Wednesday, October 27, 2010

This Week's FHE Treat......Blondies!

Our family looks forward to Family Home Evening every Monday night.  The kids really enjoy doing activities together as a family, but most of all, they like the treats that come with it.  This week we decided to make Blondies loaded with butterscotch and chocolate chips.  They look good, don't they?  They taste even better than they look.  Rich, yummy, goodness.


This is what you need to make these treats.

1 cup of butter (2 sticks), melted
2 cups of light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 cups of all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup of butterscotch chips
1 cup of chopped pecans, finely chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 X 13 baking dish (I used cooking spray with flour in it).  Combine baking powder, flour, and salt.  Set aside.  Cream together butter and sugar.  Mix in eggs and vanilla.  Add the flour mixture and mix well.  Stir in the baking chips and nuts.  Pour mixture into your greased baking dish.  Bake for 35 to 40 minutes (the center will still be kind of gooey).  Allow to cool completely before cutting. Preferably overnight.



Blondies are so delicious with a little ice cream on top....



...and even better topped with a home made caramel sauce!




This is Ina Garten's Caramel Sauce.  

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup water
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Mix the water and sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan.  Cook over low heat for 5-10 minutes, until the sugar dissolves.  Do not stir.  Increase the heat to medium and boil uncovered until the sugar turns a warm chestnut brown (about 350 degrees F on a candy thermometer), about 5 to 7 minutes, gently swirling the pan to stir the mixture.  Be careful- the mixture is extremely hot!  Watch the mixture very carefully at the end, as it will go from caramel to burnt very quickly.  Turn off the heat.  Stand back to avoid splattering and slowly add the cream and vanilla.  Don't worry- the cream will bubble violently and the caramel will solidify.

Simmer over low heat, stirring constantly, until the caramel dissolves and the sauce is smooth, about 2 minutes.  Allow to cool to room temperature, at least 4 hours.  It will thicken as it sits.

ENJOY!


5 comments:

  1. OMG I was going to do blondies too! I'm going to try your recipe! Ive been craving a blondie for some time now :)

    www.lunabaking.blogspot.com

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  2. Wow! Looks gooood. I <3 Blondies. I've never tried it with ice cream though, is that weird of me?

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  3. Hello, My name is Jessica. I've been toying around with the idea of taking up cake decorating, and I thought I would look for inspiration on google. It just so happens that the first link I clicked on brought me to your blog and as I was about to disregard it, I read 'this week's FHE treat...' What are the chances of happening on to a blog by an LDS member without meaning to? The blondies look amazing- I'll have to try them! Maybe for FHE this upcoming monday...

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  4. Hi I am Trina Christensen. Love your wonderful creations! I have a new store called http://www.latter-daycrafters.com that lists handmade items. I am interested in starting a New Blog to let the public know about my store. Please check it out! We just listed several LDS Temple Quilt Blocks and Children's quilt blocks. http://www.latter-daycrafters.com/temple-quilt-blocks-machine-embroidery It is a very exciting new Store following a similar idea as ETSY, but on a smaller scale so that the LDS crafts are not lost deep, deep behind the shelves of an online store. Thank you so much for your help in this endeavor! Any hints or tips?? I would love to have some bloggers help with their abundance of knowledge. Sincerely, Trina

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