Blonde eyed girl : )

I have always taken pride in Blondies...mostly because I felt as if I had a special bond with them because my hair was some random shade of blonde.  I always was jealous of my sisters and Mom who could claim the song "Brown Eyed-girl" as a tribute to their brown eyes.  However, a cookie bar always trumps a song in my opinion, because let's face it a cookie last forever as it adds extra pounds to someones waist line or backside, and a song only lasts for about 3-4 minutes.  Yeah, let's think about that one for a minute.

I still remember the first time I ate a Blondie.  My Mom had gone on a date with my Dad when we were living in Acton, Massachusetts.  She came home from the date with this thing known as a "Blondie."  Apparently it was a brownie that was not a brownie.  Not too sure if that was the best description, but I bought it and dug right in.  I loved it, it was bliss.  However, as time went on I would often buy blondies from Bakeries I would visit and always ended up not liking them.  Too sweet, too sweet...always was the conclusion we reached.  So, as my weary body withered so did my love of blondies...ironically just as my hair naturally grew darker and darker.

I set out to make peanut butter blondies from my new favorite book, which I still recommend you to buy...Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy.  Now her peanut butter Blondie recipe is just a variation on her regular Blondie recipe...but somewhere along the line I got distracted and forgot to make them peanut butter.  At first I was sad, because I was really craving that unspeakably wonderful combination of peanut butter and chocolate...but then I tasted these bars and all my dreams of peanut butter and chocolate vanished.  Once again Alice Medrich has not failed me!  I have finally found a Blondie recipe that is not overly sweet, and doesn't make the caps on my cavities fall off.  Take that Brown eyed girls, the Blondie is back!

Blondies

Adapted slightly from Alice Medrich's Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy

Line a 13x9 cake pan with parchment paper.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In medium saucepan melt:

2 sticks unsalted butter

Once melted remove from heat and add the following in this order stirring well after each addition:

1 1/2 cups plus 4 TBS packed brown sugar plus
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a separate bowl whisk together the following:

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Then add the dry to the wet and stir to combine.  If you want you can add 1 cup of chocolate chips, and or 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts...I added the chocolate chips.

Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly.  Bake 30-35 minutes until nice and golden brown and edges are pulled away from pan.

Cool and cut into bars.  PS.  These bars would ship well because they are sturdy and chewy...that is if you want to share them with anyone.