Tobacco, coffee, alcohol, hashish, prussic acid, strychnine, are weak dilutions. The surest poison is time.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Vanilla Bean Blog is one of my favourite food blogs and I  had seen this picture of coffee blondies on the site a long time back but had put off trying them for some reason or other. Then more recently, I bought the Vanilla Bean Baking Book (which i strongly recommend!) and saw the same alluring blondies . Bookmarked them again but somehow never got around to making them. And a while back, while I was browsing Bakers Royale (another one of my favourite blogs), I came across the same blondies -the very same recipe that had been tried from the book!

Cut to December 2018, when I was playing Secret Santa with a group of bakers and the only thing I knew about the Baker I got (other than the fact that she was a talented baker!) was that she liked coffee! There was no better time than this to try the blondies!

With a thumbs up from both Naomi Robinson (Baker Royale) and Sara Keiffer (Vanilla Bean Baker), it was a no brainer that this recipe would be great. It was . No argument there. In all honesty, the first time I tried them, I thought they were delicious but a little more on the cakier side than I generally like . The next time around, I found the texture perfect.

The bars are thin but intensely coffee. With such a strong boost of coffee flavour, the gooey chocolate chips are exactly what the blondie needs!

Coffee Blondies :

Ingredients :

• 95 grams or 3/4 cup all-purpose flour or maida
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 85 grams or 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 150 grams or 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee powder dissolved in 1 tablespoon water
• 1 small egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Method :

• Preheat the oven to 180 C or 350F.Line a 8 inch square pan with parchment paper, leaving the parchment long overhanging on two opposite sides .
• In a bowl, whisk together the flour ,baking powder and salt. Keep aside.
• In a saucepan, melt the butter and  brown sugar.
• Take off heat and stir in the coffee. Let the mixture cool to room temperature.
• Whisk in the egg and vanilla
• Whisk in the flour mixture until just combined.
• Stir in the chocolate chips.
• Spread the batter into the prepared pan and bake 20 to 24  minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centre should come out with a few moist crumbs.
• Cool completely in pan , remove the blondie slab by lifting the overhanging edges of parchment and slice !

Notes :

• This recipe can be doubled
• The blondies can be stored in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
• You can add some chopped nuts or white chocolate chips too
• My measuring cup measures 240 ml.

If you are a coffee person, you are going to gorge on these blondies! You could also have a look at some other coffee based recipes I have on the blog like the eggless coffee cupcakes , the coffee shortbread or the coffee overload cake !

PS. I own both the Vanilla Bean Baking Book and the Bakers Royale cookbook – both are jam packed with easy and delicious and some interesting  recipes .