Blondie Cupcakes

As I was preparing to write this entry about blondie cupcakes (this recipe is a little different than the one in the book), I was flipping through the pages of my cookbook and one of them fell out. In any other circumstance, and if this book was any kind other than a cookbook, I would be extremely annoyed. I like all my things to be in as pristine condition as possible. However, in this case, I smiled. I liked that it's kind of like a battle scar, a sign of use and accomplishment. I'm using this book so much that the binding is starting to go and things are coming undone. After all, when this project is all said and done I won't have any actual cupcakes to show for it, but I will have the pictures I've taken, the batter splotches and loose pages of the the cookbook. I hope I won't have any added inches to my waistline.

This recipe was very straightforward and if you take out the hour of baking time (about 30 minutes per batch) I would have been done in less than 20 minutes. The most work involved chopping the cashews for the batter. I think this is the first recipe I've ever used cashews in. My mom is a big fan of them. Cashews were just one of the three little bits of extras in these blondies. I have made blondies before, though not in the style of a cupcake, but they've only even included chocolate and/or white chocolate chips. These particular blondies included butterscotch chips and toffee bits in addition to the above-mentioned cashews.

I was surprised by the small amount of batter I got for these cupcakes. I feel like this recipe could have easily been doubled and still given me a normal amount of cupcakes. The recipe said I would yield 12 cupcakes. Which is fine by me, less that I have to eat. But, I'm used to getting at least 24 from a batch. All that said I ended up getting 14 cupcakes. I filled the liners about three-quarters full. The batter was pretty thick so it was hard to judge just how full the liners were. I baked each batch for 28 minutes with a turn halfway through the baking time. In the end the cupcakes were done perfectly at 28 minutes. I probably could have even cut off a minute or two from the baking time. But as far as size goes, they were perfect by my standards.

I of course tasted the batter throughout the baking process and it was good. The finished cupcakes were also quite delicious. I always find blondies to be delicious. I think the butter and brown sugar are strong contributing factors. Toffee bits and butterscotch chips don't hurt either. If I made them again I might leave out the cashews just because I don't personally enjoy them that much. I like them perfectly fine when they're not chopped up in my cupcakes, but in my cupcake is an entirely different story. Bottom line, blondie cupcakes get two thumbs up and I've now successfully made it through two weeks without messing anything up. Keep the streak alive!

Christmas Blondies

Officially called Rainbow Blondies per the recipe, but I like to rename things for Christmas and since these use M&Ms and are only green and red, calling them Rainbow Blondies just doesn't quite seem appropriate. While I do always manage to incorporate M&Ms into my Christmas baking in at least one way, in all of my previous years it has been through making cookies with M&Ms. This year I decided it was time for a change. Spice things up a little. So instead of going with an M&M cookie, I went with an M&M blondie. I thought they would look a little prettier and the colors of the M&Ms could stand out a little more. I was right. Go me.

Off the top of my head I can't quite remember where I got this recipe, but part of me thinks it was from the M&Ms website. If you're ever looking for baking recipes involving M&Ms their site has some options for you. Happy baking!

Christmas (or Rainbow) Blondies

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cup light-brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 (12 oz) package of M&Ms

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (I chose not to use these)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy; add egg and vanilla.

3. Combine flour and baking soda; add to creamed mixed just until combined. Dough will be stiff (very stiff in fact).

4. Stir in M&Ms and nuts.

5. Spread dough into greased 9 x 13-inch baking pan (this will be difficult to do with a spoon or rubber spatula due to the stiffness of the dough. In my case is just plopped all the dough into the pan and then spread it out and patted it down with my hands, worked like a charm). Bake 30-35 minutes until wooden toothpick inserted comes out slightly moist with crumbs. Cool completely before cutting.