Blondies (ATK)

• servings: 16

Ingredients

2 cups (10 ounces) all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1¾ cups packed (12¼ ounces) brown sugar

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 large egg plus 2 large whites, room temperature

4 teaspoons vanilla extract

1½ teaspoons cider vinegar

2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine

¼ cup pecans, toasted and chopped

Directions

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Make foil sling for 13 by 9-inch baking pan by folding 2 long sheets of aluminum foil; first sheet should be 13 inches wide and second sheet should be 9 inches wide. Lay sheets of foil in pan perpendicular to each other, with extra foil hanging over edges of pan. Push foil into corners and up sides of pan, smoothing foil flush to pan. Lightly spray with vegetable oil spray.

2. Whisk flour, salt, and baking soda together in bowl. Whisk sugar, melted butter, egg and whites, vanilla, and vinegar together in large bowl until smooth. Stir in flour mixture, chocolate, and pecans with rubber spatula until just combined.

3. Transfer batter to prepared pan and smooth top. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out with few moist crumbs attached, 17 to 20 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking. Let blondies cool completely in pan on wire rack, about 2 hours. Using foil overhang, lift blondies out of pan. Cut into 16 pieces and serve.

Notes

To lighten up blondies, we'd need to get rid of more than half of the butter. But when we did so, our problems cascaded. BY CAROLYNN PURPURA MACKAY

SURE WE WANT to cut fat and calories from our diets, but give up blondies? Not on your life. The chewy, golden, butterscotch-flavored cousin to brownies has been a favorite of mine since grade school. I'd just have to find a way to slim them down. There is no shortage of low-fat blondie recipes, but they are indisputably weird. Ordinary blondies are made from butter, brown sugar, flour, eggs, vanilla extract, leavener, chocolate chips, and nuts. The recipes that I found tried every trick in the book to replace the fat and sugar, from mashed chickpeas, apple juice, fake sugars, and carob chips to pureed pumpkin and egg substitutes. Trying to rein in my skepticism, I pulled out mixing bowls and tested them. After I tasted the results, my initial fears were confirmed; they were uniformly horrible. Switching course, I pulled out our own terrific recipe for full-fat blondies, intending to trim where I could. The primary trouble was easy to pinpoint: 12 tablespoons of butter for 16 bars. To get even close to making my fat allowance, I'd need to cut that back by more than half. I tried just straight-out slashing it to the requisite 5 tablespoons but immediately ran into three big problems. First, because butter adds moisture as well as fat, the batter was so dry that I could barely mix it. Second, because butter both carries flavor and has so much flavor itself, the blondies were practically tasteless. And third, because fat is essential to chewiness, these blondies had lost their distinctive chew. I'd need to find ingredients to mimic each of these qualities. To moisten the batter, I stirred in, by turns, buttermilk, nonfat yogurt, skim milk, and even water. These turned what should be chewy blondies ever more cakey. Changing course, I tried supple- menting the butter with almond butter, thinking it could replace both butter and nuts. Unfortunately, it covered up the butterscotch that is the hallmark of a good blondie. At this point, - got a kooky idea: I'd go up on the moist brown sugar. Sure, it was counterintuitive for a recipe makeover, but I'd cut so many (butter) calories already that I had some leeway, and it wouldn't add any fat. As I'd hoped, an extra ¼ cup of brown sugar moistened the batter further, and it help- fully underlined the butterscotch flavor. But while the brown sugar was an improvement, the batter was still dry and the blondies themselves cakey. Our science editor suggested that I add vinegar. Beyond the obvious fact that it would add moisture, he said that if I combined the vinegar with the eggs, the acid would begin to coagulate the proteins, providing the bars with more chewy structure. I tried it, combining 1½ teaspoons of cider vinegar with the eggs. Amazingly, this batter baked into properly chewy blondies. But my fat count still wasn't low enough. Getting rid of egg yolks is a basic makeover strategy, so I decided to try replacing the two whole eggs in our full-fat recipe with an equal volume of egg whites (I'd need four). But as one taster commented, with so little tenderizing fat this was "one tough blonde." I restored one whole egg, using it in combination with two whites. Better. Now that I'd solved the triple problems created by drastically cutting the butter, it was time to think about the nuts and chocolate, which also add considerable fat and calories. To mimic their crunch, I tested a range of substitutes, including Grape-Nuts cereal, chopped-up Heath bars (actually less fat, believe it or not), and steel-cut and regular oats. A few of these things (like the Heath bars) changed blondies into something they weren't (like toffee squares). Another (the Grape-Nuts) just wasn't good, adding grit, not crunch. In the end, I stuck with both the nuts and the chocolate but in smaller quantities than in the original recipe. To get the same mileage out of less, I toasted the nuts and replaced the chocolate chips with gooier chopped bar chocolate. My grade school favorite was still delicious, but now I could eat it with a clear conscience.

Use room-temperature ingredients. which will make the batter easier to spread.

The secret to our fasty Reduced-Fal Blondies? Moderation (and a little vinegar).

Cooks country August/September 2013