I have been wanting to make these for a while now but my wife is adamantly anti-blondie. No need to waste that baking energy when you could be making chocolate brownies instead has always been her stance.
But I had this idea for a blondie that would replace the normal chocolate chunks with the array of flavors and textures you get in a box of See’s Candies to really create a special holiday baked treat. I reached out to my cookie consultant Amie and she loved the concept but was worried it would be too sweet between the blondie and all that candy.
“Have you considered using white miso paste in your blondie?”
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I did a test run about a week ago and was thrilled with the result. My wife was even a convert. The umami of the miso was just the perfect counterpoint to all the sweetness going on with everything else. It was time to make the next batch and add in the See’s.
Ingredients:
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cop tightly packed brown sugar
3 tbs. white miso paste
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 beaten egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped See’s Candies
(You can really use anything you want here from nuts to chocolate chunks to dried fruit.)
1 buttered and floured 8 x 8 baking tin
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
Brown the butter in a sauce pan and when it turns golden brown and smells nutty, remove it from the heat and add the brown sugar, miso and vanilla. Stir to combine and set it aside to come to room temperature. Once it has cooled, add the beaten egg and stir until combined.
Add that to the remining dry ingredients and stir until it all the flour mixture is incorporated. Lightly stir in the See’s Candies.
Pour the mixture into the greased baking tin and put it in the oven for 27 minutes or until the edges look brown and crispy and a toothpick inserted comes out cleanly (try to find a spot without any candy chunks for this).
Let it cool and cut into sixteen 2×2 squares.