple. The only extra step is leaving the butter on the stove a little while just to let it brown a bit. That browning adds just a little extra caramel-y, butterscotch-y flavor to the bars. It’s also worth the few extra minutes for the delightful caramel aroma that only the cook gets to experience when the brown sugar and vanilla are whisked into the lightly browned butter.

I think it’s best to cut the apple into a very small dice and to use an apple that’s good for baking, rather than one that tends to stay crisp and firm. The walnuts are, of course, optional, but I really like them here. You might also dry a different nut, like pecans, or add a dried fruit, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips (as were in the original recipe) or even peanut butter chips.

I’m also thinking that if you don’t have a 9-inch square baking pan as called for in this recipe, you might be able to put this batter into an 8-inch pan instead. The blondies would be slightly thicker and probably require just a bit more baking time. I really wanted to test this theory myself (as an excuse to make these blondies again!), but I have moved on to other apple baked goods! I hope to have more about that in these pages soon. And I hope you’re enjoying apple season as much as I am!

Apple Cinnamon Blondies

Adapted from Food Network Magazine October, 2014

1 cup all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg, preferably freshly grated

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

¾ cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 medium-size peeled, finely chopped apple

½ cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 9-inch square pan with nonstick cooking spray or prepare similarly as desired.

2. Combine the flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Whisk together and set aside.

3. In a medium-size saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Continue cooking until the butter is lightly browned. Remove from the heat and whisk in the brown sugar until smooth. Whisk in the vanilla. Set aside to cool slightly.

4. Whisk the eggs into the cooled butter mixture. Stir in the flour mixture until smooth. Pour into the prepared baking pan, smoothing the batter.

5. Bake at 350 F for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned and no longer gooey in the middle. Cool in the pan on a wire rack. Cut into squares to serve.

Makes 16 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies, Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake

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