Chocolate Chip Pecan Blondies

My first grade daughter came home famished with a full lunch box the entire first week of school. Clearly, the healthy lunches I was packing for her were no match for the inevitable back-to-school jitters and cafeteria chaos. My solution: pack her a treat she couldn’t resist, like homemade chocolate chip blondies. Problem solved!

The great thing about blondies is that they’re ridiculously easy to make. Less ingredients than cookies and you don’t have to roll the dough into balls. Easier than brownies because there’s no chocolate to melt.

Begin by melting a stick of butter and beating it with white and brown sugar.

Add one egg and some vanilla extract.

Beat until well combined.

Add flour and salt.

Mix until just combined. Be sure not to overmix or your blondies will be a little tough.

Stir in chocolate chips and pecans. (You can leave out the nuts – still delicious).

Transfer the batter to a pan lined with parchment paper. This makes it easy to lift the baked blondies out of the pan.

Bake for about 30 minutes.

Cool, then transfer to a cutting board and cut into squares.

Might be a good idea to make a double batch – they disappear quickly!

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Chocolate Chip Pecan Blondies
Printable Recipe 

Makes 16 squares

Ingredients

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour, (spooned into measuring cup and leveled off with knife)
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, best quality such as Guittard or Ghirardelli
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8-inch square baking pan with non-stick cooking spray, then line the pan with an 8×11-inch piece of parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on two sides. Spray the paper with non-stick cooking spray.

2. In a large bowl, beat melted butter with sugars until well combined, about 2 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla. On low speed, mix in flour and salt until just blended (do not overmix or blondies will be tough). Gently stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Transfer batter to prepared pan.

3. Bake 25-30 minutes, until top is lightly golden and toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean (ignore any melted chocolate). Set pan on a wire rack and let cool completely. Using the parchment overhang, lift blondie cake from the pan and transfer to a cutting board; cut into 16 squares.