While my kitchen is under mass destruction, ummm I mean construction, my sweet best friend Leslie has opened up her kitchen to me so that I can keep cooking and blogging this week. She is the BEST! Coincidentally, we both got Ina Garten’s new cookbook Foolproof so we decided to work our way through it this week making delectable recipes. Ina’s right…they are foolproof and fabulous!
Today we wanted to make a fun after-school snack for our girls. These were perfect. Easy to make, unbelievably decadent! We both highly recommend them!
*adapted from Ina Garten’s recipe.
Ingredients:
1/2 lb of butter or buttery spread like Smart Balance
1 cup of light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 eggs, room temperature
2 cups of all-purpose flour (I used King Arthur’s)
1 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 bags of Nestle chocolate chunks
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray (baking spray with flour) a 9×13 in glass pan. Set aside.
In your stand mixer, blend the butter and sugars until fluffy – about 4 minutes on high. Turn the mixer to low, add the vanilla and one egg at a time. Scrape the bowl down as needed. In a separate bowl, blend the flour, soda and salt. Sift once. Then gradually add the flour mixture to the stand mixer. Blend well but avoid over-mixing. Fold in chocolate chunks.
The batter will be very thick! Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes or so. Avoid over-baking as this will make them hard and dry. Remove and let cool for about 20 minutes then slice and serve with milk.
Should the butter be salted or unsalted?
I always use unsalted. That way you can control the sodium.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, Robin. My wife and 9-year-old were out at a special function tonight so I decided to surprise them both with a batch of these. UNBELIEVABLE! My only concern is that I added too many chocolate chunks — two 11.5 oz. bags? The first warm pieces we tried tonight were sinfully good . . . perhaps when they cool a bit more they will appear a bit more “blonde”. Hey, nobody in this house ever complains about too much chocolate. Will be referring back to your recipe multiple times this holiday season . . . thanks again!
Joe, You can always use less chocolate *ugh, did I seriously just say that?”. Ha ha. Of course, make the recipe your own. I’m so thrilled you took the time to share your darling daughter’s smiling face on my FB page. She is just precious. She and your wife are so blessed to have such a wonderful man in their lives! Robin