November really is an awesome month to be a teacher.  I’m currently enjoying a long weekend due to the Teacher’s Convention, which I am spending in Philadelphia with my boyfriend.  However, I did bake before I left for Philly, mostly so that I could use lots of butter that said boyfriend wouldn’t want in treats baked for him.  I’ve also been on a huge blondie kick recently, which is strange because I love chocolate and they are basically brownies without chocolate, but I decided to go with it.  And thus I bring you: Chocolate Swirl Blondies.

First up, grease a 9×13 pan with lots of butter.  Make sure you get the corners.  I don’t think they would stick without the butter, but better safe than sorry.

Then, put the brown sugar and butter in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly until smooth.  As soon as the butter is melted, take it off the heat.  Otherwise the horrible smell of burnt sugar will fill your kitchen and you’ll have to start over.

Next, let the mixture cool for a little bit.  I was impatient and decided cooling was a one minute process, but that is false.  You are about to add an egg, and you really don’t want that to cook in the heat.  Recommendation: pour the batter into a bowl and let it cool there instead.  Then it won’t be in the hot saucepan anymore.

Once you feel it is adequately cooled, probably 5 to 7 minutes (wash the saucepan in the meantime, it will make the clock go faster!), add the eggs one at a time, stirring constantly.

Then, stir in the vanilla.

Finally, stir in the flour, baking powder, and baking soda until there are no more dry ingredient streaks.  A common theme with my recipes: the batter is delicious.  Definitely a clean-the-bowl-with-a-spatula-before-you-wash-it kind of recipe.

Finally, stir in the chocolate chunks.  Now, I actually originally intended these to be chocolate chip blondies, not chocolate swirl blondies.  However, I forgot to take into account the fact that the batter was prepared over heat, and was warm.  And would melt the chocolate.  So if you want the chunks to hold their shape, make sure your batter has at least come to room temperature before stirring them in.  Otherwise, let them melt and make cool swirly patterns.

Spread the batter into the greased pan and bake at 350°F for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool to room temperature before cutting.  This will prevent them from completely just sticking to the knife.  Which is fine if you also want to lick the knife, but not if you want to serve them in any sort of shape that resembles a bar cookie.

Once you do cut them, and if you did take the chocolate swirl route, the blondies are more like blondies with a chocolate center.  Delicious, even if not true blondies.  They will fix a craving for both chocolate and cookies though.  Kind of like a bar form of a chocolate chip cookie when the chips melted. I think that’s actually why I like bar desserts: more sweets per serving without the hassle of the fork you’d need for cake.

Anyways, though they didn’t turn out exactly as intended (I really wanted the added crunch of chocolate chips interspersed), they were still good enough for an entire tray to disappear during the course of a one hour class.  Next time, I would be a little more patient with allowing the batter to cool, but the mistake was by no means detrimental to the final product.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Swirl Blondies

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup butter
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 12 oz package chocolate chunks

Directions:

1. Grease 9×13 pan with butter and set aside.
2. Melt butter and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until smooth.  Allow to cool and transfer to large mixing bowl.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, stirring to incorporate.  Add vanilla extract and stir.
4. Add dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda) and mix until no dry streaks remain.  Fold in chocolate chunks.  Spread into greased baking dish.
5. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool on wire rack before cutting.