TL/DR – Cranberry Macadamia Blondies. A mostly traditional blondies recipe with the great textures of dried cranberries and macadamia nuts. Easy to make. Freezes well. –
As a dessert lover, I am also a big dessert freezer. Hear me out before you judge. I love to make desserts, but then they are in the house. Usually I can foist extras off by leaving them in the staff kitchenette at work, but now with COVID, well… And to be perfectly honest even in the healthiest of times, I just like to freeze desserts so that I can have just one whenever I want to.
These Cranberry Macadamia Blondies are easy to make in one bowl and they freeze quite well. Start with melted butter and beat in brown sugar, an egg, vanilla and almond extracts. Then add baking powder and salt followed by all purpose flour and some almond flour.
Stir in chopped dried cranberries and macadamia nuts and press the batter into a greased 8 x 8 baking dish. Bake for about 35 – 40 minutes. Cool, slice and then freeze what you won’t eat within a couple of days. You’ll thank yourself later.
Cranberry Macadamia Blondies
This mostly traditional blondie recipe has a bit of almond flour, dried cranberries and macadamia nuts to jazz it up.
Ingredients
- 1/2 c butter, melted
- 1 c brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 t vanilla extract
- 1/4 t almond extract
- 1 t baking powder
- 1/2 t iodized salt
- 1/4 c almond flour
- 1 1/4 c all purpose flour
- 1/2 c chopped dried cranberries
- 1/2 c chopped macadamia nuts
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Step 2 Coat an 8 x 8 inch baking dish with nonstick spray and set aside.
- Step 3 In a medium mixing bowl, combine the melted butter and the brown sugar and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds.
- Step 4 Add the egg, vanilla and almond extracts and beat for another 30 seconds, or until smooth.
- Step 5 Add the baking powder and salt and beat until combined.
- Step 6 Add the almond flour and the all purpose flour and beat on low until just incorporated.
- Step 7 Add the cranberries and macadamia nuts and stir to combine. The batter will be thick.
- Step 8 Press the batter into the baking dish in an even layer using a stiff spatula.
- Step 9 Bake for 35 – 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Step 10 Allow to cool completely before cutting into 16 square bars. Freeze any extra bars in one layer of a freezer bag.
