M&M blonde brownies Bars (Blondie Bars)

Blondies/brownies, same thing, but a different colour.  It’s not rocket science, people.  It’s baking science.  You might have even heard of these referred to as “cookie bars”, but whatever you want to call them, call them delicious!  I’ve just managed to make two corny jokes in the first two sentences, so you better just watch the video . . . or continue to read at your own expense! 

This is a very versatile recipe in that you can add any ingredient into the bars that you want.  If you don’t like M&M’s (what is wrong with you?), add in regular chocolate chips!  If you want to stick with the “blondie” idea, add in white chocolate chunks instead.  These would also be great with an addition of nuts to add a bit of crunch to them.  

Basically, these bars taste like a think chunk of cookie and you can make them as fancy, or simple, as you want!  To spruce mine up a bit I added a bit of melted white chocolate to the top.  I just felt that the bars, and most cookies, have a bland colouring to them- mostly due to the brown sugar/vanilla component.  The bright M&M’s make a nice contrast, but since I still felt the bars were missing something, I melted a bit of white chocolate (you can use chips or baking), put the melted chocolate into a piping bag, snipped off the tip, and drizzled it on the top.  It was definitely the pop of pizzazz I was looking for.  

For a crisp bar, you will want to bake them for a longer period of time (55-60 minutes), and for a more chewy bar, which I prefer (who wants to break their teeth on a cookie bar?), bake them for around 45-50 minutes.  The longer length of baking time in this recipe is due to the lower oven temperature (325F) than what I usually use (350F), as the bars are so thick. you want a lower temperature to ensure that the inside, and not just the edges close to the pan, are being baked thoroughly. 

I used both an 8″ x 8″ pan and a 9″x 9″ pan to bake these in while I was practicing the recipe.  “Practicing” sounds so amateur- while I was perfecting the recipe, I mean.  You can use either pan is my point.  The larger one will yield a thinner bar (bake for a shorter time), and the smaller one a thicker bar.  Either way, you’ll get the same delicious result! 

M&M blonde brownies Bars (Blondie Bars)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 2/3 all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mini M&Ms

Procedure:

1. Prepare 8″x 8″ pan, by buttering or lining pan with parchment paper.
2. Cream butter and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
3. Add eggs one at a time and continue to mix until light and fluffy.
4. Add vanilla, continue to mix.
5. Into the bowl, add the flour, powder and salt. Mix on low until dough is combined.
6. Add M&Ms and stir to combine.
7. Spoon batter into pan and press firmly until batter is flat.
8. Bake in preheated 325F oven for 45-55 minutes.
9. Allow bars to cool before slicing.
10. Serve or keep in a sealed container for 2-3 days.