Great Grandma Pauline's Chocolate Chip Blondies

These are my mom's equivalent to chocolate chip cookies.  They were a pantry staple at our house growing up, there was always a tray of them in the kitchen for us to snack on.  Turns out, when I asked her about the recipe, she got it from her grandmother (my great-grandmother, Pauline Crocker) who always had a batch of these in her pantry when my mom was growing up.

The recipe is really simple and can easily be done in one bowl.  I even used the opportunity to try out making a video for the recipe! A first for Broad & Hill!

The only thing I would say about the recipe is that it NEEDS to be baked in a metal pan.  I've made them other times and had to use glass or ceramic baking dishes and for whatever reason, they came out cakey and not chewy.  Also, you can divide it into two 8 x 8 pans (if you like the edge pieces) or you can use one 9 x 13 pan.  If you are using the smaller pans, they should only need 15 minutes or less to be done.  The bigger pan will need 35-40 minutes.

Pauline's Blondies

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 2/3 cup butter, melted
• 3 eggs
• 2 2/3 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 12 oz chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional - I don't use them, but my mom always does)

Preheat oven to 350° and grease and flour two 8 x 8 or one 9 x 13 metal baking pan, set aside.

Stir together the brown sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl until just combined.

One at a time, beat in the eggs, mixing well after each addition.

Add the flour, baking soda and salt.  Mix well.

Stir in the chocolate chips and (optional) nuts.

Spread into prepared pans evenly.  Bake smaller pans for 12-15 minutes and larger pan for 35-40 minutes.  Top should be golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.  Don't over bake! Cool completely before cutting.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Blondies

October is here! Rejoice, it is officially autumn, the weather might actually start cooling off and the leaves might start falling! Break out your sweaters, pour a hot cup of anything and feel that breeze.

Oh and enjoy the pumpkins! Pumpkins everywhere.  They are pretty too look at a delicious to eat.  I love making things with pumpkin.  Its a nice earthy flavor, lots of nutrients to offer (not pumpkin spice, actual pumpkin), smells great and adds a nice layer of texture you can't quite replicate with another ingredient.

A while back I learned that because of the moisture in pumpkin puree, you can almost always replace eggs in a baking recipe with pumpkin (about 3 tbs per average sized egg).  So each fall I try it out on some new things.

This week was Hondo's birthday and gave me a great excuse to make some new pumpkin creations.  I wanted to send him to school with some special treats but having been a teacher for little ones his age, I didn't want to send anything covered in frosting and teeming with sugar.  Neither is a recipe for a happy class of toddlers and their teachers.

Thankfully, most kids love pumpkin too so I thought this was a great opportunity.  For the longest time, Townes though pumpkin muffins were cake - no frosting needed.  The same has been true with Hondo.

I couldn't decide what to make to I tried out two new things: Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and Pumpkin Blondies with a Cream Cheese Swirl.

The recipe I used for these Blondies is my great-grandmother Pauline Crocker's.  She made her blondies with chocolate chips in them and always had a batch in the pantry waiting for her grandkids (my mom).  I replaced some of the eggs with pumpkin, but not all of them because I didn't want them to be fluffy and cakey, but dense like a fudge brownie, they ended up somewhere in between.  I also added some cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and obviously, the cream cheese swirl.

They didn't take long at all to whip up and came out lovely.  I still want to concoct a denser, fudgier type pumpkin bar, but haven't nailed it yet - stay tuned though, I'm sure I'll crack it this fall!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Blondies

Fills a 9 x 12 baking pan

For the Pumpkin Bar:

• 2/3 cup butter, melted
• 2 1/4 cup (1 lb. pkg) of dark brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 7.5 oz (half of a 15 oz. can) of pumpkin puree
• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

For the Cream Cheese Swirl:

• 8 oz. bar of cream cheese, softened to room temp.
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 egg

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees; grease a 9 x 12 baking pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the melted butter and brown sugar until combined.

Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat in one egg at a time, until just combined - do not over mix.  Next, stir in the pumpkin puree until combined.

In a separate bowl, combine the remaining dry ingredients.  Stir together and then mix the dry ingredients into the wet a little at a time until smooth.  Set aside.

Make the cream cheese swirl.  Using a hand mixer, whip the cream cheese until smooth.  Add the sugar, egg, vanilla and cream and whip until stiff peaks form.  Set aside.

Pour two-thirds of the pumpkin batter into the prepared pan.  Spread it evenly across the bottom of the pan.

Using a large spoon, drop large dollops of the cream cheese mixture on top of the pumpkin batter in the pan.  Drop the remaining pumpkin batter among the cream cheese.

Then, using a butter knife, swirl the cream cheese and pumpkin batter together slowly.  Don't worry if it doesn't look too pretty, when you cut them it always seems to work out.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool in the pan completely before cutting and serving.  Enjoy!