The ancestry of this recipe can be traced back to Mark Bittman and his award-winning 2008 kitchen bible How to Cook Everything. His blondie recipe is a streamlined, foolproof One-Bowl-Wonder that has been lauded and adapted far and wide throughout the food blogosphere. Taking a cue from our beloved Smitten Kitchen, we decided to put our own spin on the original. Once she suggested browning the butter and adding some coarse sea salt, well, it was down the rabbit hole from there (preceded by a Meg Ryan-When-Harry-Met-Sally-pound-the-table-style yes!, Yes! YES!).
This isn’t simply a gluten free version of an existing recipe. No no noooo…we’ve moved past that phase. Our version features a secret weapon in the form of caramelized white chocolate chips, utilizing the simple technique from our Pumpkin Pie Muddy Buddies recipe. This addition imparts hints of toffee to the bars. There are also distinct butterscotch flavors resulting from the array of little tweaks to the recipe. The added splash of dark rum doesn’t hurt, either. These are, after all, “dirty” blondies. You’re welcome.
One of the best things about these bars is that they are infinitely adaptable. Some ideas we’ve stumbled across in the course of our research involve adding chopped roasted nuts, coconut flakes, ANY type of chocolate (milk, dark, white, chips, morsels, chunks, etc.), almond extract, mint extract, dried fruit, chopped candy bars, M&Ms, caramels, or topping them with your favorite frosting…the list is only limited by your taste and imagination. Go for it. We won’t judge you for adding splashes of your favorite liqueur or spirit, either. In fact, we’ll probably want to be your friend. Just FYI.
While the original recipe calls for a 25 minute baking time, you would be wise to check them at 20. We found that the full time resulted in crispier edges than we anticipated—not a bad thing, mind you—but we prefer the maximum acreage of gooeyness. Maybe that’s just us, but check them nonetheless. One other note: If you’re using a store bought gluten free all purpose baking flour, it likely already has some xanthan gum in it, so a good rule of thumb is to reduce the amount of xanthan gum in the recipe by half.
The resulting bars are dense, chewy and downright sinful. Think of them as the badass older sibling of the traditional bars, and don’t be surprised if you open the oven and find them loitering around the pan wearing little leather jackets and with teeny tiny cigarettes stuck in them at jaunty angles. It is what all of the cool kids are doing. (But seriously, don’t smoke.) Also, as with any recipe for an 8X8 pan, you can double it and use a 9X13 pan. You know the rest…Enjoy!
Inspired by How to Cook Everything via Smitten Kitchen.
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, melted, browned and cooled
- 238 grams (1 cup) dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon dark rum
- ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt, plus more for sprinkling
- 125 grams (about 1 cup) gluten free all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum
- Line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper.
- To caramelize the white chocolate, heat oven to 250℉. Spread 1 cup white chocolate chips evenly over a baking dish. Heat the chips in the oven, stirring every 10 minutes, until lightly browned and fragrant, about 30- 40 minutes.
- Increase the heat on the oven to 350°F.
- Mix browned butter with brown sugar and caramelized white chocolate– beat until smooth. Beat in egg and then vanilla and rum.
- Add salt, flour and xanthan gum..
- Pour into prepared pan and sprinkle with a little extra sea salt. . Bake at 350°F 20-25 minutes, or until set in the middle. Cool on rack before cutting.
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