Cinnamon Non-Blondes

I did not set out to find a new favorite recipe.  There was an entirely utilitarian task laid before me.  My parents would be here for lunch and I wanted a bar or cookie to serve as dessert.  Cookies take too much time these days so I opted for an un-made recipe I had tucked into my recipe binder.

The recipe was scrawled on a page of a promotional tablet for a real estate agent from the Deep Creek Resort area in MD.  We have not been in that area since I was pregnant with Sadie.  Maybe? And she's ten now.  How it survived my frequent recipe binder purges, I do not know.  But I'm glad it did.

The original recipe that I copied down was called "Snickerdoodle Blondes" and came from Serving Up Southern.  Was it a magazine?  A cookbook?  It's a website now but I don't take my computer on vacations. As always, I changed a couple things (including using regular chocolate chips instead of cinnamon baking chips-which I didn't even know existed) and decided to rename these tasty bars.  You may call them what you like.

They are moist, dense, delicious bars with strong cinnamon flavor and I've always loved the combination of chocolate and cinnamon.  While the chocolate-lover in me is tempted to up the amount of chocolate chips in the recipe, holding back lets the cinnamon shine.  You'll likely fall in love with them just from the smell of them baking.  That's what happened to me anyway.

The whole experience was rather encouraging.  I haven't baked anything in months.  My kids have- as their sweet tooths have prompted them but I haven't.  It's nice to come back on such a sweet note.

Cinnamon Non-Blondes (adapted from some form of Serving Up Southern)
yields a 9 x 13-inch pan of bars

2 2/3 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup chocolate chips

2 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. cinnamon (cut it back to 1 tsp. if you don't love cinnamon as much as I do)

In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  Set aside.  In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat together 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup sugar and softened butter.  Beat in eggs and vanilla until well combined.  Add the flour mixture and blend until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.  The dough will be thick- like cookie dough batter.  Line a 9 x 13 inch pan with parchment paper.  Turn the dough into the pan and spread it out evenly.  In a small bowl, combine 2 tbsp. sugar and 1 tbsp. cinnamon and sprinkle over the top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.  Cool completely before cutting into bars. Pin It