One of the worst things about working in finance, even more than the ungodly hours we have to be in the office, is working on national holidays. It just sucks when you have to get up on a dark, grey November morning and leave your husband and kids cozily snuggled up under their blankets and bike to work in the pitch dark at 6.30am. It feels like you are in one of those post-nuclear movies, riding through empty, deserted streets, not a soul in sight. Well, except for a dishevelled looking witch or two walking home from a great Halloween party. Creepy. It is even eerier when you take out the keys to the building you work in to unlock the front gate because you are the first one, and one of the only ones that day by the way, to enter the premises. As you type away and watch the sun rising you wish you were lazily stretching in bed and getting up to have breakfast with your family. You can almost smell the coffee brewing, you can imagine your kids' ruffled hair and the pasty morning kiss you exchange with your husband.
Just so it wouldn't be too much to bear, I brought myself one of these to work. The day started looking better immediately.
Chocoholic that I am, I will always go for brownies. These, however, knocked my socks off. Crunchy on the outside and super chewy on the inside with the added texture and flavor of the oatmeal, I didn't miss the chocolate for a minute. I never thought I would say that. What do you like better? Blondies or brownies?
Adapted from this recipe
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup oatmeal
Preheat oven to 350F/170C degrees. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan and set aside.
Stir butter and sugar together until well combined. Add the egg, the vanilla and salt and stir until smooth and creamy. Then add the flour and stir until just combined. Now stir in the oatmeal. The recipe says to pour into the prepared pan but my batter was not at all runny so I spead it with a spatual, crossing my fingers it would turn out ok. Put into the oven and bake 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool. Cut into squares.
I'd say I'm definitely a brownie person - I love chocolate too much! Although these blondies look lovely - I often find them a little too sweet and sugary, but the oatmeal looks like it adds a little depth and texture and makes them into an altogether more rustic and tasty treat!
ReplyDeleteLL - I totally agree, blondies are usually too sweet and that is why I used less sugar than the original recipe. I still found them a little sweet, but the oatmeal (and the salt of course) made them pretty addictive.
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice short ingredient list - I tend towards brownies, but they have to have walnuts in them. Man these look good!
ReplyDeleteThese look great! I love Blondies!
ReplyDeleteIt's a day of slices around the blogosphere! I know these are technically blondies but I think these would happily sit in both camps. I love oats in baked goods so I think I would prefer these to regular blondies! :)
ReplyDeleteGuess what?? I have never had a blondie in my life!!!! I knowwwwww... how bad is that??? But these look pretty good!
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear you had to work on a holiday! That sucks! :-(
VanillaLemonade - Hi! If you are a blondie lover, you should definitely try these out.
ReplyDeleteLorraine - now I have to check out what a slice is...never had one
Manu - I had not had a blondie until recently either and if truth be told it didn't matter, because I knew brownies. But the oatmeal here does the trick.
I am attracted by the pure, unadorned, taste of these blondies; reminds me of some oat cookies I bought in England in Derbyshire (however these were dry); love chocolate too, but would prefer these with coffee for a morning in the office pick-me-up.
ReplyDeletei'd like to make these but i have no oatmeal; can i just leave it out or is there a good substitute?
ReplyDeleteSorry to answer you so late! You can definitely leave out the oatmeal and make out plain blondies. I would however look for a recipe online, because you do need to substitute that 1 cup of oatmeal with something, whether flour or anything else you fancy.
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