Going From Chocolate Chip Cookies to Blondies

A while back, I posted an article that examined Chocolate Chip Cookies – basically, I addressed the variations in a recipe that contribute to three different consistencies for this iconic cookie.

From that post: A chocolate chip cookie is, technically, a butterscotch-y cookie that is baked from a cookie dough that has been garnished (or adorned or studded or embellished) with chocolate chips. And possibly nuts. Chocolate chip cookies are cookies WITH chocolate chips. And possibly nuts. The recipe that I gave for my “Soft/Puffy” variation went as follows:

Flour – 100% – 10 oz.
Brown Sugar – 75% – 7.5 oz.
Sugar – 25% – 2.5 oz.
Butter – 60% – 6 oz.
Eggs – 25% + extra white = 2 whole

Vanilla, Salt, Baking Soda – 1 tsp. each
Chocolate Chips – 12 oz.
Possibly Nuts – 6 oz.

(1) combine the flour, salt, and baking powder, (2) using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (or a hand mixer with the egg beaters) mix the melted (but not hot) butter, sugars, vanilla, and eggs to thoroughly combine, (3) gradually beat in the flour mixture, (4) fold in your chocolate chips (and possibly nuts) by hand, (5) drop using a #40 disher onto ungreased cookie sheet (I’m a big fan of using parchment), (6) bake at 375° F for about 15 minutes.

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Now, fast forward about a month and a half to my first post on Brownies.

From that post: The first chocolate brownie recipe – born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA – is credited to Fannie Merritt Farmer at the dawn of the 20th century. And while most modern recipes for brownies bear only passing resemblance to her original recipe, I would argue that her spirit lives on in every batch of brownies ever baked.

In the interest of full disclosure, I never knew Fannie Farmer. I have neither her direct word nor autobiographical evidence to support my argument. What I’m going on is pure brownie lore. Yes, conventional brownie mythology suggests that she developed her brownie recipe by drastically reducing the amount of flour in a recipe for chocolate cookies. As you will see below, that concept underlies one of the fundamental things I believe we should be talking about whenever we discuss brownies.

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So what Fannie Farmer did was reduce the flour in a chocolate cookie recipe to make a newfangled bar cookie that evolved into our modern brownie. The argument that I’d like to present below is that we can apply her revolutionary idea to a chocolate chip cookie recipe and derive our modern blondie.

Stated another way: Blondies AREN’T just brownies without all the chocolate, they are derived instead by restricting the flour in a chocolate chip cookie recipe (the same way brownies were derived by restricting flour in a chocolate cookie recipe). So I argue that blondies are linked to brownies conceptually – blondies arise from applying the brownie idea to a different type of cookie recipe.

Given the chocolate chip cookie recipe I repeated above, I propose making only two alterations: (1) reducing the amount of flour in the recipe from 10 oz. to 8 oz., & (2) using light brown sugar for all of the sugar content instead of dividing the sugar between white and dark brown.

The first proposition establishes Fannie Farmer’s idea in my approach. The second proposition is a matter of taste.

The amount of white and dark brown sugars included in the various recipes for chocolate chip cookies is about balancing flavor and texture – together, they generate that desirable butterscotch-y flavor – separately, a greater proportion of white sugar contributes to a firmer, crisper cookie with greater spread – a greater proportion of brown sugar contributes to a softer, chewier cookie with less spread. Since we will be spreading this dough out into a single layer in a pan to bake, we will be unconcerned with the spread of the dough.

Really, that’s it. Cut-back on the flour (idea courtesy of Fannie Farmer), and stick to light brown sugar overall to go for maximal butterscotch-y flavor.

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Blondie Recipe (Adapted From Soft/Puffy Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe)

Flour – 8 oz. (reduced from 10 oz. in cookie recipe)
Light Brown Sugar – 10 oz. (same as combined sugar weights in cookie recipe)
Butter – 6 oz.
Eggs – 2 whole

Vanilla, Salt, Baking Soda – 1 tsp. each
Chocolate Chips – 12 oz.
Possibly Nuts – 6 oz.

(1) combine the flour, salt, and baking powder, (2) using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (or a hand mixer with the egg beaters) mix the melted (but not hot) butter, sugars, vanilla, and eggs to thoroughly combine, (3) gradually beat in the flour mixture, (4) fold in your chocolate chips (and possibly nuts) by hand, (5) spread dough evenly into a 9″ x 13″ baking pan that has been fitted with a foil sling and generously greased or sprayed with quick release spray (6) bake at 350° F in the lower middle rack of the oven until the top just begins to brown (20-25 minutes).

Comments – I kept the same amount of chips and nuts that I used in my Chocolate Chip Cookies (and I split the chips between semi-sweet and white) – this is WAY more than most blondie recipes call for and I am quite OK with that – I also like these with a handful of raisins thrown-in for good measure. Also, be sure to cool these completely before trying to use the foil sling to lift them from the pan – give them 2 hours or so – if you try to lift them out before they have fully cooled and firmed-up, they can bend and break down the middle.

Note – You can see an additional ingredient in the pictures below – something I got from Williams-Sonoma that I like to use in recipes that call for vanilla – it’s ground dried Tahitian vanilla bean powder – I like to use just a little bit (like 1/4 tsp.) for flavor in baked goods like cookies and brownies and blondies. Desirable, but totally optional.

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Preparation 1 – A 9″ x 13″ pan fitted with a foil sling to facilitate blondie removal – sprayed with Trader Joe’s Coconut Oil Spray (great flavor).

Preparation 2 – Ingredients at the ready: nuts and chips weighed-out and mixed, light brown sugar, melted butter, flour and leavening and salt, eggs, and vanilla.

Preparation identical to that given in my post on Chocolate Chip Cookies – spread evenly into prepared pan.

Baked until top just starts to brown.

Oh yeah!