Blondies #recipe by V. M. (Valerie) Burns

VMBURNS: I have a confession! I don't always keep baking chocolate in my house. Crazy, right? I don't know why not, but I don't. So, what's a girl to do when she wants brownies, but doesn't have chocolate? And, she's in the middle of a deadline and can't take the time to go to the store OR even wait for grocery delivery? She makes BLONDIES! What are blondies? Basically, it's a brownie without the chocolate and using brown sugar instead of white. These blondies are super easy and quite tasty.  Plus, you can freeze them and warm them up for later, which is another big win! If you've never had a blondie, give this simple recipe a try.

BLONDIES

• INGREDIENTS
• 
  
• 1 cup melted butter
• 2 cups dark brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 
  
• INSTRUCTIONS

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8×8 pan with cooking spray or coat with butter.
• In a large bowl, mix melted butter and brown sugar.
• Add eggs and vanilla and stir vigorously until smooth.

4. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt and stir until well incorporated.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth out.
6. Bake for 45 minutes until edges are golden and a toothpick comes out mostly clean.
7. Cool completely, then cut into squares.

READERS: Do you have a favorite Go-To dessert? If so, drop it in the comments for your chance to win an electronic copy of IN THE DOG HOUSE, the first book in my DOG CLUB MYSTERY SERIES.

V. M. Burns

 IN THE DOG HOUSE, Dog Club Mystery #1.

V. M. Burns

Her new canine companion is a lot more loyal than her ex-husband—but that doesn’t mean she wanted him dead….
 
Lilly may be losing a husband but she's gaining a toy poodle. That could be seen as a win-win, since her new adopted pooch Aggie (named after Agatha Christie) is cute and adorable, and Lilly's dirty dog of a spouse is cheating on her with a blond bimbo—except for one problem: Albert Echosby’s just been murdered, and Lilly is the number-one suspect.
 
With the cops barking up the wrong tree, it's a good thing her best friend Scarlett "Dixie" Jefferson from Chattanooga, Tennessee, decided to take a break from the dog club circuit to pay a visit, along with her own prize pair of poodles. With help from Dixie, her defense attorney daughter, and a blue-eyed man in blue with a K-9 partner, Lilly is determined to collar the real killer. But when a second murder occurs, it's clear they're dealing with one sick puppy . . .