#6 peppermint Blondies!

I have definitely never made blondies before. And I'm not quite sure if I've ever eaten a blondie before. So I was super excited about making them for the first time.   I was pleasantly surprised that they baked up perfectly my first time out!  They are easier to make than brownies because they seem to bake more evenly, and once they're cooled they are easier to cut. 

Here's what you need to get started :

1 cup melted butter

2 cups light brown sugar 

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

2 1/2 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped Andes mint thins 

1/2 cup crushed peppermint candies

1/3 cup chocolate chips

This time of year it's a little hard to find mint chocolate chips on the store shelves. I looked online and discovered that you can order them from Amazon for more than  $10 a bag! That's a ridiculous amount to pay for an 8-ounce bag of candy.  So I perused the Easter candy section at my local grocery store and found these Mint Thins there.  I  decided it would make a great substitute for mint chocolate chips.

Here's how you get started:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9X13 or 10X12 baking pan with foil and oil it lightly.  I used butter flavored Crisco to grease the pan.
Next,  chop up all 28 of the Mint Thins, it will equal one cup.  Place the peppermint candies, ( I used leftover candy canes from Christmas), in a plastic bag and use a glass jar to gently crush the candy to tiny bits. You don't want the pieces of peppermint to be too big when people bite into the blondies as that could be unpleasant to the teeth if you're not expecting a big chunk of hard peppermint.  Set both candies aside.
Mix together the melted butter with the brown sugar, eggs, vanilla and peppermint extracts.  Then, mix in the flour, baking soda and salt.  Fold in chopped Mint Thins and peppermint pieces.   Pour evenly into baking dish. Lastly, scatter  the chocolate chips on  top of the blondies.  Bake for 30-35 minutes.  You will know they're done when you insert a toothpick in the middle and it comes out clean.  The edges should also  start to turn a little brown.

 I was a bit worried  that adding  peppermint three different ways to the blondies  might be too much. But I think that the peppermint flavor in these blondies is just the right amount of mint and not too overpowering at all.