Coffee Blondies With A Shot Of Chocolate

Here is another guest post of mine that you may have never seen.  Last year, my friend Katie at Frugal Femina asked me to guest post for her, but with a challenge.  It was fun and resulted in a yummy recipe!  Enjoy!

Originally published at Frugal Femina on October 15, 2009:

It was very kind of Katie to ask me to guest post! Or at least I thought so until she shared her idea with me. We are both recipe followers and therefore don’t go around creating new recipes, which would be a good skill to have in the kitchen. She thought it would be “fun” to challenge me by assigning me a secret ingredient. I would have to create a new recipe and post about it. I had to agree to this without knowing what the ingredient was! See? You think Katie is so sweet and kind, but I say that there is some sass in that girl – LOL!

OK, she really is sweet – she assigned me the secret ingredient…Coffee! I wiped my brow, having been certain that she would give me dandelion greens. Then I got nervous. I had to decide what direction to go in before I could come up with a recipe. I decided to stick with my strength – dessert! I started getting ideas; did some research on the web; came up with the recipe; baked it and added a bit more to it. Success!! Thank you Katie for forcing me to step out of my comfort zone and come up with something new. I think you’ll like it!

I call my recipe: Coffee Blondies With a Shot of Chocolate

I included espresso powder (instant espresso coffee) in the batter. You can find jars of it in the grocery store where the instant coffee is kept.

I wanted to add a shot of chocolate to the batter (are you really surprised??). I thought the white chocolate chips would help soften the coffee flavor and the dark chocolate chips would add complexity. Uh…I just said “complexity” when describing a recipe – that is a first!

After mixing and baking, I had lovely coffee blondies with a brownie consistency. Yummy, but they needed a little something extra. So I brushed the tops with espresso and drizzled a coffee glaze over them. And I cut them in triangles just to be fancy.

I think they’re yummy! Shame on me for not saving any to pass out! You’ll have to try them yourself and see what you think!

Coffee Blondies With a Shot of Chocolate

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons instant espresso coffee
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
Some espresso for brushing tops

GLAZE
1 cup powdered sugar
4+ teaspoons extra-strong espresso

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 8×8 inch pan. Whisk together melted butter, brown sugar, and espresso powder in bowl.
2. Add egg and vanilla and whisk.
3. Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix together. Add white and dark chocolate chips. Stir.
4. Pour batter in pan; spread evenly. Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool. Cut into squares (or triangles!).
5. Brush tops with espresso. Let sit for 15 minutes. Make glaze by adding teaspoons of strong espresso to powdered sugar until glaze is drizzling consistency. Drizzle glaze over tops of bars.
6. Chill to firm up more and eat!!

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What do you think? Are you going to try them? Do you create recipes?

This was a little stressful, but exciting to see if the recipe would turn out alright! Thanks for spending some time with me today!