White Chocolate Walnut Blondies with Maple Butter Sauce

Happy September!

Oh, yes, you know what this means.  It's time for another fangirl session.

But this time it's about the Bourne Legacy.

Now, some people absolutely detest anything to do with Bourne that isn't Matt Damon.  And I love Matt Damon, I really do.  The first three Bourne films were awesome.  I was insane about them.

And then there's Jeremy Renner.

You might recognize him from the Hurt Locker, Mission Impossible 4, or, my favorite, the Avengers.  Like over here.

Unfortunately, as cool as Blackhawk sounds, it isn't a thing.  It's Clintasha, guys.  And it's awesome.

But that'll come later.  This is the Bourne Legacy rant here.

First of all, it has pretty much nothing to do with Bourne.  But you have to have seen all three Bourne movies beforehand, because Legacy runs pretty much parallel to Ultimatum.  (If you don't know what I'm talking about, either scroll down to the food part or watch the movies right now.  I recommend the second option! :D)

We follow a guy called Aaron Cross, who is awesome and strong and unbelievably sweet.  It's really strange.  He's getting hunted by the CIA, is nearly killed on a regular basis, and is doing his own killing quite efficiently.  It's almost scary; he's really good at breaking necks.  And yet, the first thing he does after knocking out/killing two cops is ask if his lady friend is okay.

Collective sigh.

He gives Rachel Weisz's character these little smiles, and looks her in the eyes and says "thank you" and everything, and gets all sentimental and stuff.  He's so unbelievably adorable.

Just watching the movie (I've seen it twice but I'm definitely going to see it more!) makes my day.  Actually, it makes my whole week.

Anyway, there's my rant.  Which happened because I didn't have finished pictures of this because I gave the blondies away to my grandmother for her birthday.

You might recognize the name - yes, it is an Applebee's dessert, and yes, I did get the recipe from Bakerella.  Like always.

But let me tell you something - this tastes way better than the dessert at Applebee's.  So much better.

How could I possibly know that?  I tasted the dough and it rocked, and I tasted the sauce and it rocked even harder.  It blew me away because it was just so nummy.

I thought the Applebee's dish was actually sort of bad.  I mean, the blondie was okay and all, but it was a generic restaurant blondie.  And the sauce was sizzling - which is cool, kind of - but it made me want to puke.  Because it was cream cheese.

It was not maple butter sauce.  It was like maple cream cheese sauce.

Which is totally gross if you're me.

Now, maybe you're one of those people who loves sweet cream cheese and is all over Philadelphia's new products where it's chocolate-flavored and you're supposed to spread it on things for dessert.

I'm not.

Now, you should try this recipe out for yourself.  I'm pretty certain you'll find this blondie better than Applebee's.  No offense to the friendly neighborhood restaurant.

White Chocolate Walnut Blondies with Maple Butter Sauce

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 egg, beaten

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

3/4 cup maple syrup

1 stick unsalted butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 9-inch square pan.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl.  Stir in walnuts.
3. Mix together melted butter and brown sugar.  Add egg and vanilla and combine thoroughly.
4. Add flour mixture a little at a time, stirring well after each addition.
5. Stir in white chocolate chips.
6. Spread into prepared pan and bake 20-25 minutes.  Test with toothpick to see if it's baked in the center.  Remove from oven.
7. While blondies are baking, melt butter with maple syrup in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Once butter has melted, stir in brown sugar until dissolved.  Stir in walnuts.
8. Cut blondies into either 9 or 4 squares and place on serving dish or individual plates.  Pour maple butter sauce over blondies.  Suggestion: serve with vanilla ice cream.

Breaking it down:

Combine dry ingredients and walnuts...

In a separate bowl, stir together the brown sugar and the butter...

Add vanilla and egg and mix well.  Stir in the dry ingredients a little at a time...

And then stir in those luscious white chocolate chips.

Yum!

Spread into your prepared pan and bake 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.

Melt your butter with your maple syrup...

Add brown sugar and walnuts and heat.

Your blondies will look gorgeous.

And since I couldn't prepare each blondie separately, I poured the maple butter sauce over the top of the whole thing.  Then I cut them and gave them to my grandmother.

If you have extras, try pouring it onto a plate covered in wax paper and make candy out of it by freezing it!

Bon appétit!

-JJ