Alcoholic Baked Goods Anonymous

Hi, my name is Johanna, and it’s been two days since I’ve had a bourbon walnut brownie.

Well, actually it’s been two days since I had a half-dozen bourbon walnut brownies.  These are addictive little guys… oh so sweet, buttery… and boozy.  “Just one more little bite” at a time, and next thing I knew there was a considerable dent in the batch.

(Does that make me an alcoholic?)

I do have quite the track record for baking with booze.  It all started with the Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes.  Which evolved into a Guinness chocolate cake with a dark chocolate whiskey ganache filling, topped with Bailey’s Irish Cream icing.  I made a killer batch of Bourbon, Caramel, Marshmallow and Bacon Bark.  And it doesn’t stop with bourbon.  I incorporated one of my favorite beers – Magic Hat #9 – into a Oatmeal Apricot Ale Cake with Brown Sugar and Cream Cheese Icing and utilized the bi-product of Courtney’s brewing with Peanut Butter Spent Grain Cookies.   I combined two of the foods that I’m happiest to have deemed heart-healthy in a batch of Dark Chocolate and Red Wine Cookies.  And then, of course, there was these psychedelic Tie-Dyed Champagne Cake with Nerdy Funfetti Frosting.

What can I say, I find myself drawn to boozy baked goods.  And this particular treat was no exception, made for the birthday of a buddy who I will simply refer to as “Shots?!”

Bourbon Walnut Blondies

From Eat Live Run

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp bourbon
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup roughly chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 and butter an 8-inch square pan.
2. Brown your butter by melting it over medium heat on the stove until it becomes a golden caramel color.  Be careful not to burn the butter—you only want to brown it. This will take several minutes and it’s easiest to keep swirling the pan with your hand while it browns.
3. Pour the browned butter into the bowl of a kitchen aid and add the brown sugar. Beat for about four minutes, until creamy. Add the egg and beat again. Then, add the flour, salt, whiskey and vanilla extract. Beat until combined.
4. Fold in the chopped walnuts. Spread out mixture in your buttered pan and bake for 25 minutes, or until edges begin to pull away from the sides of the pan.
5. Let cool before slicing into squares.

Makes 12-16 Blondies

Johanna