Snickerdoodle Blondies

So I have to apologize for my extended absence.  Work got really busy, then I got sick, then I was out of town...  Yadayadayada.  But I promise to be better in the future!  And as my first post for my newer and better self, blondies!

I have come to the conclusion that it's a bad thing when your coworkers know you bake.  Once they know you bake, people periodically start hinting that it has been awhile since you last brought in some baked goods.  *Hint*hint.*  Not that I mind baking brownies, cookies, and blondies for my friends at work.  I actually really enjoy baking from time to time.  It's just that I rarely have the time (and more importantly, the motivation) to bust out the stand mixer, measuring cups, etc.  The last time I brought something in to work I brought in brownies.  The time before that I brought in cookies.  So I decided that this time I would bring in blondies.  I started looking at different blondie recipes and realized that there are a few popular blondie recipes.  First, there are the blondies with chocolate chips and nuts (and sometimes dried fruits).  Then there are the Brewer's Blondies from Baked, which include malted milk powder and Whoppers.  They sounded really interesting, but where do you even buy malted milk powder?  Lastly, I found a bunch of Snickerdoodle blondie recipes.    I thought the Snickerdoodle blondies sounded like they had some potential, and would be very different from the Samoa Blondies that I made a few months ago.  So I took a fairly standard base blondie recipe and added the spices that generally go into snickerdoodles - cinnamon and nutmeg.  And then of course I had to make the cinnamon-sugar topping because that's the best part about snickerdoodles.

These blondies are rich.  And sweet.  And a little dense.  But if you like those traits in a dessert, then you will love them.  Because I used dark brown sugar instead of light, they have a hint of molasses and a darker caramel to them than I was expecting.  Generally I feel like the difference between dark brown and light brown sugar in baked goods isn't this distinct, but here it really is.  These aren't my favorite blondies that I have ever made, but they were certainly interesting.  And my coworkers certainly seemed to like them!

Recipe after the jump!

Snickerdoodle Blondies

INGREDIENTS:

1 stick of butter, melted and cooled

1 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, separated

3/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg, separated

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1 cup flour

1 tbsp granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter an 8x8-inch baking pan.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine melted butter and brown sugar.  Cream together at medium speed until smooth and creamy.  Beat in egg and then vanilla.  Meanwhile, combine 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, salt, and flour in a small mixing bowl.  Stir to combine.  At low speed, add dry ingredients to wet ingredients.  Continue mixing at low speed until ingredients are fully combined.

Pour batter into prepared pan.  Using a spatula, smooth out the dough so it evenly fills the pan.  Combine granulated sugar with remaining 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp nutmeg.  Stir to combine.  Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture evenly over batter.

Bake until blondies are set in the middle, about 20-25 minutes.