Nothing says "Thank you" like brownies

I wanted to do something for my friend Lorilee, who helped get this blog looking snazzy.  I figured anyone can go buy a nice bottle of "thank you" wine, but a true food-blogger-wanna-be like myself should bake something to send over. 

How Southern Living of me, right?

I saw this on one the the thousands of food blogs I look at and had been wanting to try these Butterfinger Blondies because the ingredients list was so simple.  (I love a short ingredients list, typically means fewer bowls to clean up after baking.)  They tuned out great, with little bits of Butterfinger running throughout the blondie.

I was a little worried before baking, it was a very odd consistency batter.  So much so, that I double checked the ingredient list to make sure I didn't omit something.  They baked up fine, just know if you try the recipe there is no cause for alarm if it doesn't seem like traditional brownie batter.

 Butterfinger Blondies

2-1/4 Cups Flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
2-1/4 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4-Regular Sized Butterfinger candy bars, crushed

I used a zip lock bag and and ice pick to crush the butterfinger. 
I left them a little chunky so you could see them in the brownie.
Do this before you start the recipe so you will have all ingredients ready to combine.

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and Flour a 13x9 baking pan.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a meduim bowl, with an electric mixer at meduim speed, combine butter and brown sugar.  Beat in eggs and vanilla until smooth.

Brown sugar and butter combined

After eggs and vanilla added

In the process of stirring in the flour mixture. It took some elbow grease!

Stir in the flour mixture and 1 cup crushed butterfingers.

Spread in prepared pan. Sprinkle remaining crushed butterfinger bars over top of batter.

Bake 30-35 minutes, or until the bars are a bit firm to the touch.  Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Sorry, my "finished product" picture turned out so blurry I won't even bore you with it.  But trust me, they looked great.

One extra note, I let mine cook for 35 minutes.  When I checked on them at 30 minutes they still looked very jiggly in the middle.  Next time, I will pull them out at 30 minutes, even if I'm not sure. They turned out a little firmer than I like my brownies.  I prefer fudgy and gooey.

The Splurge

Since I made it all week as a born again Vegetarian (except for a sushi roll Wednesday night, with fish of course) I decided to congratulate myself with an awesome date night spread for the hubbs and I Friday night.  We are crazy for seafood, nearly to a fault.  I infused my favorite Rachel Ray "You won't be single for long Vodka Cream Sauce" with some tasty grilled shrimp and lobster meat.
After a week of eating things that were really good for me, it was funny the amount of guilt I carried around from that 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream in the sauce.  But I have to say, it was worth it.

You're dying right! It was delish

To top off the great date night I also baked a pan of BROWNIES! Fear not, all is not lost. It was a low-fat, and fabulous recipe from Cooking Light.

Here is the link:

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1011262

I did change a couple of things.  Instead of purchasing Instant Coffee, I just brewed a strong cup here at home and used 1/4 cup of it.  I also added about 1/4 cup of Toffee bits into the batter as well as pressing some into the top. 
At the step where you mix it all together, the mixture is so super thick!  I couldn't get it to blend so I added splashes of water, about a tablespoon at a time, until the dry ingredients could incorporate.

They were so gooey and fudgy!  Next time you have a sweet tooth I definitely recommend these little gems.

We now interrupt this perfectly peppy food blog for quick angry gripe:
I received my Southern Living magazine in the mail last Thursday.  You must understand how much I worship Southern Living; I live for the day that it's delivered each month and look forward to the Christmas issue all year!  I live and die for this magazine.  But lately, I've noticed there are fewer recipes than ever in the issues.  It also seems there is more of an emphasis on baking. 
Anyone else notice this?  I've always said it's the bible for southern cooks but lately it seems like they are trying to be more of a travel guide than the quintessential southern lady's handbook.  Humph! (I smirk, with a pouty face and hands of hips)