Blondies Recipe, Take Two

The first time I've ever made blondies (read: white chocolate brownies) was when I went to Katoomba with the mates last December. I've always loved vanilla over chocolate, and as soon as I've heard about the existence of blondies, I've always been curious about what they would taste like. So, being quite pressed for time, I quickly Googled an internet recipe of blondies so I can bring them over to the Katoomba picnic and while my friends personally liked the recipe and pretty much gobbled all of it up. But for me, I absolutely did not like them. The taste was... okay, and I didn't like the texture at all. I guess it was because I used cake mix for it.

So when we went to yet another picnic at the Bicentennial Park in Sydney Olympic Park yesterday, I saw it as yet another opportunity to further improve and make the perfect blondies recipe. Recently I discovered a baking/cooking website called Brown Eyed Baker and they had a really good, nice and thorough recipe on how to make different types of blondies. My reflection of the blondies I made for yesterday's shindig wasn't perfect (they weren't chewy enough and I misplaced the vanilla extract so I used lemon juice instead... haha), I would still say, but it was an improvement from the first time I made blondies.

Chewy, Chunky Blondies - original recipe here

Makes: 36 bars
Prep Time: 15 minutes | Bake Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• I cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1½ cups light brown sugar
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 lemon (my alternations of the recipe, onwards)
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped macademias

Method:

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9×13-inch baking pan; set aside.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. With a stand or hand mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add both sugars and beat for another 3 minutes, 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.
4. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the blondies comes out clean. The blondies should pull away fromthe sides of the pan a little and the top should be a nice honey brown. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool completely. Cut into bars; store in an airtight container at room temperature.

I enjoy baking things from scratch, but I always though that the box mix is always best. Especially with brownies. I love how the brownies from the bought-mix comes out with the smooth but crackled surface with a really chewy texture. I wanted my homemade brownies to be just like that. But as I kept reading upon Brown Eyed Baker, I saw some really helpful tips on how to do this exactly with homemade brownies! This is what I read:

According to the article about the brownies, the key to the texture of the beloved box-mix brownie is the ratio of saturated to unsaturated fat. The box-mix brownies have a 28% to 72% ratio while a classic brownie recipe has a 64% to 36% ratio. Big difference! The major factors in creating this chewy brownie recipe to mimic the box-mix include: using a mix of butter and vegetable oil, a mix of cocoa powder and melted chocolate, and extra egg yolks


Recipe notes:
♦  For the chewiest texture, it’s important to cool brownies completely before cutting.
♦  If your baking dish is glass, cool the brownies 10 minutes, then remove them from the pan to a wire rack (otherwise, the heat retention of glass can lead to overbaking).

Clearly I still have quite a journey to be a baking princess. HAHAHAHA. But I look forward to learning more and more so I don't have to bother going to far away shops just to look for and buy good sweet treats. I can just make them myself (in a way, I guess you can say I'm lazy but if I'm bothered actually making my own food, is that still laziness? Hm). Next time, I'm contemplating on making something peanut-butter related, so I might either make peanut butter and chocolate brownies or maybe peanut butter cookies...?