Sweet Baked Life

Lately, I have been dreaming about being on a tropical Island, lying on a white sandy beach soaking up the warm sunshine and enjoying some fresh local food! OK, well, at least I can dream! You see, reason being, one of my colleagues just came back from a Hawaiian vacation and brought me a package of locally grown Macadamia nuts! I quickly promised to bake a special sweet treat with these wonderfully crunchy nuts for her and our team to enjoy at our weekly meeting. As I continued to dream of paradise I was inspired to create something scrumptious with a tropical twist – or should I say a tropical crunch!

What was I thinking? I normally don’t bake in the evening after a long day at work, and especially not on a hot summer night! So this special mid-week baking meant I would have to whip up something not only quick and easy, but with ingredients I already had at home. Then it came to me, Milk Chocolate Macadamia Blondies! Perfect! Things were looking up for me, I had everything I needed at home and thankfully the weather was even cooling down a bit at night, so turning on my oven was doable.

In a snap I mixed up the special batch of blondies and popped the pan into the oven. This was tortuous for my husband and son, as they inhaled the incredible aroma of this sweet treat baking in the oven. Mind you, when I bake something they love, like my blondies, I can barely get them out of the oven, let them cool and take a photo before they are devouring them. Unfortunately, this time they could not do their loving taste test for me immediately after these blondies came out of the oven. I think they were salivating all night, just the mere thought of something sweet cooling on the kitchen counter drove them crazy!

Milk Chocolate Macadamia Blondies

2 cups flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups of milk chocolate chips
1 cup lightly salted Macadamia Nuts, coarsely chopped

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 13×9-inch pan (or a 11×7-inch pan if you like your blondies thicker) with non-stick spray and set aside.

In a medium bowl add the flour, baking powder and salt and stir until combined. Set aside until ready to use.

In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until combined (about 2 minutes). Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Then beat in the vanilla.

On low-speed, slowly add the flour and mix until just combined. Remove from stand and fold in the chocolate and nuts. Batter will be thick.

Spread batter in prepared pan and smooth top with a spatula. Put in oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, until the top has turned golden brown and the blondies are set. Do not over bake.

Cool the blondies in the pan on a wire rack for at least 2 hours, or overnight if you need to. Cut into 16 large squares and enjoy! Believe me, you don’t need to worry about how to store these as there won’t be any left to wrap up!

Early in the morning I quickly and quietly cut the Milk Chocolate Macadamia Blondies and took a few snaps with my camera. And because I love them, left a couple of pieces so that my boys could have a little taste after I rushed out the house with my tray of goodies. These soft, rich morsels dotted with silky milk chocolate and a crunch from the lightly salted Macadamia nuts were a huge hit!  I will definitely be making these again – and of course, one full batch will first go to my family!