Ed and I had the pleasure of hosting my high school friend, Carina W and her daughter for lunch recently. Despite having known Carina for over four decades, we hadn’t seen each other in about 25 years. Thank goodness for college tours on the east coast!
I have many fond memories of parties at Carina’s house in middle school and high school that involved wonderful homemade Chinese food. She always sent us home with crispy wontons which my mom and I both very much looked forward to. It was very fun to catch up about how we’ve both evolved over the years when it comes to cooking and baking. It was also nice after all of these years to prepare a meal for Carina and her daughter.
I wanted to make something sweet to end our meal and had brownies on my mind. I came across this recipe for blondies (brownies’ cousin) and was intrigued by the use of both olive oil and rye – two ingredients not normally found in brownies or blondies. It’s not uncommon to find vegetable or canola oil in brownies, but not olive oil. I recommend using a neutral flavored olive oil. The rye flour adds a nutty and complex flavor that pairs well with the dark chocolate. Trust me, these blondies do not taste like rye bread – the taste is subtle. Don’t leave out the salt as it helps to intensify the chocolate and make these even more delicious. I used both non-GMO rye flour and all-purpose flour in this recipe.
These blondies are more cake-like than fudge-like and not too sweet. They reminded me a bit of a traditional chocolate chip cookie baked as a bar rather than an individual cookie.
Carina’s daughter liked them enough to take a few extra with her – that made me very happy.
Thank you to Julie P for the gorgeous pedestal cake plate. It’s perfect in our new kitchen.
Note: As you can see from the picture, I didn’t sprinkle the top of the blondies with chocolate chips. I recommend doing this and have adjusted the recipe to reflect this.
| Dark Chocolate-Olive Oil Blondies | Print |
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- ½ cup neutral extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup rye flour
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon flaky sea salt (such as Maldon), divided
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips, divided
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8-inch-square baking pan with parchment paper, allowing it to overhang the edges. Coat the paper and pan sides with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk brown sugar and oil until combined.
- Add eggs and vanilla and whisk until combined.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the rye flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder and ½ teaspoon flaky salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stirring until just combined.
- Fold in ¾ cup chocolate chips.
- Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan and sprinkle with the remaining ¼ cup chocolate chips and ¼ teaspoon flaky salt.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.
- Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 1 hour before cutting into squares.
Source: Variation on recipe from EatingWell, July – August, 2020
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