Turn a new leaf, make a fresh start

Why hello there. Happy 2010.

A bit late to be ringing in the new year, I agree, but I wasn't really expecting anyone to still be hanging around here. How about a round of Auld Lang Syne?

No? Not your thing? Oh right, you're not Scottish are you. No need then, really.



I'm sort of like the friend you keep calling who never phones you back. Eventually you stop bothering, she barely notices, and the whole thing fizzles. Glad you persevered though and made it through that rough patch.

Let's turn a new leaf, make a fresh start.

We could call it a new year's resolution, I guess, but I'd rather not. Resolutions, like rules, are made to be broken and I'd hate to start off on the wrong foot.

Right then, peanut butter blondies.



Peanut Butter Blondies with Butterscotch Ganache

Blondies:

3/4 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup salted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Ganache:
1 cup butterscotch chips
3 tablespoons cream

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 9-inch x 13-inch pan with parchment, creasing the corners so that they lie flat. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the peanut butter and butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugars and whip until combined. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and baking soda.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until combined. The batter will be fairly thick.

Pour/spread the batter into the prepared pan and smooth with a spatula.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the edges begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and the centre is set but not firm. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

When the blondie is cool, prepare the butterscotch ganache. In the top of a double boiler over low-medium heat, stir the butterscotch chips just until melted. Remove from heat, stir until smooth and immediately pour over the cooled blondie.

Refrigerate until set. Cut into squares. Or diamonds. Hell, I don't care.

Source: My slight variation on a recipe for Peanut Butter Heath Bar Blondies from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook, which was posted on some random website that I can no longer locate.

Notes: This is half of the original recipe, because a jelly roll pan of peanut butter blondies is too many blondies unless you've got takers already lined up. Between the liberties I've taken with the term ganache and my profligate use of butterscotch chips, it's likely someone has fainted by now. Hopefully there were no bumped heads on the way down. Sometimes I wonder if anyone actually reads all the way down here. Let me know, will you?