Sibling Cutlery

These blondies are hands down my favorite thing to bake. They’re super easy, and they turn out roll-your-eyes-back good. Since I found the recipe on Smitten Kitchen, I’ve baked them about a dozen times. Smitten Kitchen’s recipe is for plain jane blondies with some suggestions on how to jazz them up. On a scale from 1 to Miles Davis, I’d say mine are at about Dave Brubek levels of jazz, stuffed with chopped pecans, dried cherries, big dark chocolate chips, and Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey. One of these things is not like the others, but oh does it ever work. They’re gooey, rich, and just a little bit boozy, which, along with the dark chocolate, makes these a delightfully grown-up version of classic blondies. So go make these! You’ll be thanking yourself in thirty minutes.

Your ingredients. That’s right, Ghirardelli 60% cocoa.We don’t skimp here at Sibling Cutlery. We just use all our parents’ food. And appliances. Hey, I was home for a week. I shared.

Combine your melted butter and brown sugar until smooth and near irresistible. Try not to stop here and grab a spoon.

Stir in vanilla, egg, and salt.

Add flour and stir until smooth. Here comes the fun part.

Toss in your pecans, dried cherries, and chocolate chips. Make sure you sneak a few first. It’s essential to the end result, promise. Stir them all together, and again, stay away from the spoons. It gets even better.

Last but certainly not least, pour in ¼ cup bourbon, and stir it in. Don’t use your dad’s Maker’s Mark, or he will get angry. The other stuff works just fine.

Spread the batter into a buttered 8×8 pan. You really need to spread this with a spatula or a spoon, because there’s so much stuffed into the batter that it really won’t want to go anywhere on its own. There’s just too much delicious in there. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. The middle should be set. They’re usually a bit gooey in the middle, but if that sounds like a bad thing, this might not be the right place for you.

Perfection. Let these cool on a wire rack, then cut them and serve them to anyone you’d like to fall in love with you. Especially yourself.

Boozy Blonds (Adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

When I make these without all the extras, I feel like the sugar needs to be cut down, but in this recipe, I think that a full cup is fine.

1 cup brown sugar

1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1 pinch salt

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour

½ cup dark chocolate chips

½ cup chopped pecans

½ cup dried cherries

¼ cup bourbon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8×8 pan. Combine melted butter and brown sugar until smooth. Stir in vanilla, egg, and salt. Add flour and combine. Add chocolate, pecans, cherries, and bourbon. Stir until evenly mixed. Bake for 20-25 minutes until set in the middle.