An Unlikely Favorite: Almond Butter Blondies

One of the most thrilling parts of life is also the scariest. Each day, we wake up not knowing what’s going to happen next. While most people have a fairly good idea if their immediate future includes working nine to five or backpacking through Europe, it seems frequent that the best laid plans have a tendency to fall through.

No matter how much you do or don’t plan your life, chances are things won’t turn out the way you expected. When I was growing up, throughout elementary school I used to picture what my new classroom would look like at the end of each summer. When I entered school on the first Wednesday after Labor Day, I was repeatedly shocked that the setting in my mind didn’t look like the room I was standing in.

Life is a lot like that. Blind dates are what you least expect them to be, your first apartment is never what you imagined and sometimes the friends you’d thought you’d know forever become distant, a part of the past instead of the present.

Sometimes you form an opinion of a person before you meet them – and find that your predictions were completely and totally off base. And other times, you hear of a recipe that just makes you think, oh gross. This recipe is far from gross, but I’ll admit that I was skeptical when I first found it over at One For The Table. I had noticed almond butter in my cabinet and had the urge to bake, so I gave it a go and was glad I did.

Almond Butter Blondies

Ingredients:

½ cup butter (I used unsalted)
¼ cup almond butter,
1 cup light or dark brown sugar (I prefer light; dark will give you a stronger flavor)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon almond extract
¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup quick cooking oats
½ cup sliced almonds, roasted, plus ¼ cup
½ cup finely diced dried California apricots
¼ cup golden raisins

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8x8 inch baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper. If you use foil, coat with non-tick cooking spray.

2. Cream butter and almond butter until fluffy, using a mixer. Add brown sugar, egg and almond extract and beat until light. If you don’t have almond extract, vanilla extract substitutes nicely.

3. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Stir dry ingredients into butter mixture until just blended. Stir in oatmeal, ½ cup almonds, apricots and raisins.

4. Spoon batter into prepared pan and smooth with table knife or small metal spatula. Sprinkle with remaining ¼ cup almonds. Bake 30-35 minutes or until firm and a toothpick comes out nearly clean. Let cool to room temperature before lifting foil out of the pan. Peel foil off blondies and cut into 16 squares.

Comments

[healthybaking]

That looks amazing! Almond butter is delicious, and I bet it tastes even better with the almond extract + chopped almonds. Can't wait to try this out!

[lisamichele]

OMG, unlikely combo? Try a combo that drives me crazy..buttery almond anything! That photo is killing me, and now it's time to add another bookmark, for when I can actually eat!

[lisamichele]

By the way, loved your post with the analogies. One day you think you're with the man you're about to marry, and the next he's dumped you out of the blue with no warning - for the last person on earth you'd ever suspect. Like you said, there are tons of them, but of course I had to add mine..lol

[Lydia (The Perfect Pantry)]

My husband would love these -- almond in three forms! And as for predictability... well, it's overrated. Though it's been a long time since I've been on a blind date, so maybe that's changed!

[kat]

Nothing about that sounds gross to me at all

[VeggieGirl]

SENSATIONAL blondie variety!

[Allie]

I always like to try things made with slightly different ingredients - I think these look and sound delicious!

[pamela]

I realized that I have almond butter in my pantry, too. Lucky me, because these look astoundingly good.

[Matt]

" Each day, we wake up not knowing what’s going to happen next."

Weird that you would say that. Today I find out if they are going to lay me off or not.

[Sophie]

MMMMM...they look excellent, I say,...
Yum Yum Yum !

[Katie]

We should go on an NYC blogger's adventure through the West Village to find some treats like these!

[ksgoodeats]

I'm glad you gave those a go because they look and sound DELICIOUS! Love almond butter!!

[Pearl]

yum! looks delicious!

[Chrissy]

Oooh, baking with almond butter sounds interesting. And the photo looks great! This one definitely doesn't scare me. :-)

[Sara]

This sounds great to me! I've never baked with almond butter before, but I do love the stuff.

[finsmom]

These look amazing!
I bet the almond butter really added to them! I will be making these soon!

Thanks for sharinG!

[grace]

excellent. i have all this stuff on hand, even the almond butter. i'll take your highly-praised recipe and i'll make it and i'll love it, i'm sure. :)

[bodeloublogs]

this sounds great. i grew up in the north and never heard of almond butter til i moved down south where they have all kinds of butter. i am such a fan (it makes a great flavor for banana and peach smoothies) i will have to try these!

[mandy]

These aren't something that I would just randomly try, but however, because of your recommendation, now i will!

[Erin]

YUM! I love almond butter.

[Daryl]

Matt - Oh no. How did it go?

[Cate O'Malley]

Haven't had almond butter yet, but you make me want to. The blondies look divine!

[CookiePie]

Those look amazingly delicious -- I LOVE almond butter! Must try this recipe.

[Kerstin]

Yum, they look great! We always have almond butter around, but I've only baked with it once - that needs to change :)

[Carissa]

I like almonds and I like blondies, so I am betting these are good. I don't know if you watch Throwdown with Bobby Flay ever, but I saw this one episode that was a Blondie challenge and ever since then, which was a while ago, I have been craving a blondie! I'm thinking I would like them even better than a brownie (but I might be biased since I am blonde... haha).

p.s. love how you find a way to incorporate insightful commentary on life with tasty recipes! perfect!

[Rosa]

That sounds fantastic! a scrumptious recipe!

Cheers,

Rosa

[Leslie]

"far from gross" lol
It does looks delish!

[5 Star Foodie]

These blondies look scrumptious! I've got a bunch of almond butter right now and this is a perfect recipe! Thanks!

[girlichef]

Wow, these sound awesome, actually! I love almond butter...but for some reason I've never used it in baking...I'll have to give these a try! YUMMY :)

[Juliana]

Almond butter! Sounds delicious...honestly never used for baking...it is time to try...thanks for the recipe.