I threw these blondies together as I prepped a big batch of black bean burgers to freeze for later. (Yes, I am food prepping.) Probably made over a dozen batches of these cookies over the past few months. As usual, I took a break from sugary carb-craving in February. Things are much different now. Even though the grass is beginning to green up and my daffodils are blooming, the urge to bake and soothe my soul with comfort foods normally reserved for dark, winter months has returned with a vengeance.
(As a news-obsessed individual, I'm sure you can guess why.)
My cookbooks lining the kitchen walls are more precious to me than ever right now. I've collected hundreds over the decades. I drop into flea markets looking for Pyrex and instead find myself with a two-dollar cookbook I'd wanted years ago. One more for the collection. Call me crazy, but in my Marie Kondo cleaning frenzy last spring--very few cookbooks left this house. Very. Few.
One of my old stand-by cookbooks, an Alice Medrich classic, stands the test of time.
Published in 2010, my dog-eared, taped-page and post-it noted guides indicate the cookbook's utility.
Here's my vegan version blondie--and don't bake these in an 8" square pan. Use instead a rectangle if you can. Mine is 10 x 6" pan I purchased for eight bucks at the grocery store. Once you add the batter to the pan, you may look at it and think: this cannot be right--there's barely enough batter to cover the bottom of the pan. Trust the recipe, they bake up beautifully. And after a night in the fridge, even better.
Vegan Blondies (adapted)
3/4 cup unbleached AP flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. fine sea salt
1 stick vegan butter
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
2 T. ground flax, plus 3 T. water, 1 t. olive oil (vegan egg)
2/3 cup walnuts or pecans
1/2 cup chocolate chunks
Preheat oven to 350. Line pan with parchment paper, lightly spray.
Mix dry ingredients together, set aside.
Place small saucepan over low heat, add butter and sugar and stir until butter melts and sugar is mostly dissolved. Remove from heat. Add vanilla extract and flax egg. Mix well. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture. Mix just until flour is mostly incorporated. Add half nuts and half chocolate. Spread batter in pan, then sprinkle remaining nuts and chocolate over. Bake for about 20 minutes or just until the sides begin to turn golden. Let cool completely, then cut into squares and store in fridge.
With all the bleak AF stuff out in the world lately, my own version of self-care includes a nice vitamin rich juice first thing in the morning. I've had my juicer for a dozen or so years now. It's come in very handy lately (even though it sat literally unused for about eight of these). If you think, "Hey, nice blondie recipe, but then juicing...how's that work?" Um, resistance is futile. I will always have chocolate in my life in one form or another.
This is my favorite juicing recipe:
1 beet
1 carrot
1 celery stick
1 knob ginger
1 granny smith apple
juice of half a lemon
When I can, I make enough for two small pints (one before I eat oatmeal for breakfast, another to drink later in the day--you know, around three in the afternoon when I'd rather scarf down a whole package of M&Ms). I've been a believer in juicing for ages...has it helped? I have no damned idea. It makes me feel good. So yes. It "helps".
Also been intermittent fasting. So basically the day goes like this:
Eat between nine and five. Stop.
Went to my local WM on Tuesday, just as a precaution, trying to get my hands on bleach cleaner. Wow. I happened to turn the corner and spotted an out of place single bottle left. I was like: "Thank you retail-eagle-eye for helping me spot the thing that wasn't like the other things."
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