Tasty Tuesday--Chocolate Chip Blondies

I don't know if it's our internet or blogger, but I am having serious issues posting this week! Verrrry frustrating. Which is why my Tasty Tuesday comes on a Wednesday this week.

I had been craving these for so long, so I finally looked up a recipe and made some, with just a few changes. They were delish and calmed my craving. Will definitely make them again. The recipe, found on Foodnetwork, calls these "Fleur de Sel Chocolate Chip Blondies", however, I did not have (and did not want to spend $8 on) fleur de sel, so I just used regular sea salt. Fleur de sel is French sea salt, and I'm sure it tastes better in some way, but my plain old sea salt worked just fine.

Here's what you'll need:

Plus baking soda. Forgot that in the picture.

*2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

*pinch fine sea salt, if desired

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

*1 to 1 1/2 Tablespoons fleur de sel

Preheat to 375. Grease a 9 x 13 in. jelly roll pan. Beat butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the sugars a little at a time. Cream for about 8 minutes, until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and sea salt (if using). Add eggs one at a time to the butter-sugar mixture. Add vanilla. Turn to low speed and slowly add flour mixture. Add chocolate chips--right about here you're mixer will sound like its really struggling because of all of the chocolate chips. Make sure you let it continue to mix until all of the chips are well distributed. Spread cookie dough onto pan, and evenly sprinkle with fleur de sel. Bake until golden brown and not wobbly in the middle, 30-35 minutes. CHECK IT AROUND 20-25 MINUTES! Mine was ready to come out around that time. Cool in pan on wire rack.

My changes:

*I didn't have unsalted butter, so I just didn't add the pinch of sea salt to the batter.

*As I said before, I used regular sea salt instead of the pricy fleur de sel. Also, I didn't measure it. I just lightly and evenly sprinkled it to the top--definitely not the ful 1 1/2 Tablespoons.

I didn't have baking soda either, but here is a handy way to substitute:

1/2 teaspoon baking soda = 2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder