Chocolate Chip Cashew Blondies

CONFESSION: I like blondies better than brownies.

Yep, it’s true. I’m one of those weird girls people who aren’t insanely drawn to chocolate. I can go without it. I’ll gladly pass up dessert for another round of dinner. If you put chocolates and a veggie tray down in front of me, I’ll go for the veggies 99% of the time. I was positively giddy in Cancun when I saw one of the desserts was fresh fruit and lime sorbet. I’m that weirdo. That doesn’t mean I won’t eat chocolate. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been found in the middle of the night in front of my pantry, shoveling chocolate chips in my mouth. It’s just not my go-to thing.

That’s why I knew when I was going to make the blondies [partly because we didn’t have any cocoa powder in the house to make brownies], I needed to throw some chocolate in there or Andrew wasn’t going to touch them. He is the one who requires chocolate in his dessert. And because we’re running out of chocolate chips [seriously, my kitchen is in shambles], I tossed in some cashews for good measure.

Ingredients

• 1 stick of Earth Balance
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup cashews

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. Prepare an 8×8 baking pan with cooking spray. However, if you want them to come out all pretty and, line the pan with parchment or tinfoil or something. I’m not worried about presentation, so there.
3. Melt the stick of butter over low heat [in a skillet on the stove]
4. In the bowl of the stand mixer, beat the sugar, vanilla, and egg together until creamy.
5. Add the melted Earth Balance and salt to the egg mixture.
6. Mix in the flour in small batches until smooth.
7. Fold in the chocolate chips and cashews.
8. Spread the dough evenly in the prepared pan. It will be thick.
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
10. Allow to cool before eating. I honestly thought they were better the next day.