Cinnamon Blondies

I love cinnamon. The smell of cinnamon, the taste of cinnamon, anything (sweet or savory) with cinnamon in it. In fact, my next food post may be my Arabic Rice, which I swear,  is the reason my husband loves me, and guess what - yeah, cinnamon - main ingredient.

But for today, have these Cinnamon Blondies. 

That ooey gooey cinnamon ribbon in the middle cannot be topped. But if your on a diet, keep on moving because these ARE NOT waistline friendly. They are as rich as rich can be. Moist, flavorful, delicious. And if you love cinnamon like I do, a good quick cinnamon fix. I should call them Cinnamon Crack Blondies because you become quickly addicted and cannot stop at one.

Of course, I searched the 'ol Pinterest and came across Sally's Baking Addiction for a recipe that was quick and easily adaptable. But I did not use Sally's recipe as she had it. Oh no, you know how I love to make mischief and appropriate someone's good idea and mold it to suit me, right?

Ingredients for Cinnamon Blondies:

2 1/3 C flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

Pinch salt *see note

3/4 C salted butter, softened

3/4 C packed brown sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

Scant 1/2 C white chocolate chips (optional) **see note

Ingredients for Cinnamon Ribbon:

3 tsp cinnamon

1/2 C granulated sugar

Directions for Cinnamon Blondies:

1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray an 11x7 metal baking pan with Pam Baking. Alternatively, you can line the baking pan with parchment leaving enough overhang on the sides to easily pull the blondies out of the pan and cut. (This is the method Sally uses, but I'd rather not incur the hassle or the mess).
2. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. 
3. Beat the butter on high speed in a large bowl until creamy. 
4. Add sugars and beat until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl as needed. 
5. Beat in the eggs and vanilla on high speed, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. On low speed, beat in dry ingredients until just combined. 
6. With a large wooden spoon or rubber spatula, fold in the (optional) white chocolate chips.
7. Spoon half the batter into pan. It will be a relatively thin layer, but try to spread it across the pan evenly. 
8. Make your cinnamon ribbon mixture and sprinkle on top of bottom layer, reserving enough to cover the top as well.
9. Spread the remaining batter over top of bottom layer that has been sprinkled with the "ribbon mixture." 
10. Sprinkle the top with remaining cinnamon-sugar.
11. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 
12. Cool completely.

*Just a pinch - literally. You already have salt in the butter.

**The white chocolate chips make these sweeties too sweet for me. I do not love a cloying mouth feel so all the subsequent times I have made these, I simply omit the white chocolate chips altogether. Feel free to do the same.