Cinnamon Roll Blondies

I have some bad news for my avid Cooking With Willis followers. Will is leaving me for the next couple months! First he's going to Italy for a couple weeks, where he is doing a short-term study abroad program. He even will get to take an Italian cooking class (guess who's begging him to take good notes and pictures for a blogpost?!?!?) during his time there, in addition to eating amazing food! Then, he'll be back for a couple days before heading off to Blacksburg for the majority of the rest of the summer, to complete his summer internship at Virginia Tech's Global Education Office. While there, he will be staying with some of our friends and picking up some new Turkish recipes from their beautiful mother. And while I'm looking forward to him showing off his new skills and recipes from both locations, that does mean that Cooking With Willis as you know it will be....different. It will temporarily become "Trying to cook, with Megan, who is still fairly useless in the kitchen." I've got confidence that I will be able to cook well enough to sustain myself, however I think my recipe selections may lack some of the creativity and courage that Will's do. And I anticipate the recipes will be cranked out at a slower rate, since I will be cooking for one.

However, this news means you may get more desserts like this one! That's because I am always happy to make tasty desserts and share them with my coworkers (hope nobody was planning a summer diet, y'all!). Food is less shareable because people have dietary restrictions, don't like certain ingredients, etc., but desserts tend to always be welcome in a crowd. I made these at the same time I made the Salted Caramel Cheesecake Dip, for the School of Ed's Higher Ed end-of-semester potluck. What I love about this recipe is while it's similar to my Snickerdoodle Blondies recipe in ease of making, the flavors are just different enough for me to enjoy each independently. Both recipes are great because you probably have everything, or almost everything, in your cupboards and fridge to make them whenever you want. What's better than a dessert that you don't have to get ingredients for? Not much, my friends. Not much. So enjoy this recipe and hang tight with me this summer to see if the whole point of this blog (originally) has been accomplished: to teach me how to cook. Excuse me now while I go cry while shoving my face with these blondies, over Will's absence. Just kidding!

Baking Notes: My glaze never turns out and it definitely didn't turn out as pretty as Sally's pictures. I don't know why since I follow the proportions given, that it just never seems to mix correctly. Oh well. I followed the rest of the recipe closely, with my only alteration being the cinnamon: sugar ratio, because I always have a bottle of premixed cinnamon sugar on hand. Otherwise, I trusted in Sally per use and was not disappointed!

Cinnamon Roll Blondies (adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction Cookbook; makes 16 bars)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch ground nutmeg
5 tbsp salted butter, melted
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
Glaze
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
3 tsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line the bottom and sides of an 8x8 baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving an overhang on all sides.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, 1 tsp of the cinammon and nutmeg together, then set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar, and 1/4 cup sugar. Add the egg and vanilla extract, whisking until combined. Slowly add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients, continuously stirring with a rubber spatula, until combined, creating a thick batter. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan, spreading it out to create an even layer. In a small bowl, mix 1/4 tsp cinnamon and 1 tbsp sugar, then sprinkle over the batter. Bake for 25 minutes or until  lightly golden brown on top. Allow blondies to cool completely in the pan before transferring to a wire rack.

While the blondies cool, mix the glaze ingredients together in a small bowl, making sure there aren't any clumps of confectioners sugar. Drizzle over the cooled blondies. Remove blondies using the overhang, then cut into squares. Enjoy!