Butterscotch Blondies

Happy Saturday, friends! And what a sunshiney morning it is. We're excited to have a fairly relaxing weekend, with only a concert and yoga class on the schedule (both my activities). It gives us plenty of time to clean the apartment to prepare for our friend Dan's arrival on Monday. Will is officially on spring break and is busy working on...well, he's busy watching a Spurs game right now, so perhaps some of that thesis work will start later today. Or tomorrow. Or sometime in the next week. But this makes for our second quiet weekend in a row, which is so exciting because it's such a rare occurrence. We'd probably go out to explore/do something in the area today, but we're holding off until Dan arrives to do some quintessential Williamsburg-area things that are on our bucket list. Which means it will just be a boring Saturday!

But enough about us. Will needed a baked good last weekend for an admitted students' reception and he asked me a little at the last minute. Luckily, I wasn't in the mood to make one of my regular go-to recipes, so I broke out a little baking book that my mother gave me awhile back, to look for something simple but tasty sounding. I came across these blondies and Will and I agreed that these would do the trick! They're super simple and we happened to have just the right amount of pecans in the cupboard, so it worked out perfectly that I didn't have to get anything to make these! They were fluffy and light and we ended up eating the leftovers for breakfast all week....because you can do that when you're an adult. Anyways, these were a hit and I would definitely make them again when I need something with a short turn-around time!

Baking Notes: I think the only things I changed were that I used dark brown sugar (not light) and bourbon vanilla extract (not regular) (not reflected below).

Butterscotch Blondies (adapted from The Little Book of Baking; makes 24)
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp butter
1 3/4 cups packed dark brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
4 oz. pecans, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13" x 9 " baking pan with foil; grease foil. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. In a 3-qt. saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Remove from heat, then stir in brown sugar and vanilla. Add the eggs, stirring until well mixed. Stir in the flour mixture and pecans until just blended. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Do not overtake - blondie will continue to firm as it cools. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Once cool, lift out with foil and peel away foil sides. Cut into 24 pieces and enjoy!