Praline Almond, Pistachio and Chocolate Chip Blondies Recipe

In the past 2-3 months, after moving house, having out-of-town visitors, going on several trips, including Dublin, it feels like things are starting to settle down again for me to be able to get into my (new apartment’s) kitchen – just in time for my trip to the United States next month!

I’ll be there for BlogHer in Chicago and making stops in San Francisco, San Diego, and New Mexico (Alberquerque and near the Texas border at El Paso). If you’ll be at one of these places, I hope we’ll be able to meet! (I’m on Twitter as @rosso! Are you?)

I have to be honest I wasn’t that familiar with Dorie Greenspan until a few years ago when I noticed how often her name came up when bloggers talked about or posted recipes. When her Baking from my home to yours book came out, I picked it up, leafed through it as I always do with new cookbooks, and noted the pages of the recipes that interested me. At the end of this exercise, I had a list almost as long as her recipe index!

So far, everything I’ve made from the cookbook has turned out great, and I still have a bunch of recipes waiting to be tried! The cookbook itself is beautiful and the recipes are accessible and I’ve personalized a few of them to be my own.

I was obsessing recently about blondies, the cousin to brownies, and what I like to think of as a mix between a brownie and a cookie bar. Since I didn’t have any butterscotch or toffee chips around, I decided to praline some nuts to get some of that caramel flavor. My version makes a much richer and darker blondie.

This particular batch didn’t make it to my office. It almost didn’t even last an afternoon!

What would you add to your blondies?

Praline Almond and Pistachio Blondies Recipe

Note: Adapted from Baking, from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan. The original recipe calls for butterscotch/toffee chips, light brown sugar, and sweetened coconut.

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup pralined almonds, chunked/chopped (make your own! see recipe below)
1/2 cup pralined pistaschios, chunked/chopped
1 cup shredded coconut

1. Preheat oven to 325F/160C. Butter a 9×13 dish.
2. Mix flour, baking powder and soda, and salt together in another dish.
3. In a mixing bowl, and using a hand  or stand mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Add both sugars and beat until well-mixed, then adding one egg at a time. Add vanilla.
4. Add the dry ingredients at a slow speed until they are just mixed with the other ingredients. With a spatula mix the chocolate, shredded coconut and the pralined nuts.
5. Fold the batter out into the buttered dish, and bake for about 40 minutes, checking to see if a knife inserted will come out clean.

Other food bloggers make Blondies:

• Blondies Recipe | Simply Recipes
• blondies, infinitely adaptable | smitten kitchen
• macadamia nut and chocolate chip blondies recipe | use real butter
• Cooking with Amy: A Food Blog: Cranberry Nut Blondies: Recipe
• Chewy, Chunky Blondies | Baking Bites

Praline Almonds Recipe (or your favorite nut)

Adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

200g almonds
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 water

Put all ingredients in heavy saucepan/skillet (not nonstick!) and mix continuously with a wooden spoon while heating over medium-to-high flame until the mixture starts boiling. Lower heat slightly and keep mixing until water starts to evaporate and the sugar becomes grainy or sandy. Keep stirring and slowly the grains will start to liquify at the bottom of the pan with an intense caramel color. Mix until the nuts are covered in the liquified sugar and glazed. Turn nuts out onto a baking sheet to cool down.