Cranberry
White Chip Blondies
I hate to admit it, but I am one of those people
who buys a gift for someone and then uses the recipe on the back of the package
before giving the gift. Are there meetings for this sort of behavior? Anyway, this recipe comes from the back of a Wilton pan I bought for a
good friend’s birthday. Although I have heard great things about this brand,
the recipe on the back was the final kicker in making my decision.
The recipe was pretty straightforward. There aren’t
many necessary ingredients. A big plus is that I had all the ingredients on
hand: flour, brown sugar, baking powder, 3 eggs, butter, salt (I forgot to get
it out before I took the picture), white chocolate chips, and dried
cranberries.
Begin
by preheating the oven to 350° F and preparing a 9 by 13” pan with non stick
spray. Next, combine the 1 ½ c flour, 1 ½ tsp baking powder, and ¼ tsp salt.
Then combine ¾ c (1 ½ sticks) butter and 1 ½ c
brown sugar in a saucepan. Melt the butter and brown sugar and stir until
smooth. Keep them off heat for 5 minutes before stirring in 3 eggs and 1 Tbsp
vanilla. Add the sugar mixture to the flour mixture until blended.
Fold in ¾ c
cranberries and ¾ c white chocolate chips (add the chocolate chips last because
the mixture may be hot and they will start to melt right away).
Pour
the mixture into the prepared pan. Then sprinkle the remaining cranberries and
white chocolate chips over the batter. Bake 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick
inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely before cutting.
Here’s
the final product!
It
turned out very soft in the middle especially. I think I could get away with using
less butter and still having the same effect.
Cranberry
White Chip Blondies
1 ½ c
flour
1 ½ tsp
baking powder
¼ tsp
salt
¾ c (1 ½
sticks) unsalted butter
1 ½ c
firmly packed light brown sugar
3 eggs
1 Tbsp
vanilla extract
1 c
sweetened dried cranberries
1 c
white chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350° F.
Spray 9 x 13” pan with vegetable pan spray.
In a small bowl, combine
flour, baking powder and salt. In small saucepan, melt butter and brown sugar;
stir until smooth. Remove from heat and let cool about 5 minutes. Stir in eggs
and vanilla; mix well.
Add flour mixture; mix
until blended.
Fold in ¾ c of the
cranberries. Quickly stir in ¾ c of the white chocolate chips. Spread batter
into prepared pan. Sprinkle with remaining cranberries and chips.
Bake 22-25 minutes or
until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool completely before
cutting.
Makes 24 brownies.
Today’s “getting ready for a super-stellar school year” project was
a Calm Down Kit I saw on Pinterest. The original source was the Social Work
Practices at the UT Elementary School Blog (http://blogs.utexas.edu/utes_socialwork/2010/12/).
I have some students in my classroom who could definitely benefit from this
creation. 
The idea behind the Calm Down Kit is that a student who gets worked
up during class will be able to sit in a special spot with the items in the kit
to help them cope with their emotions. 
