Snickerdoodle Blondies for a Successful Party
So I pulled it off … our first “real” party in over ten years, and aside from dipping into the holiday beverages just a wee bit too much, I would say it was a smashing success. By my count, we had 20 in total, 16 adults and 4 extremely active tots running about until midnight.
To make it special for everyone, my husband (aka Santa) bought a toy gift for each of the little ones. This was a huge hit, and I must tell you that the Tonka Toughest Mighty Truck is the best gift ever for toddler boys. The picture does not do this baby justice, it is big, awesome, and both the little boys (ages 2+ and 3+) we gave them to loved them! A friend whose little boy wasn’t there even asked where he could get one for his son. Luckily, santa had an extra one hiding in the back just in case his son had made it!
Now, lets get back to the food, shall we? I had planned to make a couple of dips from scratch, including the Black Bean Butter recipe that Chrysta recommended. But in the end, I had to “cheat” with the dips, since we had so many other things on the go. We defaulted to some fresh salsa, Tribe Hummus (40 spices), and Eggplant dip from TJ’s with tortilla chips, carrots, and some blanched broccoli and cauliflower. I know, boring, but trust me, the food does get more exciting …
As mentioned, I decided to do a Hot “Buttered” Rum welcome drink from Cooking Light’s December issue. I didn’t have time to pre-test the recipe … big mistake! Holy rum! Warning, this beverage is out of control strong. To doctor it, I doubled the sugar (boiled some more in a little bit of water and added to the batch) and added another 1/2 tablespoon of Earth Balance Soy-Free. This brought it up to the sipable stage, prior to that it was purely shot-worthy.
For hot food, we had Simple Roasted Veggies, Pulled Pork with Homemade Wheat Buns, From-Scratch Cheeseless Pizza (used the crust recipe in Go Dairy Free), Stuffed Mushrooms, Prosciutto-Wrapped Wild Prawns, and Chicken Satay (one peanut sauced and one more of a curry).
Easily the most popular item was the stuffed mushrooms. All night long people kept asking, “So everything was dairy-free? Really? Even the mushrooms?” I didn’t even bother telling them that they were also gluten-free, soy-free, and egg-free; I thought that might send some of them over the edge! I used 1.5 lbs of mushrooms and 1.5 lbs of filling, and they were still gone in minutes.
The prawns were next on the popularity list (and oh so easy!), followed closely by the pulled pork and pizza. The only item I was a bit disappointed in was the satay. I didn’t even cook all of it up. But luckily the rest of it will be very good on salads, and the meat is very tender. It just didn’t wow flavorwise as a stand alone appetizer.
For dessert I baked up Pumpkin Spice Bread, Peppermint Oreo Chocolate Rice Crispy Treats, and Snickerdoodle Blondies. I am still humming and hawing about sharing the rice crispy recipe as the results were delicious, but a tad crumbly. I used Marshmallow Fluff, which was new to me, and it was really hard to work with. I may try the recipe again with marshmallows and post it after that.
But, I am prepared to share these awesome Snickerdoodle Blondies with you!
I was going to make one of VeggieGirl’s awesome blondie recipes, but had a serious amount of AP flour to use up and a tub of Earth Balance Soy-Free that was begging to be tested in some sort of cookie concoction, so I went for an un-healthified version. Hey, it’s the holidays after all!
Recipe: Dairy-Free Snickerdoodle Blondies
Summary: I watched as our guests attempted to guess what these wonderful bars were. One came awfully close when he said it tasted like snickerdoodles crossed with gingerbread. But oddly enough (and to my husband’s delight), there isn’t a speck of ginger in this recipe. These blondies were adapted from Recipezaar.
Ingredients
- 2-2/3 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
- 3 Teaspoons Ground Cinnamon, divided
- 1/4 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
- 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
- 2 Cups Packed Dark Brown Sugar (I used TJ’s organic brown sugar)
- 1 Cup Dairy-Free Margarine, at room temperature (I used Earth Balance Soy-Free, which is salted)
- 2 Large Eggs, at room temperature (see notes above for egg-free/vegan option)
- 1 Tablespoon Real Vanilla Extract
- 2 Tablespoons Sugar
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350ΒΊF and lightly grease a 9Γ13 inch pan.
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and set aside.
- In large bowl, beat together margarine and brown sugar until well combined.
- Add the eggs and vanilla, and beat until smooth.
- Stir in the flour mixture until well blended.
- Spread the batter evenly in your prepared pan (I lightly greased a spatula for easy stick-free spreading).
- Combine the 2 tablespoons of sugar and the remaining 2 teaspoons of cinnamon in a small dish. Evenly sprinkle the mixture atop the blondie batter (it may seem like a lot, but go for it).
- Bake the blondies for 25 to 30 minutes or until the surface springs back when gently pressed. They will be firmer and raised around the edges, sinking in the middle. No worries, this is okay.
Variations
You can make it Egg-Free and Vegan by substituting Ener-G Eggs for the Eggs. The results will vary slightly, but should still be delicious.
Preparation time: 15 minute(s)
Cooking time: 30 minute(s)
Diet type: Vegan
Number of servings (yield): 12
Copyright Β© Alisa Fleming.
Let the blondies cool in the pan completely before cutting (if you can resist!).
Yields 20 to 30 blondies, depending on how you slice them
28 thoughts on “Snickerdoodle Blondies for a Successful Party”
So glad it went well! I hear Santa got a great deal on that truck and will be giving it to Eli, so I’m glad to know it was a hit!
Did you sprinkle more sugar on top, or did they already come out looking like snickerdoodles? These look great, can’t wait to try it out.
omg they look SO GOOD. i am totally making these next chance i get to give some goodies to someone special π
OMG you outdid yourself π
I wonder if I could sub out with Almond Flour to make them GF? I am thinking yes! And worst that can happen is they are not as light and fluffy as yours but hot digggity this look yum π
Oh great to hear the party was a success! Good job, everything sounds delicious! π
And don’t exclude us girls from the Tonka trucks, either! π I had the yellow one and my brother had a silver one. We played w/ them for HOURS. I also remember my little tiny butt fit nicely in the dumptruck part and I’d scoot around backwards, pushing w/ my feet.
can you send or post your Peppermint Oreo Chocolate Rice Crispy Treats reci? I love pepermint and I love rice crispy treats.
sounds like we need that stuffed mushroom recipe π gald it was a success!!
Sounds like a great party! I love it when people are shocked by dairy free/soy free/wheat free/egg free foods! Seriously, we can live without some of these!
Mmmmm. Made these tonight to bring to a neighborhood party tomorrow. Yum yum.
Alisa,
Thanks for another awesome recipe! I just baked these to take to a party tomorrow. I should have made 2 batches. My husband and I don’t want to stop eating them. I may have to wake up early tomorrow to make another batch!
Thanks Alisa!!
Oh my gosh, those blondies look fabulous!!! And what a menu…I’m hungry all over again π
Hayley – Good catch! I fixed the instructions, they were missing the sprinkle on top!
Averie – I think you could make them GF, but I am not sure how that would work if you were also making them vegan. One or the other would probably work best.
Stephanie and Kelli – So glad you both liked them!
Thank you for the recipe, I am going to make a batch right now.
I have only recently found black beans here and apart from trying Mexican recipes with them have not tried anything else, so it will be a change to try the “butter”.
Wishing you and your family a wonderful Christmas and a fabulous 2010.
You are amazing; these look so moist and delicious! So glad you had a party—those times are some of my favorite in life. And I hope you took a lot of tonka photos;).
Merry Christmas Alisa!
These look amazing! I am going to try your recipe with the hope that it turns out as good as it looks.
I just have to comment on these. I have recently gone dairy-free, so I’m new to it all and trying to find treats I can make to satisfy my sweet tooth. I stumbled across these through the godairyfree site, and holy moly – they are fabulous!!! I think they are the new fave for my whole family, and I’m the only one that is eating dairy-free right now! They came out so moist and chewy, truly the consistency of brownies! Thank you soooo much for posting this!
All I have to say is YUM! I am going to try them with the egg replacer next time.
When the snickerdoodle blondies were in the oven, it brought me back to the days of my youth. Mommy always baked oodles of cookies and my favorite was the snickerdoodle. I just could barely hold myself back from eating it right out of the oven. Alas, disappointing as it was dry.
Jo anne – I’m so sorry to hear that. You are the first to complain of dryness. If you like a moister blondie, I would say to cook them for about 5 minutes less. It is hard to say as ovens can vary, and some cook hotter than others, leading to a drier end product. You can also try reducing the flour to 2-1/2 cups (just a wee bit) to up the moisture without affecting the ratio too greatly.
These were totally yummy. I had to go dairy free because my son was having some tummy troubles and I have been craving something sweet. This was my first adventure into dairy free dessert! I didn’t have plain nutmeg, so I used a dash of pumpkin pie spice instead. And I had just bought some soy free Earth Balance, so it worked out perfectly. I was thinking these would taste yummy with white chocolate chips, but I am not sure they make those dairy free?
Jamie – So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Yes, dairy-free white chocolate chips do exist!
There is actually a recipe for homemade white chocolate in my book (http://www.godairyfree.org/Go-Dairy-Free-Where-to-Purchase.html), and there are a couple of brands on the market. Here is one brand that I have heard good things about – http://www.veganstore.com/809.html.
One of our favorite recipes. Works gluten free, too substituting GF flour blend. Thank you!
That’s fabulous! And thank you for letting me know it works gluten-free, too, Carol.
Comments are closed.