Chocolate Pecan Blondies
Stuffed with chocolate chips and chopped pecans, these Chocolate Pecan Blondies are an easy and delicious dessert!
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Somehow we have managed to accumulate a lot of stuff over the past couple of years. I suspect that having a toddler in the house contributes to the aforementioned stuff. Back in the Fall, we cleaned out our shed in the backyard. Like really cleaned it out. If that thing had heat, I could live out there now! And then recently we started tackling our basement (aka my office, my man cave, my sports-watching room, our storage room and my photography studio).
We’ve collected a lot of stuff in our basement, too. Stacks upon stacks of old food magazines and cookbooks. Piles of random plates that I think I might use in a photo one day. High school yearbooks. (Don’t worry…I kept those!) And old college textbooks. Now I’m all about saving some textbooks that you think you might use again one day, but I’m a good 15 years removed from undergrad and 5 years removed from grad school. If I haven’t used those books yet, then I don’t think I will. Plus, what good is a book on Latin love poetry going to do me now?
As I was cleaning out some of those old textbooks, it reminded me of the long nights studying back in college. I always had a hard time studying in my room as there were too many distractions (ahem, video games, ahem). So when I needed to get some real work done, I’d pack up my bag and my 20-pound laptop and head off to the library or another building on campus for a long night of cramming. If I went to the reading room in the library, then I’d stop somewhere around 10pm for a coffee. It was a nice way to break up the hours of studying. But if I went to other buildings (to mix it up a bit), then the snack options were far more limited.
I remember one building had sandwiches in a vending machine in the basement. That was the only option for a snack. Needless to say, I usually skipped the snack on those nights. I mean, it was a sandwich…in a vending machine…in the basement of a building. Sounds kinda sketchy, right? Speaking of things that are sketchy in vending machines…oysters. A company on Ile de Ra (an island off the southwestern coast of France) now sells oysters from a vending machine. $8 for a dozen. Uh? Does that really seem like a good idea? I put that one on par with the sandwiches from a vending machine.
Instead of oysters or sandwiches with suspiciously long expiration dates, I say we start a vending machine company that spits out baked goods. Like cookies, cakes and brownies. We’ll have to tackle the freshly baked concept, but my wife is an engineer. I’ll have her come up with something scientific there. And then we can stock that vending machine with treats like these Chocolate Pecan Blondies. Or Chocolate Cake. Or Caramel Apple Cheesecake. Come to think of it, we’re going to need a very large vending machine.
I was initially going to make brownies stuffed with chocolate chips and pecans, but then somewhere in between my office and the kitchen I called an audible. I decided to go with a blondie instead. Blondies are the lesser-known (but equally loved) cousin of brownies, and I happen to enjoy a good blondie. So Chocolate Pecan Blondies it was. These Chocolate Pecan Blondies are a cross between cookie + brownie + cake…and they’re delicious! The brown sugar brings a ton of flavor, and of course the chocolate chips + nuts are fun additions. But feel free to mix this one up. Toss some walnuts in there. Or butterscotch chips. Or M&M’s. But whatever you do, don’t add oysters…especially not oysters from a vending machine.
Enjoy these Chocolate Pecan Blondies, my friends!
Chocolate Pecan Blondies
Ingredients
- 8 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 1½ cups light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ⅓ cup milk
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips divided
- ¾ cup pecans chopped, divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Line an 8”x8” baking pan with parchment paper so that the paper hangs over two of the edges by a couple of inches. Set pan aside.
- Using a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar, eggs and milk. Add the flour, baking powder and salt; mix until just combined. Fold ½ cup each of semisweet chocolate chips and chopped pecans into the batter.
- Spread batter into the prepared baking pan. Sprinkle remaining ¼ cup each of semisweet chocolate chips and chopped pecans on top.
- Bake at 350°F for 44-46 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean.
- Allow blondies to cool in pan.
- Lift the cooled bars out of the pan; slice into squares.
These blondies sound delicious! Look at all those chocolate chips and pecan, I couldn’t stay away from these. So much better than anything that you could get out of a vending machine.
Haha! I’m gonna have to agree that these blondies are way better than anything from a vending machine. The real trick is to figure out how to have a vending machine make these…wouldn’t that be a nice gadget to keep in the corner? 🙂 Thanks, Dawn!
Are there 8 T plus 4 oz of butter or does this mean 8 T = 4 oz of butter? Or one stick butter which = 8 T?
Thank you
Hey Deborah! There are 8 tablespoons of butter in this recipe. I’ve edited the recipe above so that it makes more sense – sorry for the confusion!! Happy baking!
Vending machine oysters are my new nightmare. I’ll go in on that baked good vending machine with you though! I’d definitely grab one of these blondies out of a vending machine, especially during a night of studying; I remember those days so well! And I just got rid of a bunch of textbooks when I moved. Why I thought I’d need a book about ape biology is beyond me :). But I still have my Spanish verb conjugation book. You never know when that might come in handy!
Yeah…I’m not a fan of oysters to begin with, but the thought of getting them from a vending machine? Uh. So let me get this straight. You tossed the book on ape biology (now there’s an interesting class!), but you kept the one on Spanish grammar? I get that. Just don’t start blogging in Spanish, ok? 🙂 Thanks, Kelsie!
I like the idea of a vending machines which would give fresh cookies or blondies like this..you will be sure to find me near them all the time 😉 I think I remember reading about a vending machine for cupcakes..! These blondies look so good, I am craving chocolate and want one now!
Tell me about it, Manali! If they could make a vending machine that could pop out fresh cookies or other baked treats, then that would be dangerous! Think about having one of those at work…or a smaller version at home!? You know, I seem to recall the vending machine for cupcakes, too…but I think they were already pre-baked and just loaded into compartments. I mean I guess that’s better than nothing, right? In the meantime, I’ll be perfectly ok with a batch of these blondies instead! 🙂
Such a palatable treat recipe you have here, David! Perfect combo of ingredients for a finger-licking dessert. What kind of milk works best for this recipe?
Thank you so much, Agness! This dessert really is quite delicious. As far as milk, I always use traditional milk when baking, and I usually use either 2% or whole. I hope you enjoy these blondies as much as we do! 🙂
Baked goods vending machine > Oyster vending machine. I’ll sign up for some of the former in my town! I can’t imagine anyone that buys those oysters doesn’t regret it later.
Great recipe though! I grew fond of blondies when I was pretty young as I didn’t like chocolate until I was older (yeah I was a weird kid haha) and this recipe has some awesome taste and textures added to it!
Tell me about it! I mean I’m sure the oyster vending machine guy did his research about food safety (I hope), but still. The thought is a little suspect. But can you imagine how dangerous a baked goods vending machine would be?? And if they made a personal version for at home? Actually, that’s just called a personal chef. Hah! Thanks so much, Matt!
Decluttering can be so therapeutic, I had to get rid of a lot of stuff when I moved to London many many years ago and tried to embrace a more minimalistic style. I still have my old textbooks too, I can’t bring myself to get rid of them. Fun memories 🙂 Oysters from vending machines really does not sound like a great idea but could you please install one of yours here in London – right next to our house would be the ideal location 🙂
Yeah, I totally agree, Miriam. As much as I hated those books back when I was forced to read them in school, it’s kinda fun to pull them out now. But at some point, enough is enough, right? As far as that vending machine, I’ll get right to work on it! I appreciate your willingness to serve as a guinea pig for the trial version. 🙂 Hope you and the family have a great weekend ahead!
Haha! We are both on the brownie train today!!! I can’t stop thinking about oysters from a vending machine. I can’t even. We have a lot of books and old toys and the like in our basement too and hoping to get it organized into kind of a fun room. I’ve been obsessed lately with toys from my childhood…I think pretty soon I’m going be like the guy from the movie ’40 year old virgin’ and have a huge collection, lol. Anywhoooo- these brownies sound and look absolutely delicious, David! Love all those pecans on top! Cheers to an awesome weekend 🙂
You can’t ever have too many brownies! 🙂 I hear ya about toys from childhood. My Mom was up visiting this past weekend, and she brought me my old baseball mitt and my Garfield alarm clock. Talk about a walk down memory lane! Thanks so much for the kind words, Dawn, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend ahead. Cheers to brownies!
Is it true David when you say “WE’VE collected a lot of stuff in our basement too”, referring to the old food magazines and cookbooks, or do you actually mean YOU? :-). Your talking about the Oyster Machine in France reminded me of the French Fry machine my friends and I found in a campsite in France when we were backpacking around Europe in our teens. It was invaluable when we became hungry sampling all those French wines…….. Anyway I’m currently salivating in work looking at these Chocolate Pecan Blondies! Must get some work done…….
Hahaha…thanks for calling me out there, Neil. But you are entirely correct! I can’t blame Laura for the collection of old food magazines and cookbooks. I mean some of those cookbooks are hers from back in the day, but I’ve sorta “acquired” them now. 🙂 Wait. Did I just read that correctly? A French Fry vending machine!? Now that is genius! The oyster machine? Not so much. But French fry machine? Yes! Thanks so much for the kind words, and I hope you had a great weekend!
Vending machines have interesting things at them at the airport… Have you ever seen the ones that have $300 Beats headphones or pricey Benefit makeup? Guess if you forgot your headphones and have a 12-hour flight, you might just go for it haha… but I think I’d go for these blondes in vending machines!
Yes! I have seen those vending machines with crazy expensive electronics. I don’t think I would ever get something like that from a vending machine…but I guess enough people do or else they wouldn’t have ’em, right? I say the next step (after the baking vending machine) is a battery-powered or chargeable vending machine. That way we can just bring it with us! Imagine a machine that would just bake us a single chocolate chip cookie whenever you wanted. Awesome!!
OK, a few things…
First, I second oysters from a vending machine are ALL KINDS of sketch! BLAH! That’s nasty!
Second, you mentioned video games, do you own the switch yet? Me and the hubs are late on the draw but we finally bought it and beat the Mario game. It’s amazing!
Third, admittedly I’ve never tried a blondie before. I know, what in the freaking what is wrong with me?
Fourth, I’m avoiding refined sugar this month but you BEST believe I’m pinning this amazing looking recipe for the near future. YUM!!!!
I couldn’t agree more! I mean you gotta give them credit for going out on a limb to make an oyster vending machine…but it’s a machine vending oysters. Uhhh. Yeah.
Also, Switch! Yes, Santa brought me a Switch this year, and I’ve been playing Mario a bit lately. Love it! I haven’t beaten it yet, but I’m working my way through it. And then next up will be Zelda.
Also, blondies. You need to eat one.
Also, blondies. You need to eat on on February 1. 🙂
You basement sounds like an amazing place for a research! Or you can organize all these artifacts in a museum haha. And these blondies look fantastic, and the combo of pecans and chocolate is so irresponsible. There’s the thing. I cannot handle this kind of baked goods. I’ve successfully baked many brownies, but blondies have never turned well yet. I even gave up on them few years back. But this looks so good that I might attempt it once again. I’ll probably substitute the chocolate for butterscotch chips as it would be a great combo too (Don’t worry – if I succeed, I’ll send you a slice or two) 🙂
My basement is an amazing place for all sorts of things! Sure, there is research as I have wayyy too many cookbooks and food magazines. But then there is the couch…and the tv…and the beer/wine fridge…and the video games. See where I’m going here? 🙂 I gotta say that these blondies turned out really well! They’re more cake-like than chewy, but I liked ’em! You could use this same base and just change in the mix-ins. Butterscotch chips would be an excellent choice! Thanks, Ben!
After reading your story, it reminded me of my college days. I really miss those days. BTW, David, my mouth is watering after seeing those images of chocolate pecan blondies. Pinning 🙂
In a funny way, I kinda miss those college days, too. I mean it felt like endless hours of studying, but I wouldn’t mind going back and reliving those days again! But this time, I’d take a batch of these blondies with me. 🙂 Thanks, Puja!!
I audibly gasped at oysters from a vending machine! omg, no!! lol…
Back in college and now too, these bars are absolute perfection. I’ll take a blondie over a brownie any day of the week and the more chunks and nuts the better!
Yeah…I kinda did the same thing, too, Marissa. I was like, “Wait. What? Oysters in a vending machine? Ummm…” So I’m still not sure if I would take a blondie or a brownie. I love ’em both! But I do agree with you that the more chunks and nuts and other add-ins, the better! Thanks so much, Marissa, and I hope you had a great weekend!
What a texture party going on in these blondies. I simply love pecan and chocolate chips together. They look so delicious. I am gonna have to try these soon.
Neha! Yes, those blondies do indeed have some fun textures. I’m all about nuts and chunks added into blondies! And I’m like you, I love pecans and chocolate chips together in desserts. Thanks so much for the kind words, my friend!
Now I’d go in with you on a “vending machine company that spits out baked goods” What a fantastic idea that would be – fresh baked deliciousness is way way better than even candy bars or -GAH- oysters!!!
I recently joined a photo club here in Athens and somehow have been designated the snack-bringer and I am thinking these delicious blondies will have to go on my snack rotation! I made a some bars with pretzels and chocolate (an adaptation of a refined sugar free one I did awhile back) and they went fast – these would ALL disappear at that meeting am sure!
Tell me about it! How cool would that vending machine be? We could have a warm chocolate chip cookie whenever we wanted just by pushing a button. Count me in! Now as far as these blondies, I think they would be a great addition to the photo club. But beware…you might just want to keep them all for yourself! 🙂 Hope you had a great weekend, Shashi!