Chewy Chunky Blondies - Dorie Greenspan

***These blondies are seriously the.best.dessert that I've had in a long, long time. They were fabulous ...scrumptious ....delicious ....amazing ... yumolicious ...there just simply aren't enough adjectives to describe them! Everyone wanted seconds. In fact, I gave one to my Mom-in-law as she was walking out of the door, and she told me the next day that she almost turned around and came all the way back to our house for another one...haha. They are THAT good! Really, the ONLY thing that could have improved these blondies would have been a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. And really it's no surprise, because any Dorie Greenspan recipe is always wonderful. If you love to bake and you don't own her cookbook, Baking: From My Home to Yours I highly recommend putting it on your Christmas list. It's a large cookbook with 513 pages of yummy goodness and pretty photos.

I can't wait to make these again tomorrow...I'm taking them to our Christmas party at work. I bet they won't last long! :)

Enjoy!***

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups (packed) light brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or 1 cup store-bought chocolate chips

1 cup butterscotch chips or Heath Toffee Bits (I left this out!)

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (I used pecans)

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Directions:
Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9×13-inch baking pan and put it on a baking sheet.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add both sugars and beat for another 3 minutes, or until well incorporated. Add the eggs one by one, beating for 1 minute after each addition, then beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing just until they disappear into the batter. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the chips, nuts and coconut. Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and use the spatula to even the top as best you can.

Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the blondies comes out clean. The blondies should pull away from the sides of the pan a little and the top should be a nice honey brown. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for about 15 minutes before turning the blondies out onto another rack. Invert onto a rack and cool the blondies to room temperature right side up.

Cut into 32 bars, each roughly 2-1/4 x 1-1/2 inches.

Source: Dorie Greenspan's "Baking: From My Home to Yours"