Browned Butter Hazelnut Blondies

This Summer is going to be legendary. Actually it will technically be this Spring. Enough of the technicalities, back to the awesomeness. Two of my bromigos and myself are going to Europe baby! It's been planned for a bit now but today seemed like a good day to mention it. I've been a few times before but never with my friends on our lonesome. 

Why today did I mention this? For some odd reason blondies seem like a American dessert. Yet when I think of hazelnuts, I think of Europe. Yes that is odd but hazelnuts is in Nutella which is eaten a lot over there and hazelnuts are in Ferrero Rochers which sound European. Therefore when I added the hazelnuts it made this American dessert transform into something European. A solid analysis if I may say so myself.

Browned Butter Hazelnut Blondies
Adapted from Martha

blondies
1/3 cup butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 3/4 cups packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup hazelnuts, toasted, skins rubbed off with a kitchen towel, and chopped 

2/3 cup milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-by-11-inch baking pan*. Line with parchment paper. Butter parchment. Melt butter in a sauce pan over medium heat and stir occasionally until brown bits start to form at the bottom. Remove from heat. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat butter and sugar until combined. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add flour mixture, and stir until combined. Stir in hazelnuts and chocolate chips. Press dough into pan. Bake until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs, about 25 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes. Cut into squares. Serve with additional Nutella. Blondies can be stored in an airtight container up to 2 days. Serves 24.

* Who has an 8 x 11 pan? I used a 8 x 8 pan and a loaf pan. I reckon an 9 x 9 would be better.

Nuts of all Flavours

Everyone loves chocolate covered almonds, well any sane person. It is a pretty well known fact. So as I was looking for Christmas baking recipes through assorted magazines and cookbooks, I saw a chocolate covered almonds recipe. This struck me as an odd thing to publish because it seems pretty basic: chocolate and almonds. Curious I was.They were delicious! The thing that made them so unique was they had a double coating. The first was a cinnamon caramel like coating that had to set. Then came the chocolate layer. Then to finish them off they were coated in cocoa or powdered sugar. Minor problem was that they were really quite odd looking but I blame myself for that one. I did not coat them properly with the first layer.

Since I was on this nut kick I thought I would give vanilla hazelnuts a whirl too (contrasting the chocolate, of course). These too looked a little odd but once again delicious! The vanilla coating was so crunchy and these were much easier and quicker to make. If you like nuts to snack on, try these.

Chocolate Covered Almonds
Recipe can be found here
2 1/2 cups (13 ounces) unblanched whole almonds*
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pound semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Toast almonds for 15 minutes on a baking sheet. Line two baking pans with parchment paper; set aside. In a medium saucepan, combine granulated sugar, 1/4 cup water, toasted almonds, and cinnamon. Cook, stirring constantly, until sugar becomes golden and granular and almonds are completely coated and separated.** Pour nuts onto prepared pans.*** Chill in freezer, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, place chocolate in a medium bowl; place bowl over simmering water until melted. Transfer half the chilled almonds to a large bowl, and pour half the melted chocolate over nuts. Stir until nuts are thoroughly coated. Transfer nuts onto prepared baking pan. Using two forks, separate nuts so none stick together. Return almonds to refrigerator until chocolate has set, about 20 minutes. Repeat with remaining almonds. Place cocoa powder and confectioners’ sugar into two separate bowls. Toss half the nuts in cocoa and half in sugar, and gently tap off any excess powder. Store separately in airtight containers for up to 1 month or, in my case, about three days.

* I accidently purchased blanched almonds and it turned out fine.
** This was super annoying. The directions were so vague with no temperatures, time spans or even stove top directions. I had the stove at about medium heat, stirred them for about 8 minutes and the temperature is still unknown. But I would recommend cooking them until the sauce is quite thick.
*** Do not pour the extra sauce on top of them, it really makes like much more difficult than it has to be. They don't exactly pop out of the sauce once it is solidified so try and avoid this.