Tate's Bake Shop Blondies

I cannot believe it is 2011.  I remember when I was a kid and had "class of '83" written on the sleeve of my jacket.  I thought that year was so far off into the future.  Now, my son has 2012 written on his sweatshirt!  It is funny.



I spent the past week spending time with my family which I really enjoyed.  When I asked my 13-year-old daughter what she would like to do, she said that she would like to go to the mall, of course, since she had some gift cards. So we spent many hours in makeup stores and makeup departments and clothing stores that turn the lights down low, the music up way too loud, and must have perfume pumped in because they stink to high heaven and are quite headache provoking..lol   I guess I am getting old, but have you been in any of these stores?  My daughter loves them.  I am not sure how anyone can buy clothes in the dark with loud music playing.  I found myself yelling anytime I had to give my daughter an opinion and yelling to the cashier so she could hear me, to the embarrassment of my daughter.  Since I was the only person in the store over 18, I seemed to be the only one yelling.  Maybe, they just text each other instead of talking...lol


On Christmas Eve, I received a very nice package.  I was lucky enough to be the winner of the Tate's Bake Shop giveaway from Sara at Baking Serendipity.  Sara has a wonderful blog which I really enjoy filled with delicious recipes and witty anecdotes.  The prize was three packages of cookies that were absolutely delicious and a wonderful cookbook.  Tate's Bake Shop is a bakery located in the Hamptons in New York that is very popular, and I can see why.  My daughter actually hid some of the chocolate chip cookies because she was afraid my son would eat them all.  The cookbook is fantastic.  It is filled with cookies, brownies, bars, muffins, scones, etc.  I baked the chocolate chip cookies and they were great.  I decided also to try the blondies, and let me tell you these are amazing. 


They are super easy and oh-my-gosh delicious.  They are loaded with butter and brown sugar which gives them a buttery and almost caramel-like flavor.  I managed not to over indulge too badly over the holidays until I made these.  I am feeling sick as I write this post because I ate so many.  This was the dessert that did me in.  I just could not stop eating them.

In the book, the blondies are made layered on top of a brownie.  How amazing does that sound?  But I did not have all of the ingredients needed to make the brownie layer.  I will make them eventually and post them.  But these blondies definitely can stand alone.

To make the blondies, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9-inch square pan. 

In a large bowl, stir together 2 1/4 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon of salt.


In the large bowl of your stand mixer, cream together 1 cup (two sticks) of room temperature, salted butter and 1 3/4 cups of brown sugar. 

 Next, add 2 eggs one at a time until well blended.  Add 2 teaspoons of vanilla and mix.  Add flour mixture gradually until well blended.

  Scrape sides of bowl.  Stir in 1 cup of chocolate chips and 1 cup of chopped pecans (I left out the nuts because my kids are not fans).

 Spread evenly in pan. 

 Bake 30-35 minutes until a toothpick comes out with a moist crumb.  Do not over bake. 


Tate's Bake Shop Blondies
Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook by Kathleen King
printable recipe
2 1/4 cups of flour
1 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 cup (two sticks) of salted butter, softened to room temperature
1 3/4 cups of firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 cup of chopped pecans
1 cup of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9-inch pan.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and salt.  In another large bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar.  Add eggs, one at a time until well blended.  Gradually add flour mixture until well blended.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Fold in pecans and chocolate chips.  Spread evenly in pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with a moist crumb.  Do not over bake.