Welcome to orientation. Almonds, listen up. Look to your left and meet cranberries. Now look to your right and say hello to dark chocolate. In thirty some minutes all three of you are gonna be here being beautiful together.
Did you think I was gonna kick one of you out? No expletive way. This group has winner potential. None of you will fail or be turfed out. You’re in.
You’re about to be part of a cakey cookie pie: a blondie.
You could bake this brown sugar blondie in a square or rectangular pan. You could do that and it would be totally cool. I had a sturdy ten-inch, round cake pan from Bargreen Ellison ready to be buttered and baked in. This brown sugar blondie with cranberries, raw almonds and dark chocolate is the first thing I baked in my new cake pan.
We will always have this memory, cake pan.
There’s another reason to bake a blondie in a round cake pan. When you cut the first wedge you get a really good Pac Man moment.
This blondie is baked thin which means each wedge is loaded with the tangy nip of dried cranberries, the crunch of chopped raw almonds and the forever necessary heaven of dark chocolate. Using only brown sugar makes this blondie rich and toffee-ish but not overwhelming.
I made versions of this blondie with dark brown sugar and with golden brown sugar. You see both in the photos. The unsullied blondie and the Pac Man blondie were made with dark brown sugar. The wedge with a side of iced coffee is the golden brown sugar edition. Both were one hundred percent rockin’. Dark brown sugar will give you a richer, slightly heavier blondie. I prefer the golden brown sugar version.
Do you. No worries.
Enjoy a wedge with a dainty cup of strong, iced coffee.
Recipe: brown sugar blondie
Summary: brown sugar blondie with cranberries, almonds and dark chocolate
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 3/4 cup brown sugar *dark brown or golden
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1 cup unbleached, all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/3 cup finely chopped dried cranberries
- 1/3 cup chopped raw almonds
- 1/3 cup chopped dark chocolate
Instructions
- Butter a pan then line with parchment paper and butter again. Leave enough parchment at the edges so that you’ll be able to lift the blondie from the pan easily when it’s done. I used a ten inch diameter, round cake pan.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Whisk melted butter and brown sugar together until smooth.
- Add egg and vanilla and whisk briefly to combine.
- Fold in flour and salt.
- Add almonds, cranberries and chocolate and fold briefly to mix.
- Transfer to prepped pan.
- Bake at 350 degres for 28-30 minutes. Use a toothpick to test. If it comes out clean and the blondie feels firm-ish to the touch, top is golden, edges are slightly darker then it’s done.
- Use the parchment to lift the blondie from the baking pan and place on a wire rack to cool.
- Cut the first wedge and relish your Pac Man moment.
- Enjoy!
Variations
Use dark brown sugar for a richer, heavier blondie and golden brown sugar for a lighter version.
Preparation time: 40 minute(s)
Cooking time:
Number of servings (yield): 8
Culinary tradition: USA (General)
Copyright © fatpiginthemarket.
Recipe by fat pig.
Microformatting by hRecipe.
Well I would say that a slice of either would make me happy. I have had this before but not with the cranberries. That sounds like a wonderful addition-yum! Also, thanks for the comparison opinion on brown sugar vs light brown sugar when it comes to baked goods. Have a great day!
Hoooooly cow, YES please. I’ll take the rest of that blondie
Love that you have almonds in there 
Uh oh…I already ate it all. But there’s always a chance for another!
Oh my god, I actually said “Wow!” when I saw how big that cake was! And then I laughed when I saw Pac Man. Cool beans! BTW, I just learned this week that the phrase “cool beans” originated in the 60′s and pertained to dropping hits of acid! Lol…just in case you were curious. Anywho, I seriously am a fan of any dessert with dark brown sugar. I love how molasses-y and rich it gets. Very comforting. I don’t think I’ve seen the golden! Where do you keep finding these cool things??
Cool beans…I didn’t know the origin but now I can totally see Timothy Leary in a headband saying it…he’s got bongos. I find tons of cool stuff at Uwajimaya on the west coast and at Chelsea Market on the east coast. Those are my current favorites.
Those blondies look even sweeter than the ones I have been raising. Maybe we could trade some time..?
Your pac man slices are soo drool-worthy. The writing and photos are somehow as good as having actually tasted them. Thank you for another delicious experience.
Thank you, Ali! Double thank you since the fabrics in the first photo (with the ingredients in small bowls) are your creations…Alistar Evergive bags in the ever worthy wine bottle size. http://alistar.ca/
Fantastic blog you have here… keep the yummy coming! This recipe sounds perfect.
xo
http://allykayler.blogspot.com
Thank you, Ally. I just checked out your blog. Love it!
The only thing I would change is to swap my new obsession (dried tart cherries) for the cranberries. I made a pecan pie with them (Cooking Light) for Thanksgiving (you don’t really taste them, but they cut the sweetness in this slightly slimmed down version) that was amazing………and don’t get me started on the dark chocolate covered dried cherries at Trader Joe’s! I haven’t baked choc chip cookies in a while, so I think these will be on tonight’s menu.
Cherries are a good idea! Let me know how it works out.
Wauw! It’s ridiculous how yumy it looks.
Did I really eat your first version?? It was SO good! Apparently it tastes good with wine too.
Yes! It did taste good with a whole lotta wine, didn’t it?
That looks great.
Think we could polish that whole thing off in one sitting, it sounds so good!
I’ll give you some Beer Toffee if you pass a slice of this?
Deal!