A buttery & brown sugary blondie with little bits of Twix mixed in will make your sweet caramel dreams come true. The dense and chewy texture balanced with crunchy bits of shortbread from the Twix bar creates a perfect bite every time!
I wanted to try something new. Usually, by the time I’m posting a recipe on the site, I’ve made it a few times. You know? I’m going to make sure I know what I’m doing, that I’ve gotten it exactly how I want it before I’m going to share it with you and publish it. This means that I’ve looked at a few different recipes for the same thing and created some sort of hybrid of a few different things, taking a little bit from this one over here and a little bit from this one over there and learning from mistakes. That’s cooking, you know? Dump and stir, trial and error.
Enter: Wing It Wednesdays. I’m going to find a recipe, take the usual pictures and hope for the best. Whether it works out great or turns into a hot mess and goes off the rails, I’m going to share it with you. I’ll tell you where it worked, where it didn’t, what I learned, what I would do differently next time, if there will even be a next time.
Let’s go!
When I was pregnant, I ate a brownie with ice cream every day. I wish I could say that was an exaggeration, but, sadly, that is an entirely true statement. True Life: I Am Addicted to Brownies. And now that I am so very un-pregnant, I would like to say that habit has gone away, but, uh… that would be an un-truth. All right, it’s not like I eat one every day, but it’s definitely more often than I care to admit. So, there it is. Circle of Trust. Trust Tree. Giving myself grace. All that jazz.
The reason I tell you this is because brownies are, like, my go-to dessert, and if we are being so honest, my favorite brownies come out of a box *gasp* and that is how it is. So, when an opportunity came around where I volunteered to bring a dessert to a gathering, I told myself I absolutely could not make a pan of brownies because that’s too easy and it’s time to try new things. So, you know what I did? I branched out. I branched way far out. Way, way far out.
I made blondies.
Blondies, as in the opposite of brownies.
Sometimes I just crack myself up.
I found a recipe for Twix Blondies by Shelly from Cookies & Cups. After I made these, I went back and perused her site and found out that I would like to make just about every other sweet treat she’s got posted on her site and maybe I’d follow her to the ends of the earth… if she’s got some sweet treats.
The best type of brownie is one that is fudgy and substantial. I am not about those cakey type of brownies (although, I do love cake, but there’s a time and place). So, that’s exactly what I was hoping for when I was thinking about blondies. I didn’t want to just dress up a perfectly good pan of brownies by adding a candy to them or throwing some frosting on them; that wouldn’t fulfill my need to make something new. These blondies were the perfect vehicle to try something new but still get that perfect texture for a sugary confection. I needed that satisfying bite into something dense and perfectly sweet. This fit the bill.
Step 1: Prep Your Shit (aka Mise En Place)
I started by melting my butter because that’s what the recipe said to do. I use the “melt butter” button on my microwave and let modern technology do all the work.
The next thing I did was the most laborious part of this whole recipe: unwrapping all 30 of these baby Twix bars. And I even swatted the husband’s hand away when he tried to steal one of these little loves.
Lining the pan with aluminum foil was grating on my nerves. I recently tried doing this for another dessert I made for Father’s Day and it was a total shitshow for some reason. The perfectionist in me hated this because I hate seeing crinkly aluminum foil (#weirdpetpeeves) and I knew the corners were going to make me mad because the corners of my 9×13 pan are rounded. It required some crinkling in those corners and I pleated two sheets together to ensure there would be appropriate coverage up the sides.
When making this, do what I did and fight every urge to skip this step. If you intend to cut them so they can be cute little bars that you serve (as opposed to being the dessert-devouring monster I usually am and just cut individual pieces out of the pan because I’m a gluttonous piece of shit and can and do eat a pan of brownies on occasion), this is step is necessary and quite helpful. This photo does not show proof that I followed directions and sprayed the foil with nonstick spray, but I promise that I did. That’s a necessary step also. Doing this allows you to lift your Blondies out of the pan for easier cutting once they’re baked and cooled.
Step 2: Mix Your Batter
More than anything, this batter reminded me of cookie dough. That makes sense considering it tastes like a giant cookie bar once I ate it, but that’s pretty much the gist of it. This is one where I could have gotten away with mixing with a spoon or a hand mixer, but I’m apparently the queen of overachieving and used my stand mixer – or I’m just that bougie. Either way. Mix all of your stuff together. Get the job done. Easy Peasy.
I was probably a little bit over-cautious because I slowly added my melted butter to my brown sugar, and then added the eggs one by one. After that, I carefully measured my baking powder and added the vanilla. True Confession: I’m always a little heavy handed with vanilla because it’s just so damn good). I am also one of those people that is paranoid of getting covered with flour so I added that by half cups. Not pictured: adding salt. Please note: always add salt when you’re baking. It helps make your sweets sweet.
Step 3: Add Your Extras
Oh shiz, look at this batter.
If you’re not hearing Fergie sing Glamorous when you look at that, then you need to go back to 2007 and remember your days as a drunk college girl when that was your hype song.
At this point, this batter is 100% riffable. If you don’t want these to be Twix Blondies, swap the Twix out for whatever you want them to be. Snickers would be delish. Oreos. Reeses (OMG YUM! YAS!!). Honestly, they’re so versatile that you could honestly throw whatever you want in there. The world is your oyster. The possibilities are endless. To infinity and beyond.
Step 4: Bake your Blondies
Now, I know looking at that batter you’re probably like who really needs to bake it anyway? Eating raw dough is probably fine. And you’d be right, because I would have been just fine with taking that bowl, sitting on the couch, watching a rom-com and having a good cry while I stuffed my face with glorified cookie dough. However, these days, I have a baby who likes to keep me on my toes by taking unpredictable naps so it’s usually about the time that I sit down for a little “me time” that he wakes up. So, the likelihood of getting into a scenario like the one I just outlined above is slim. But it does sound great. And I wouldn’t judge you one bit if you did that. If you do, eat a bite in my honor.
The recipe suggests a cook time of 25-30 minutes, likely to account for differences in ovens. While I think that brownies (and blondies) should be fudgy and dense and thick, I get grossed out if the middle is too gooey. I checked mine at 25 minutes, but they weren’t ready, so I let them go until 28 minutes and then checked again, then let them go the full 30. If/when I make these again, I would probably go another couple of minutes. They were by no means raw or even too ooey gooey, but with those middle pieces, I did find myself wishing they were just a little more “done” so … live and learn, I guess, right?
They did turn out pretty and they looked so good that we couldn’t even keep our hands off of them.
Step 5: Plate & Eat Your Blondies
So, this is what happens when you make something a couple of days before you actually intend on eating said item.
At first, Jeff and I thought we could just sneak a piece out of the corner and our friends wouldn’t judge us when we brought this to their cottage for a lake day. But then one piece turned into three – one for me, one for Jeff, and one for my step-brother, who happened to be visiting. But then the next day, my dad and step-mom came to babysit the baby, and she’s very into desserts and she couldn’t help herself. Before I knew it, we had a row and a half of these blondies gone. You can bet your bottom dollar I was grateful that I lined my pan so I could lift these puppies out and easily slice these so I could bring them with us without any side eyes for a half-eaten dessert. Hey, things happen.
The Verdict
Difficulty/Approachability: Low. This is an excellent beginner recipe. This is also extremely approachable because it’s low effort and has simple ingredients that people usually always have on hand. The base of this batter is basically that of a chocolate chip cookie, and then you can add whatever else you want to zhuzh it up.
Taste: Ok, here’s where I disclose that I didn’t know Blondies were basically just a chocolate chip cookie in bar form. Either way, it was great. Eating this was the exact experience I was hoping it would be. It was essentially like eating a brownie if that brownie tasted like a chocolate chip cookie with chunks of Twix bars in it. If anything, it was a little bit heavier than a brownie, and so, so rich. If you want to take it to that next level, like my husband did, you can heat it up in the microwave for 20 seconds and then put a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top and then promptly die and go to heaven because sweet baby Jesus was that delish. *chef’s kiss* Eating this was extremely satisfying.
What would I do differently? I spoiled this earlier, but I would bake these a little bit longer next time. The center was just slightly under-done for me, so I’d probably bake them between 30-35 minutes, but that could be a combination of my oven and my own personal taste. Also, next time I’m going to put peanut butter cups in there because that honestly sounds like the best combo on earth.
Would I make this again? Hell to the yes. I honestly feel like this is a perfect base recipe and love that it’s riffable.
Twix Blondies
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup butter (melted)
- 2 cups light brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon flaked (or coarse) sea salt
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 30 mini Twix bars (coarsely chopped)
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- more flaked sea salt for sprinkling (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9×13 baking dish with foil and coat with nonstick spray. Set Aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter and brown sugar on low speed. Add in the eggs, vanilla, baking powder and salt and mix until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, add the flour and mix until just combined.
- Stir in Twix and chocolate chips until evenly incorporated.
- Spread batter into the prepared pan and bake 20-25 minutes until the edges are set and the center is almost set.
- Cool completely before cutting into bars.
Notes
Did you try this recipe? I’d love to see how it turned out!
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