Coconut Dark Chocolate Blondies for a Pen Pal
In third grade, my class somehow hooked up with another group of nine-year-olds on other side of the globe, and we became pen pals. I think only one or two rounds of letters crossed the Atlantic, but I loved the thrill of the unopened mail, a potential friend with a life unlike mine in a place I’d never seen. Those letters seemed strange and otherworldly, and to a girl with an over-active imagination held the promise of secrets. About what, I wasn’t sure, but everything about those letters — the envelopes, the stamps, the handwriting, the notebook paper — it all excited me.
Now I sometimes feel tyrannized by the mailbox outside my apartment as well as the email inbox. The bills and junk mail never go on vacation, and I optimistically sign up for newsletters and ebay alerts thinking they too will contain some kind of privileged information, only to feel annoyed by their weekly appearance.
But there is a certain kind of email and form of old-fashioned post that I am always eager to receive, and that is a note from a pen pal. Letters, notes, and trinkets arriving from San Francisco, Brussels, and South Dakota cheer me to no end. So when Sara Rose asked me to make blondies, how could I not oblige? She had after all, talked me down from a ledge regarding wedding planning and sent me the loveliest Victorian Valentine. Blondies it was.
Blondies can be thrown together in a flash (I made these in the hour before we had to leave to catch a train and still managed to take a shower, too!) and are endlessly adaptable. I think of them as one of my mom’s favorite desserts, which makes them that much sweeter in my mind, and now I will think of them as my pen pal’s favorite, too. I mixed in coconut and chocolate chips, and I think I overheard someone use the word “sinful” when they took a bite. I think this is a recipe I’ll stick with. Question is: what does Sara Rose think?
Coconut Dark Chocolate Blondies
adapted from How to Cook Everything
makes about 1 dozen
8 tablespoons butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8×8 pan. In a small saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Pour melted butter into a mixing bowl and mix in brown sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add salt, stir in flour. Stir in chocolate chips and coconut. Pour into prepared pan and bake 20-25 minutes, or until just set in the middle. Let cool before cutting.
Not into the coconut or chocolate? Sub in one or two of these mix-ins:
- 1/2 to 1 cup chopped nuts
- 1/2 cup mashed bananas
- 1/4 cup bourbon, scotch or other whiskey; increase the flour by one tablespoon
- 2 tablespoons of espresso powder with the vanilla
- 1/2 cup dried fruit, especially dried cherries
- Top with a vanilla butter cream or chocolate peanut butter cream frosting
Lisa (dinner party): Oh, yum. These kind of remind me of those seven-layer bars, but much more simple. What a nice friend you are.1 year ago
Oh yeah, they are like 7 layer bars! Maybe subconsciously that’s what I was going for.
1 year ago
Adrienne: That is one simple recipe! I love recipes like this for the last minute “oh hey you should come over” invitations.1 year ago
Sara Rose: I’ll be making these this afternoon, thankyouverymuch. It is a day that warrants this sort of baking. What a Monday I have had. Ugh. Thank you much for the sweetness in the post, I did need a bit of ego brushing today. I talked you down from no ledge, I just reinforced what you already knew, lol. I’ll report back on the blondies! Yum!1 year ago
I hope you like them. They are simple, as Adrienne points out, but rich and delicious. And you could always add toasted hazelnuts a la Martha!1 year ago
Sara Rose: I may have to add nuts, I don’t seem to have any coconut. Grrr.1 year ago
pattyskypants: Lovely. I’m going to try these this evening! Thanks!1 year ago
Maria: Oh man, these sound amazing! I have never been big on blondies because I’m a chocolate addict, but this recipe solves that problem- And the addition of coconut is genius!1 year ago
ann: i had no idea blondies were this easy!1 year ago
I hear you, Maria. Maybe adding chocolate defeats the brownie purpose, but if it’s wrong, I don’t want to be right.
Child’s play, ann, child’s play. I promise.1 year ago
Sara Rose: I’m so po’d at Nolan now too. The blondies I made this afternoon are ruined because Nolan told me he checked them when he took them out of the oven. Just cut them and THEY ARE NOT DONE. I asked him again, if he tested them with a knife in the center coming out clean and he said, “Oh well they looked done, so whatever, why?” Uhhhhh because the tops are crunchy and then they are RAW underneath. THAT WOULD BE WHY.”1 year ago
You truly had the worst Monday ever, and this is the crowning glory. Oh well, let’s hope tomorrow is charmed and full of cooked blondies.1 year ago
Sara Rose: I’m remaking the blondies today- we have guests for dinner. I glared pointedly at Nolan while I got the ingredients out this morning. He sheepishly says, “I guess I’m sorry. I really thought that they looked done.” I stared at him and said, “You know better than to not test anything baked, especially in our possessed oven.” He crammed his face full of english muffin and suddenly had to go check the car for “something”. I’m feeling venomous, hopefully properly baked sweets will calm me down.1 year ago
rebekka: Coconut dark chocolate blondies?
OH my.1 year ago
Joy: Yum - these look delicious. Sarah, you should do one of those swaps where your loving readers each send something to one another. I love getting real post so much!1 year ago
Emily C.: Just popped a batch in the over. The house was lacking in mix-ins, so these have some mini-marshmallows and walnuts. We’ll see whether it’s a combo worth repeating!
(Also, that Bittman book=win. The vegetarian one is good, too.)1 year ago
Joy, I love the idea of doing a swap. When anyone else be into that?
Emily C, I am really proud of the fact that my copy of How to Cook Everything has a totally broken spine and all the pages are coming out (my only cookbook in that condition).
I have the vegetarian version, too, and love it. That Mark — I grew even more fond of him on Spain: On the Road Again.1 year ago