Blonde Brownies

2/3 C Oil
4 Eggs
2 1/4 C Brown Sugar
2 Tsp Vanilla
2 1/2 C Flour
2 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
1-2 C Chocolate Chips
1 C Chopped Nuts (optional)

Beat the eggs and oil together. If you can emulsify them (with a blender or food processor, or by hand), that would be great, but is not necessary. Mix in the sugar and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Combine the wet and dry mixtures. Fold in the chocolate chips and nuts. Bake at 350 F in a 9 X 13 inch greased pan until done (sides pull away, top slightly browned), between 25 and 40 minutes.

This is adapted from the Blonde Brownies recipe in the King Arthur Flour cookbook. The ingredients list and proportions are similar. I've added an egg, and swapped the solid shortening for oil, and the all-purpose flour for whole wheat pastry. If you halve the ingredients, you can bake it in an 8 X 8 or a 9 X 9 pan. I'm trying to get away from solid shortening as I cannot have butter, trans fat is evil, and it's quite difficult to find margarine with no milk products. What does exist is very high in saturated fat. I use freshly ground flour; if you use commercial flour you may need salt. The extra egg makes it a lot easier to get the oil mixed in thoroughly, and just makes the blondies a little more cake-like, which is not a bad thing.

After eating far too many right out of the oven, I cut the rest and store them in the freezer, and have one or two a day. Nuked on high in the microwave for 30-45 seconds thaws them, melts the chips slightly and makes for a nice snack.

This batch has no nuts:

A different batch, still in the pan:

The recipe continues on the next page in the original, but it's just the 25-30 minutes in a 9x13 or 2 8x8 pan instructions.

Created January 17, 2006
Updated 19 January 2014