Chewy White Chocolate Macadamia Bars

Today's cookies are a long awaited reward for some friends who ran the Capitol 10K, a big running event here in Austin.  Have I mentioned just how active people are in this city? It's good because it makes me feel less guilty serving desserts. All this running demands fuel, right? Fuel in the form of Chewy White Chocolate Macadamia Bars.

Chewy White Chocolate Macadamia Bars

Technically, these are blondies, but since they're chewier and thinner than some of my other blondie recipes, I'm calling them bars. The recipe is adapted from Classic Home Desserts: A Treasury of Heirloom and Contemporary Recipes. In the past I've always used pecans and butterscotch chips in place of the macadamia nuts and white chocolate, but today I finally followed directions and used the same add-ins as Sax.

Here's what the macadamia bars look like wrapped in 4x6 inch treat bags. Even though I'm serving them tomorrow, I'm going to store them in the freezer so that they'll be extra fresh. Blondie type bars almost always freeze well.

Metal vs. Glass Pan for Baking

For a lot of recipes you can use metal and glass pans interchangeable, but I don't recommend glass for these. When I tried to bake Chewy White Chocolate Macadamia Bars in a glass pan, the edges were overbaked and the centers were under-baked. So use a metal pan. They tasted great, but the texture was just too gooey. Speaking of which, you should give the bars plenty of time to cool and set. They're borderline candy bars, so if served warm they will be too gooey.

Macadamia Bars vs. Any Other Nut Bars

Macadamia nuts can be expensive, so feel free to use another type of nut. I've had success with pecans and chopped walnuts. If you like the flavor of coconut, a half cup of sweetened or unsweetened coconut is a nice addition.

Recipe

Chewy White Chocolate Macadamia Bars

Cookie Madness

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Blondies adapted from a wonderful blondie recipe in Richard Sax's Classic Home Desserts.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 26 minutes mins

Total Time 36 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 16

Ingredients

 

• ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 115 grams
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 large egg
• ¾ cup plus 2 T. packed light brown sugar (160 grams)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ½ cup unsalted or salted butter, melted and cooled** (114 grams)
• ½ cup roasted macadamia nuts I use lightly salted
• 3-4 oz bar white chocolate chopped, Baker's or Ghirardelli

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line an 8 inch metal baking pan with foil. Spray bottom only with cooking spray.
• Mix the flour, salt and baking soda together in a small bowl.
• In a mixing bowl, using a handheld electric mixer, beat the egg and brown sugar for about two minutes or until light and frothy.
• Beat in the vanilla extract and then the COOLED melted butter. Add the flour mixture and stir with a big spoon or heavy duty scraper until it is mostly blended in, then stir in the nuts and white chocolate and stir until fully mixed.
• Pour the batter into the pan, smooth the top, and bake on center rack for about 27 to 30 minutes (mine always take 30) or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs -- the top will be quite brown. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack. Cool completely before cutting into squares or rectangles.

Notes

Butter should be cool when added. One trick is to melt half a stick of butter in the microwave, the chop up the remaining butter and stir it into the hot melted butter. It will cool the butter as it melts.
Make sure the butter is cool.  Also, the recipe calls for unsalted butter, but salted works just as well.  

Keyword chewy blondies

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