Our first post after more than a month is a lot of pressure! I confess to major baking burn out after the holidays. I had a few large orders to fill, not to mention the extreme baking done for family, friends, teachers, neighbors, and, well, you get the picture. I enjoyed it thoroughly up until the very end, and then I crashed. Took me a long while to detox, but I’m on the mend! So I wanted to come at you with something exciting and new! These are a surprising twist on your typical blondie – brown butter, cream cheese and banana made these rich, creamy, and complex. I’m sad to say the pictures just don’t do them justice. When I first came across the recipe, I thought it sounded super yummy, but I asked Ashley if maybe I should add some butterscotch chips, or maybe chocolate or white? She ever so sweetly hinted (via text), “Sure. Could be too much though.” And she was right. These were plenty indulgent as is. My husband even said they are one of his favorites ever! (And it wasn’t just because he hadn’t eaten a single homemade treat in over a month.) These were seriously worth putting that apron back on for! I’m pretty sure bananas don’t belong at a Super Bowl party, but I know this here is what I’m taking.
Butterscotch-Banana Blondies
Recipe courtesy HungryRabbitnyc.com
Yields Sixteen 2-inch squares (calorie estimate 225/square)
INGREDIENTS
10 tablespoons (5 ounces) unsalted butter
1-1/4 cups (6-1/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup (8 ounces) packed light-brown sugar
1/4 cup (1-3/4 ounces) granulated sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 large egg yolk, room temperature
1-1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk
1/4 cup (1-3/4 ounces) granulated sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup mashed very ripe banana (1 medium banana)
DIRECTIONS
1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 350℉. Butter a 8 x 8-inch baking pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper; butter and flour parchment paper.
2. In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the butter until it turns golden brown, about 5-8 minutes; remove from heat, and let cool. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl, set aside.
3. In bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine brown butter and both sugars; beat on low speed until combined, 1 minute. Add egg and egg yolk, beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add vanilla, and beat to combine. Reduce speed to medium-low and add flour mixture, beat until thoroughly combined. Pour half the blondie batter into prepared pan and spread evenly with small off-set spatula. Pour remaining batter into a bowl, set aside.
4. Wipe bowl of stand mixer clean, add cream cheese, egg yolk, sugar, butter, flour, cornstarch and vanilla to clean bowl. Beat on medium speed until combined. Add mashed banana and continue to beat until mixture is smooth and fully combined.
5. Pour half of banana mixture on top of blondie batter in prepared pan and spread evenly. Pour remaining blondie batter on top; add dollops of remaining banana mixture, about 1-inch apart. Gently swirl banana mixture into blondie batter with a knife, off-set spatula or chopstick to make desire pattern.
6. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs but not wet, about 35 to 45 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before turning out of pan onto a cutting board. Peel off parchment paper; cut blondies into 2-inch squares. Blondies can be stored between layers of parchments, or in muffin cups, in airtight containers at room temperature up to 2 days.
