Gingerbread Chocolate Chip Blondies

I’ve often expressed my affinity for things in bar form, but there comes a point when it feels like you’ve tried every brownie and blondie recipe out there, and to make things interesting you’ve got to mix it up somehow. Personally, I could never tire of a spectacular chocolate brownie (these are my go-to), but it is fun to try new things and see what you come up with.

These blondies were just that. I definitely enjoy a good, basic blondie, but their formula is pretty simple and this time I wanted something elevated and different. Not fancy, just different. I made these during gingerbread season (that’s a gentle way of saying, several months ago ), and I stockpiled them in my freezer to satisfy my sweet tooth. I shared a couple too… but only a couple

The original recipe was one with white chocolate chips, which I fully intended to use until I got to baking and realized I didn’t have any white chocolate in the pantry. Woops. So I substituted regular semi-sweet chocolate chips, remembering a delicious Chewy Chocolate Chip Gingersnap recipe I’d made before and loved.

The result was something different indeed, and I really enjoyed it. These blondies have a thicker, firmer texture than a traditional blondie, but they’re still plenty moist and wonderfully chewy. There is a certain richness to their flavor that must come from all the warm spices, which don’t overwhelm at all but instead blend beautifully into the buttery dough. I think white chocolate here would work so wonderfully — the creamy texture and extra sugar would compliment the dough so well, but I really enjoyed the chocolate chips nonetheless. I’m a dark chocolate girl at heart, and that’ll never change!

I’m not sure how socially acceptable it is to make gingerbread desserts at the end of January, but I wouldn’t judge if you made these one bit. Or save ’em for next year — they’re delish!

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