Thursday, March 31, 2011

Snickerdoodle Blondies


A two and a half hour class is like the Chinese drip torture; you’re hoping for it to end, but the slow pain keeps reminding you that it’s going to go on forever. 
My history seminar isn’t actually that bad, but sugary treats certainly help us get through the afternoon without dozing off, (which is significantly awkward in a class of eleven people.)
I was having a particularly good morning, no nay-sayers or parking tickets (ya, that happened,) could get in my way.  I broke out the baking goods and fired up the ol’ oven. Snickerdoodle Blondies, prepare to meet your maker.
I adapted the recipe from one I had saved from Beantown Baker. I made some adjustments because I wanted to make a smaller recipe. When I halved the ingredients the batter seemed dry, so I added 1/4 cup of canola oil. I also created a different crust for the blondies by swirling the cinnamon-sugar into the batter, allowing the flavor to infiltrate all areas of each bar. The recipe didn’t include cream of tartar, the normal flavoring in Snickerdoodle cookies, but they seemed to lack nothing when finished.
Out of the oven they smelled like baked Cinnamon Toast Crunch. What is bad about that? Nothing. These bars stayed true to their name; they didn’t taste like a brownie or a cake, but like a thick cookie. The dough was buttery and the canola oil added a moistness reminscent of slightly undercooked cookie dough. (Swoon.) The cinnamon-sugar topping had caremlized in the oven, adding a fragile crust to the top.
They were still warm when I brought them to class, and they didn’t fully have a chance to cool because like Nicolas Cage, they were Gone in 60 Seconds 

Snickerdoodle Blondies
adapted from Beantown Baker

1 1/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter room temperature
1 egg
1/4 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Mix flour, baking powder, salt, and set aside. Mix butter, egg, vanilla, brown sugar.  Add dry ingredients, then canola oil. Pour into greased 8x8 pan. Run a knife across the pan creating four lines. Pour half of the cinnamon sugar mixture into the "ditches" created by the knife and fold batter over and flatten out. Sprinkle the rest of the cinnamon sugar on the top of the batter, covering the entire surface. 
Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

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