Super Simple Chocolate Chunk Blondies

I needed a vehicle for my Ben n' Jerry's pint, and I needed one fast. A simple dish of ice cream wasn't going to do the trick. It had been a hard day, and I had a craving for ice cream served over something chewy, decadent, chocolatey, and substantial.

You know when you go into a coffee shop or good bakery and lust over the huge squares of bars and brownies behind the counter? Then will yourself to just order a coffee and leave as quickly as possible? Okay, well that's usually what I do, because if I gave into every alluring sweet I saw I would be constantly eating dessert. Anyway, when I imagined what I wanted to eat, I was imaging that kind of crazy bakery goodness. 

Cue these super-simple chocolate chunk blondies. Within minutes I was sitting down to heaps of ice cream that were slowly melting over a piping-hot, still-gooey-from-the-oven blondie. It really doesn't get much better than that, especially on a Monday. 

 

It's probably a dangerous thing that this dessert is so easy and accessible. It's all to easy to make a batch weekly and just have them around for the snacking. The ingredients are basic and so is the method.  This truly makes them a perfect dessert for everything from an unavoidable weeknight craving to a last minute gathering of friends (they certainly came in handy when we had an impromptu picnic gathering in the park). 

You won't need to think hard for a reason to make these. So pull our your chocolate bars, brown sugar, and a pot. You barely need much more than that to be on your way to chocolate chunk blondie heaven.

Chocolate Chunk Blondies: makes 16 squares
Ingredients:
2 cups packed brown sugar
2/3 cup butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup dark and milk chocolate chunks (bars chopped into large hunks or bagged chunks)
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8x8 baking pan and set aside. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt brown sugar and butter together until the mixture is smooth. Cool slightly. Stir in the eggs one at a time. Then stir in the vanilla. Stir in flour, baking powder, and baking soda.

Cool another few minutes so that the chocolate chunks do not melt when they are stirred in. Now gently fold in the 1 cup chocolate chunks. Pour the batter in the pan and spread it evenly to the sides. Drop the pan on the counter a few times to release air. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips over the top of the batter and bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool pan slightly on a wire rack then cut into 16 bars while still warm.