Chewy Chocolate Blondies

I know I should spend less time with my laptop and more time with real people. I like to rationalize that all that screen time provides fodder for baking creativity and hence better quality time with people afterward; butter and sugar always make things better. Because I spend too much time online, I discovered how much of a baking goddess Dorie Greenspan is. And because I spend too much time online, I found this blondie recipe and knew must-bake because it's Dorie's. Now I just need to buy one of her baking books.

Essential ingredients in these babes are the semi-sweet chips, flaked coconut, and chopped pecans. The texture of all those goodies makes each bar a bit crumbly, distinct of the way thick and dense Reese's-topped blondies I made before. Like any good variation on the chocolate chip cookie, they also have that irresistible flair of buttery dough. Even ye who fear nuts (which is sometimes me) and coconut tainting your dessert should try them.

I added these treats to Sweet as a Sugar Cookies' Sweets for Saturday #10. Lots of yummies there!

Update: My friend Amber at Domestic Wannabe baked a chocolate-peanut butter variation on this recipe that looks equally amazing.

Chewy Chunky Blondies
Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan, via Bon Appetit blog

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups (packed) light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6 ounces chocolate chips
1 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 325F. Butter a 9x13-inch baking pan and put it on a baking sheet.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Working in a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add both sugars and beat for another 3 minutes, or until well incorporated. Add the eggs one by one, beating for 1 minute after each addition, then beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing just until they disappear into the batter. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the chocolate, nuts and coconut. Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and use the spatula to even the top as best as you can.

Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the blondies comes out clean. The cake should pull away from the sides of the pan a little and the top should be a nice honey brown. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for about 15 minutes. You can now invert the cake onto another rack, and then turn it over onto a rack and cool to room temperature. Alternatively, you can keep the blondies in the pan. Cut the blondies into bars.