Zucchini Butterscotch Blondies (Updated)

Warning: Do not make these blondies when you're home alone. Last night, my roommate came home to find half of a zucchini, a block of chocolate, and a cup of melted butter on the counter. He immediately voiced concern, wondering what on Earth I was making this time. I reassured him that I'd made this recipe before and that it was very good and that there was no need for skepticism! 

Once the blondies were cool, I ate a corner piece to try them and went to bed. The next morning, I found the blondies half-eaten (see the photo below), proof that there was no reason for him to be worried! This recipe is a crowd pleaser, and now, it's a little healthier. The recipe has always included vegetables (well, botanically speaking, fruit), but now, there's less sugar and a little bit of increased nutrition from the whole grain. This is a great dish to take to a picnic or potluck because if you keep it around the house, you'll realize you ate the whole batch in about 36 hours. (I wish I were kidding.) If you're taking it to a gathering of 10 or more, I suggest doubling the recipe. I doubt there will be leftovers.

Objective
Revamp my Zucchini Butterscotch Blondies with the addition of whole grain flour and less sugar.

Materials
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp. brown sugar
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp. white sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup zucchini, freshly grated (1 small zucchini)
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup dark chocolate, finely chopped (or semisweet chips)


Methods
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8x8 inch baking dish.
2. Beat butter, brown sugar, white sugar, egg and vanilla.
3. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, then sift it into the butter-sugar mixture. Beat until just incorporated.
4. Stir in the grated zucchini, half of the butterscotch chips and all of the chocolate.
5. Spread the batter evenly in the 8x8 inch baking dish. Sprinkle with the remaining butterscotch chips.
6. Bake 30 minutes. Cool completely before slicing.

Results
These are not too sweet, which allows the butterscotch flavor to shine without being overpowered by the sugar. They are extremely moist and crumbly, which prevents them from feeling like cake.

Discussion and Future Directions
Immediately out of the oven, these looked very cakey. I was heartbroken and scrambled to find a sticky-note or recipe card or loose sheet of paper with the recipe I'd been working to perfect in St. Louis. I was worried that I'd written it down wrong in my blog post. Was there too much baking powder? Did I really use baking soda instead of baking powder? I figured I'd let them cool and see how they turned out.

They turned out great. The moisture from the zucchini helped give them a denser, not chewy, but thicker texture. Increasing the amount of butterscotch chips and decreasing the amount of sugar made them taste like butterscotch without making you pucker at the sweetness. I think these are an improvement over my previous recipe if you aren't looking for something super sweet (which is often expected with butterscotch cookies or other butterscotch treats). Don't like butterscotch? Feel free to replace the butterscotch chips with chocolate chips, but you might want to add an extra tablespoon or two of each of the sugars. I highly recommend you try this with your next zucchini! I also recommend that you shred some zucchini to freeze so that you have it on hand for zucchini bread, zucchini cake, and zucchini blondies once summer, and with it zucchini season, is over.

Supplementary Materials