Day 14 of 25 Days of Christmas Cookies: Chocolate Chunk Blondies

Picture & Recipe courtesy of Barefoot Contessa & Food Network

One of my favorite things about this time of the year is baking cookies. I love baking cookies to give away to friends and family. There was one year when money was so tight that the only gift we gave to friends and family was cookie trays. (I made 18 different types of cookies that year!) To me, sometimes homemade gifts like this are treasured more than gifts you buy and wrap. Typically, what I do is bake lots of cookies over one or two days. I then freeze them until we get closer to Christmas. I then thaw all the cookies and make cookie trays to give away once the week of Christmas is upon us.

Every day between 11/30/11  and Christmas Eve, I will post 25 Days of Christmas Cookies. I would love your help! If you have a favorite cookie/bar to make this time of year, I would love for you to email me a picture of the finished product as well as a step by step recipe for it. I will then post your recipe and thousands of Addicted to Saving readers will get the chance to try out your recipe! Email me at addictedtosaving at hotmail dot com (all one word).

Day 14 of 25 Days of Christmas Cookies: Chocolate Chunk Blondies

I first made this amazing blondies recipe a few years ago.  It is so sweet and so rich.  And despite the sweetness, I can’t have just one.  I do make a small alteration – the recipe below calls for 1 1/4 pound (equals a little over 3 cups) of Chocolate Chunks.  I like to split that up and instead of using all chocolate chunks, I will use 1 cup Chocolate Chunks, 1 cup White Chocolate Chips AND 1 cup Butterscotch chips.  🙂  I cut my blondies into small bite size bars (almost the size of pieces of fudge).  Enjoy!

Ingredients
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
1 1/4 pounds semisweet chocolate chunks, such as Nestle’s

Directions
1)Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8 x 12 x 2 inch baking pan.
2) In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar on high speed for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low, add the vanilla, then the eggs, one at a time, and mix well, scraping down the bowl. In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt and with the mixer still on low, slowly add flour mixture to the butter mixture. Fold the walnuts and chocolate chunks in with a rubber spatula.
3)Spread the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 30 minutes exactly. Don’t overbake! A toothpick may not come out clean. Cool completely in the pan and cut into bars.

Christmas Cookies Recap:

Day 1 of 25 Days of Christmas Cookies Recipe: Peanut Butter Blossoms
Day 2 of 25 Days of Christmas Cookie Recipe: Rainbow Cookies
Day 3 of 25 Days of Christmas Cookie Recipe: Monster Cookies
Day 4 of 25 Days of Christmas Cookie Recipe: Hot Cocoa Cookies
Day 5 of 25 Days of Christmas Cookie Recipe: Jam Thumbprints
Day 6 of 25 Days of Christmas Cookie Recipe: Cinnamon Roll Cookies
Day 7 of 25 Days of Christmas Cookie Recipe: Lemon Sugar Cookies
Day 8 of 25 Days of Christmas Cookie Recipe: Easy as Fudge
Day 9 of 25 Days of Christmas Cookie Recipe: Chocolate Mint Brownies
Day 10 of 25 Days of Christmas Cookie Recipe: Snowball Cookies
Day 11 of 25 Days of Christmas Cookie Recipe: Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars
Day 12 of 25 Days of Christmas Cookie Recipe: Rich Dark Chocolate Tiger Cookies
Day 13 of 25 Days of Christmas Cookie Recipe: Reindeer Cupcakes