Gingerbread Chocolate Chip Blondies

Written by Published on in bar cookies, blondies, dessert, pantry baking, recipes, squares

 

 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 tablespoon molasses
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
pinch ground mustard
pinch salt
1 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon mace
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup flour
1 egg (2 if you like them a bit cakier)
1 cup bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Generously butter an 8×8 inch baking pan. Set aside

In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl using a hand mixer, mix together the butter, sugar, molasses, vanilla and spices until smooth. Beat in the flour then the eggs until well-combined. Flour in chips.

Scrape into the prepared pan. Use a spatula to evenly spread the batter in the pan. Bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs and it looks “set”. Cool completely on a wire rack prior to cutting and serving.

Store in an airtight container.

My thoughts:
This recipe basically came to me in a dream. I was trying to fall asleep then suddenly thought “gingerbread blondies” and emailed that to myself sometime after midnight. The next day, I obviously had to make them! I actually don’t love love love traditional gingerbread in cookie or cake form. It’s fine and I like the flavors but I find it a bit boring texture-wise. Blondies, on the other hand, have a pleasing chewy texture and you can add chocolate chips to them. Blondies are the true winner here. If you have pre-mixed gingerbread spice, feel free to use that but the spices are pretty basic and most mixes don’t have my secret ingredient–dry mustard (mustard powder) which adds the weenciest touch of heat and some real depth. At any rate, these are some of the most flavorful, festive blondies around! Each bite is a chewy, chocolatey, spice delight.

I feel like I say this every time I bake but it’s true. I forget how easy it is to make some things! Blondies are easier than brownies because while you have to melt butter, you don’t have to melt chocolate which is much more tricky. These came together in like 10 minutes then baked for about half an hour. Then they had to cool for what seemed like forever but I put them on the chilly enclosed porch to speed that up a bit. They slice very, very well if you are someone who cares about that sort of thing, with very neat edges. These would be amazing additions to a cookie tray to hand out to the neighbors you actually like.

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