Chewy, Chunky Blondies and Groundhog Day

So today is Groundhog Day. Am I the only one who can’t remember from year to year what happens if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow? It’s like how I am with a good joke – just doesn’t stay with me. For about eleven years of my life it was a really big deal. When I was an elementary school teacher, the second graders in my class were really into the whole thing. As a teacher it was always a great opportunity to teach a science lesson about shadows or an animal lesson about mammals along with writing lessons and math lessons measuring our shadows. I enjoyed the kids’ excitement when we would get word on whether or not the shadow had been seen and would check in with my friend, the school librarian to confirm that I had the right meaning behind shadow sighting before sharing it with the kids.

These days, the first thing I think of when I hear Groundhog Day is the movie and with that comes thoughts of activities, thoughts, behaviors that endlessly repeat themselves. So in an odd way now it has become a reflective day. I’m not a big New Year’s Resolution person and like I’ve told you before, I live life paradoxically. To prove that point I will share with you the bit of decadence I created last night that caused a party for the sweet tooth holders of the Cookbook Apprentice Family.

It’s been a few days since I did any baking. Over the weekend I was down for the count with a migraine that ruined all my fun and caused me to watch a TLC marathon of “18 and Counting”. In my darkened room I took it in between naps, thinking all the while that I would have traded that migraine for labor pains in a heartbeat and how I was a bit envious of those Duggers for having their own little herd of kids. The thought of sweets couldn’t have been more repulsive to me during that time. The only thing I can eat when I feel that way is a little toast and chicken soup. Clean, simple food. For some reason the chicken soup does it for me and Mr. Cookbook Apprentice knows that and picked up a quart of the closest to homemade you’ll ever find kind from our local deli. Mr. Cookbook Apprentice takes good care of his sicky wife.

Yesterday the headache storm clouds lifted and with that comes a sort of euphoria and a feeling of I am woman hear me roar, I can do it all! I’m back world and I go into major catch up mode making up for what I had missed out on over the previous days. With that personal celebration, always comes a whopper of a sweet treat. So last night was dessert central at the Cookbook Apprentice house. I looked in my pantry to see what ingredient would pop out at me and decide for us what that treat might be. For some reason I had two bags of butterscotch chips, which sort of struck me since I’ve never made a recipe with them before. It seems that on one of my baking supply stock up shopping sprees I did a repeat. With chips in hand I hit some of my baking cookbooks and was happy to see Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From my home to yours, the source for my Banana Cream Pie recipe had a real doozy of a recipe calling to me “Hey lady without the migraine, check this out! You need to make some Chewy, Chunky Blondies to celebrate your return to humankind!” Sure enough, Dorie’s recipe has butterscotch chips and a slew of other wonderfully decadent ingredients that made my heart sing (and happily were also in my pantry).

So while my son discovered new worlds in his video game and my husband and daughter competed against each other in Jeopardy, I pulled this one together and baked what is an amazingly yummy, but crazy sweet, decadent treat. Once it was cooled and ready to eat. My husband took a couple of bites and let out a “Wow!”. I wasn’t sure right away if that was a good or bad wow. After a couple more bites he announced that he thought it was “amazing” and “delicious”. My daughter was excited to dig in until she realized there was coconut in the blondies. The last time my girl had coconut was the first night of a very bad bout of stomach flu and so she pushed it aside and got an ice pop instead. A bit after my husband’s initial excited responses he let out an exclamation of “Sugar shock!” “Oh no, you better not eat too much of this, you’ll never sleep tonight” my willpower friendly husband advised. I of course, being the sugar junkie that I am, ate every last crumb and was oh so tempted when my daughter offered me her piece too, but in a momentary state of sanity I played the part of the grown up and said no to it.

I had a lousy night’s sleep last night. Woke up repeatedly with my husband’s “Sugar shock!” proclamation making announcements in my mind. I feel lousy, crummy tired today because of it. When I drove my sweet tooth inheriting offspring to school this morning, I asked him what he thought of them. “AMAAAAZZZINGGGG!!!” I told him about hubby and daughter’s reactions and he let out a defeated, “Great, thanks.” I asked him what he meant and he went on to say that just when I made something he loved, I was telling him I might not make it again. Which to him equaled major bummer. I reassured him, they’d be back again and reminded him of who his mother is. I think the sugar was still pumping through him at 7 AM, which at least made him a bit perky for biology this morning,  though I think he’ll be crashing somewhere during a discussion of “A Separate Peace” in english. He had cereal for breakfast. Tomorrow it’s back to carrot muffins and clean living food to detox a bit. But we’ll be back for more. It kind of loops that way and I’m a bit like Bill Murray in the movie of my life.

Chewy, Chunky Blondies

Dorie Greenspan Baking: From kitchen to yours

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups (packed) light brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or 1 cup store-bought chocolate chips

1 cup butterscotch chips or Heath Toffee Bits

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Directions:

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9×13-inch baking pan and put it on a baking sheet.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add both sugars and beat for another 3 minutes, or until well incorporated. Add the eggs one by one, beating for 1 minute after each addition, then beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing just until they disappear into the batter. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the chips, nuts and coconut. Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and use the spatula to even the top as best you can.

Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the blondies comes out clean. The blondies should pull away from the sides of the pan a little and the top should be a nice honey brown. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for about 15 minutes before turning the blondies out onto another rack. Invert onto a rack and cool the blondies to room temperature right side up.

Cut into 32 bars, each roughly 2-1/4 x 1-1/2 inches.