high-bar baking

I’ve raved about brown butter before, so I’ll save you the repeat. It’s actually a huge character flaw of mine, and one I’ve been called on many a time. Repetition. Repetition. 

“Yeah, her love language is being roasted so much so that if she makes what she thinks is a particularly good self-zinger and you don’t acknowledge it, she will repeat it until you do.” -my best friend, about me. Whoops.

I had already tried Maria’s Brown Butter Snickerdoodles, so I figured this one would be good. I also hoped that it might be a similar cousin to Sarah’s to die for Cinnamon Roll Blondies, which are amazing but have three separate components and dirty what feels like every dish in my apartment. It wasn’t a 1:1 sub by any means, but it also didn’t disappoint. These are Maria’s Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Blondies (without the caramel). And you know we love a bar. No portioning, one round of baking? Sign me up. 

Soft, rich, cinnamon-y, what’s not to like? Definitely a divide-into-small-pieces recipe, because I wasn’t kidding about the richness. But a lovely little treat. Find some fresh berries at the Farmers Market to cut some of the sweetness and dig in. You won’t regret it. 

Speaking of the Farmers Market, I have not been able to go one week this summer without thinking of a reference that no one gets because no one else I know is a hyper-nerd steeped in the classics of the previous generation like I am. There’s a scene in Firefly in which Shepherd Book (“that man’s not a Shepherd!”) is negotiating for his passage aboard Serenity with the ship’s mechanic, Kaylee. He sweetens the pot with a small box; she opens the lid away from us and her eyes light up. She nods and he walks aboard. The rest of the episode plays out, and we’re held in suspense. Much later that day, she opens the box again in her room. 

And takes out a single strawberry. 

The look on her face when she eats it, the space-starved, reconstituted-fake-food-fed dystopian space cowboy happiness… that’s how I feel when strawberries are actually good. 

Go find one this summer.