Blond Bombshells

One of the perks of having this blog is being able to explore my food options. Since I'm baking my way through several books, that forces me to make everything in them, except for peanut butter recipes. I can't even stand the smell of peanut butter, so I'm not allowing myself to try those recipes out. But besides that point, baking my way through these books lets me open my food options and introduces me to different kinds of foods as well as different taste combinations. It's also shed light on how little I know about the food world. For example, I had never known that there was such a thing as a blondie until this recipe. I had always seen them around on the Internet, but I had never really tried one or never really gotten myself to make them. While going through Good Housekeeping: Brownies!, I saw that the authors dedicated a whole chapter to the world of blondies. This definitely sparked up my curiosity, and I decided to try out this recipe. I wasn't let down. I love how the dark brown sugar in these gives a deep flavor that combines really well with the add-ins. The texture also was great because it was just the right amount of chewy that I like.

Blond Bombshells
*makes 24 blondies*

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter
1 lb dark brown sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1 cup dried cherries
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 15 1/2" by 10 1/2" jelly-roll pan. In medium bowl, with wire whisk, mix flour, baking soda, and salt.
2) In 3- to 4-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Remove saucepan from heat; stir in sugar and vanilla. Add eggs; stir until well mixed. Stir in flour mixture and add-ins just until blended. Spread batter into prepared pan.
3) Bake blondie until toothpick inserted 2 inches from edges come out almost clean or about 25 minutes. Do not overbake; blondie will firm as it cools. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.
4) When cool, cut blondie lengthwise into 4 strips, then cut each strip crosswise into 6 pieces.

If you want to print this recipe out, go here to its link on the Good Housekeeping site.