Wow. Three days in a row blogging. I may just get back to my old habits if I keep this up. Hopefully, I can do it without gaining back any of the weight I’ve lost. That’s been the main reason I stopped blogging as much. fear can be a great motivator against doing certain things lol.
I am pretty sure I’ve mentioned before that I am not a big fan of hazelnuts or anything hazelnut flavored. Usually, that is. I DID try Nutella and ended up liking it though it’s not as regular a part of my snacking as I know it is for many foodies. I have the feeling that there are some bloggers who regularly bathe in Nutella hehe.
Reason being, during my first marriage, I was blessed enough to get to live in Mannheim Germany for 3 years. It’s still a place I remember fondly and miss. I even still have dreams about it… the Volksfests, the Christkindlmarkts during November and December; the smell of spiced wine always takes me right back there… the Konditoreien (you haven’t had good pastries until you get them at a German bakery) and never forgotten, the candy shops. Oh.My.God… German candy is amazingly good. I still reminiscence over a blackberry truffle that has remained unmatched in my memory. The fly in this ointment however is that a LOT of the candies produced in Europe use hazelnut as a flavoring. And when I say lots, I mean L…O…T…S. So I got pretty burnt out on hazelnut anything. I think unless you’re a major fanatic about it in the first place, it’s easy to get tired of it.
I have to admit however that these blondies turned out quite well. I used a Martha Stewart blondie recipe. All I changed was to make the recipe 50% bigger to be able to use a 9×9 inch pan rather than an 8 inch and I added some hazelnut liquor. Believe it or not, next time I think I will add MORE hazelnut liquor (or buy some of this hazelnut flavoring from King Arthur so as to not add too much liquid to the batter. I was actually, for some strange reason, looking forward to the flavor. Probably just so that I could whine over how badly the blondie taste was messed up by the hazelnut taste but you never heard me admit that.
The nutty flavor mixed with the dark chocolate and the walnuts (yes, walnuts; I wasn’t willing to go THAT far with the hazelnut idea nor was I in the mood to shell 9 bazillion of the bitty nuts. I’m lazy. Sue me. YOU however are more than welcome to use hazelnuts instead) was quite good. The blondies themselves were slightly chewy, not really cakey at all which I liked. All in all, I’m rather tickled with this mutant blondie and will be making it again. Now to figure out what to do with the rest of a large bottle of hazelnut liquor.
I’m giving the recipe for the 8 inch pan here. I you don’t have a decent 8 inch pan (mine are rusted old pieces of poop) but have a 9 inch one, just make the recipe 50% bigger. These would work well on your Christmas cookie tray. They’re a pretty looking bar.
Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Blondies
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons hazelnut liquor (or one teaspoon hazelnut flavoring)
- 1 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 12 ounce bag of chocolate chips
- 1 cup chopped hazelnuts (or walnuts or pecans or cashews if that floats your boat)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8 inch square pan and line with parchment paper, leaving an overhang. Butter the paper.
- In a large bowl, combine the butter and the sugar; mix well.
- Whisk in the egg, vanilla and hazelnut liquor (or flavoring)
- Add the flour and salt and mix JUST until blended. Gently fold in all but about 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips and about 2/3’s of the nuts.
- Spoon batter into the prepared pan. Smooth the top then sprinkle on the rest of the chocolate chips and the nuts.
- Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown and a wooden skewer comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Let cool in pan on wire rack until cool, then use the parchment paper to lift the blondies out and cut them into squares.
- Eat. Drool. Eat more. Try not to drool more; people will laugh.
Feel free to send me the rest of the hazelnut liqueur. I love that stuff!
I sympathize with your being tired of hazelnut.
I however cannot empathize…as I adore hazelnut (and it’s something I only discovered in the past couple years so I haven’t been able to get burnt out on it yet :P) These blondies look SO SO SOOO good!
Who told you about the nutella baths?? They must be silenced.
Oh, how I adore blondies…and your boozed up version sounds wonderful! Yeah, I wouldn’t be shelling hazelnuts, either 🙂
What a festive looking bar! I, on the other hand adore hazelnuts.
I can relate about the hazlenuts…I used to go a bit crazy with ’em though—this looks like something I’d love to sink my teeth into when my wisdom tooth extraction heals =)