These blondies look rather unassuming. Anne Burrell might say brown food tastes good on Worst Cooks, but this isn’t what she means. It’s not what any chef or blogger or home cook or even worst cook means.
The thing is a lot of incredibly tasty treats like cakes and cookies and pies and blondies are mostly brown. So I do my best to make them look good in their shades of brown and beige, and I remember sometimes awesome things in life are the most unassuming.
Things like speakeasies in alleys and gourmet restaurants in grocery stores and strip malls. I actually speak from experience on those things, and I speak from experience when it comes to these blondies as well.
They are my perfect blondie with that crackly top and insanely chewy interior, made more so by the swirls of ooey gooey caramel. And more on top if you want, and we all want that for sure. The crunchy hazelnuts pair so well with the caramel and don’t get soggy like some nuts can in baked goods.
The other thing to know about these unassuming blondies is that they are made with olive oil. I love baking with olive oil, but I’d never made blondies with it. This most definitely won’t be my last batch of olive oil blondies because it gives them this insane and addictive complexity and most definitely adds to the chewy vibes.
There’s one more secret to these blondies. The base for the batter sits and rests before the flour and hazelnuts are added. It makes them even chewier and more complex, kind of like resting cookie dough in the refrigerator.
I hope you give these blondies a try to see the layers behind their basic look.
Hazelnut, Caramel, and Olive Oil Blondies
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 9 blondies 1x
Description
Crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside blondies swirled with caramel and accented with olive oil and hazelnuts.
Ingredients
½– ¾ cup caramel sauce, homemade or store bought
¾ cup olive oil
¾ cup coconut sugar
¼ cup maple sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla bean powder
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1 ½ cups paleo flour blend (2 cups almond flour, 1 ¼ cups tapioca starch, ¾ cup coconut flour)
2/3 cup toasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
½ teaspoon flaky salt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/ 325 degrees F convection. Oil an 8 inch square pan.
In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, sugars, eggs, vanilla, and espresso. Allow to sit and rest for about 30 minutes, whisking occasionally.
Stir in the flour and nuts until combined. Spread half the batter in the pan and then dollop the caramel over the batter. Dollop the remaining batter and then swirl the caramel and top layer of batter together, trying not to disturb the bottom layer of batter. Sprinkle with salt and bake 25-35 minutes, until golden brown and crackly on top. A toothpick should not come out clean because we want gooey blondies! Cool completely in the pan before slicing and serving with more caramel and hazelnuts. Blondies may be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 5 days or frozen, wrapped in parchment and foil and placed in a zipper bag for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature about an hour.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Food52
Yeah, brown food, particularly baked goods, can be tough to photograph. You did a great job with these! Excellent recipe, too. Thanks!
Thanks, John! My photography skills are definitely improving from when I began blogging.
Great combination with the olive, hazelnuts and caramel. Look delicious even if they are brown! I’m sure they taste even better.
★★★★★
Thank you, Debbie!!!