Memorial Day weekend typically kicks off a summer's worth of celebrations, from graduation parties to wedding showers and casual evenings with friends and family. Today's recipe for is my mother's secret weapon for any and all occasions. They are, to put it mildly, utterly remarkable.
Last May, I baked hundreds of these blondies for my son's high-school-graduation party. As a result, I spent the better part of the event answering guests' questions on how to make Mom's moist, chewy, buttery morsels.
The answer is ridiculously easy. You don't even need to pull out a mixer, sift flour or wait for butter to soften. Just stir everything together and stick it in the oven. My only problem is fending off the teenagers who flock to the kitchen with every batch. So I just double the recipe if I want enough left for a party.
Blondies (sometimes called brown-sugar brownies) have been around for generations, but what makes my mom's different is the dense, chewy texture. They rise in the oven, and then fall in the middle. Also, you add the eggs at the end, which is counterintuitive for experienced bakers. Mom's reasoning is that by then the batter has cooled enough so as not to ''cook'' the eggs.
Who knows whether this is scientifically responsible for her success? But I have tried lots of other methods and they're not the same. Mom's method is fast, easy and fantastic, so who am I to argue? When it comes to blondies, I listen to my mother.
Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross' latest book is Cheap. Fast. Good! Their website is desperationdinners.com.
