Chewy Chunky Blondies

Chewy Chunky Blondies
Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan
Makes 32 bars

**Note: This recipe has not been tested in or styled by the Bon Appetit Test Kitchen.**

INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups (packed) light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6 ounces best-quality milk chocolate, chopped into chip-size pieces
1 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

PREPARATION
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325F. Butter a 9x13-inch baking pan and put it on a baking sheet.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Working in a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add both sugars and beat for another 3 minutes, or until well incorporated. Add the eggs one by one, beating for 1 minute after each addition, then beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing just until they disappear into the batter. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the chocolate, nuts and coconut. Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and use the spatula to even the top as best as you can.

Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the blondies comes out clean. The cake should pull away from the sides of the pan a little and the top should be a nice honey brown. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for about 15 minutes. You can now invert the cake onto another rack, and then turn it over onto a rack and cool to room temperature. Alternatively, you can keep the blondies in the pan.

Cut the blondies into 32 bars, each roughly 2 1/4 x 1 1/2 inches.

CookieBar Version

The Blondies we bake at CookieBar (actually, we call them Broundies) are a variation of my regular recipe. We bake them in buttered 3-inch round dessert rings--metal rings about 2 inches high--but you can bake them at home in tart rings, thoroughly cleaned tuna cans whose tops and bottoms have been removed, or muffin pans. The recipe is similar to the one above, but:

Omit the baking powder and baking soda when making the batter. Then, using a 2-ounce ice cream scoop, fill the rings less than half full. Lightly press the batter into the rings until it almost touches the edges. Bake the Broundies at 350F for 14-20 minutes depending on the rings you use, or until they're set around the edges and slightly soft in the center.