The holidays are a time for community, family, and tradition, so what better way to celebrate them with a sweet treat! These blondies are super simple to make and great for sharing with others! The recipe I use creates incredibly rich blodies with warm notes from the use of brown sugar and white chocolate.
Recipe
1 stick melted butter
1 large egg
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup AP flour
1/2 tsp salt (I like to double this amount)
1 cup white chocolate chips
Cream Cheese Topping
6 oz soften cream cheese
1/2 stick of softened butter
1.5 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
any additional candies/sprinkles/choco. chips for topping
Step One
Preheat your oven to 350 and line a square pan with foil, preferably 8x8, but you can use another size pan (the cooking time might be a little different). Spray down the lined pan with some cooking spray for easy removal of brownies. Melt the 1 stick of butter in the microwave. I like to do 30 second intervals to make sure the butter doesn't burn or bubble over. Once the butter has cooled down for a little, pour it into a medium sized bowl and combine it with the brown sugar.
Step Two
Whisk in the egg and vanilla extract just until combined and smooth. After this step, the batter should look fluffier than before.
Step Three
Add all of the dry ingredients to the bowl. Whisk everything together until just combined; you don't want to overwork the gluten and make the brownies tough.
After this add the white chocolate chips. A lot of recipes say to fold the chips in instead of whisking them in so they don't break apart, but I don't find a problem with whisking them in as long as I do it gently. To make these blondies even more festive, you can add crushed candy cane pieces or around 1/2 tsp of mint extract (or to taste).
Step Four
Transfer the blondie batter to the pre-prepared pan and even the top of the batter out so it cooks evenly. The recipe says to cook the blondies for 20-22 minutes, but I found that they were done around 26-28 minutes of cook time. So, I say start off with around 20 minutes and if they don't seem finished, increase the time in 2 minute increments until they do. You will know the blondies are done if a toothpick comes out of the batter clean and the center of them seems set when shaken a little.
Step 5
For the frosting, cream the cream cheese and butter together until fluffy. After that add the vanilla extract, salt, and powdered sugar (slowly). Once everything is combined, the frosting is ready! This part is very important: you MUST wait for the blondies to be entirely cooled before frosting them!!! If they are even the slightest bit warm, the frosting will melt when it comes into contact with the blondies. After you frost the cooled blondies, you can add any toppings you want. I only added red and green sprinkles to mine but you can add anything you want. Now your blondies should be ready to eat!