White chocolate snickerdoodle blondies

My nephew, "Vanilla King," loves snickerdoodles. True to his moniker, he also likes white chocolate, although when he was younger and in a "I don't like chocolate" phase (at least I hope it was a phase and nothing permanent), we just called white chocolate "vanilla." True chocoholics will point out white chocolate is not vanilla but we're talking about a kid here. I can take some poetic license to get him to try a cookie.

Anyway, Vanilla King is a bit older now than when I gave him that nickname and he's since unbent enough to allow for M&Ms and Oreos in his treat consumption, both chocolate products, mind you. And I think he's stopped picking out the chocolate chips from chocolate chip cookies. You can imagine how much trauma that caused me.

Still, despite his progress towards embracing chocolate like anyone even remotely related to me should, I err on the side of making his favorites whenever I meet him and his parents. This time I combined two of his favorites with this recipe. And I must say, this blondie strikes gold. It has all the goodness of a snickerdoodle cookie but with the ease of making into a bar cookie and for white chocolate lovers, it delivers on that, too. While I'm not a huge fan of white chocolate per se, it works well in this blondie.

Although I like snickerdoodles in their "pure" form, I'd make these in a pinch for when I need treats to parcel out and don't have a lot of baking time. They're quick and easy to put together and they deliver on texture and flavor. As always, don't overbake these. As with any snickerdoodles or blondies, if you overbake them, they'll become cakey and dry. I underbaked by a couple of minutes but once they had cooled, they had a nice, moist, "fudgy" texture and were super delicious.

White chocolate snickerdoodle blondies
From Sally's Baking Addiction

2-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup white chocolate chips

Cinnamon sugar filling

 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup granulated sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 by 9-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving enough overhang on the sides to easily pull the blondies out of the pan and cut.

2. In small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. Using a hand or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed in a large bowl. Beat for at least 1 minute until creamy. Add sugars and beat for 2 full minutes on high speed until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl as needed.

4. Beat in the eggs and vanilla on high speed, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. On low speed, beat in dry ingredients until just combined. With a large wooden spoon or rubber spatula, fold in the white chocolate chips.

5. Spoon half the batter into pan. It will be a relatively thin layer, but try to spread it across the pan evenly. Combine the cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle on top of them bottom layer, reserving 1 tablespoon for the top. Spread the remaining batter over top. Some of the cinnamon-sugar will mix into the top layer as you spread it, which is fine. Sprinkle the top with remaining cinnamon-sugar.

6. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely for about 1 hour. 

Related post on The Pastry Chef's Baking: Snickerdoodle Cinnamon Bread