Banana Walnut Cinnamon Chip Blondies

Recipe adapted from here

The other day while I was browsing the chocolate aisle at Bulk Barn I stumbled across CINNAMON chips! I was so excited, I might have even let out a little scream. I have to admit I get really jealous of American's and their vast array of special baked goods. I know cinnamon chips probably aren't the most amazing thing, but when it's even difficult to come across mint chips, and when you do you buy like a million bags, it's a big deal. What was even more awesome was the fact that they were 15% off, double whammy!

I didn't pick up that much, I picked up exactly one cup, (my culinary estimations have gotten really precise over the last few months, I notice every time that I write down a measurement for a bulk item I usually hit it right on the nose or am off by a teaspoon or two, kind of scary actually). Nonetheless, I had never used these or tried these before so I wasn't about to spend a bunch of money on something I had never tried, however, it's cinnamon, could you really go wrong with cinnamon? In my books you definitely can't, I think it was more of, what would I put them in.

About a day or two after buying them, I came across a recipe that included cinnamon chips, was it fate that I found these puppies or what? I knew right away that I was going to bake this recipe because not only did it have cinnamon chips in it, it had ground cinnamon, plus bananas, and yummmmmyyyyy, plus I decided to add walnuts into the mix, the PERFECT combination.

So what was it I made? Banana Walnut Cinnamon Chip Blondies! I have only made blondies once before, and that was last Valentine's Day. I'm surprised I don't make these more often, because they're as chewy as brownies just without the chocolate. I do like a brownie ONCE in a while, but it is very very rare, so I do find myself very attracted to blondies I just never seem to get around to making them. However, this recipe here incorporated a vast amount of ingredients that I really love. These baked so much better than my first attempt at blondies, and I was really excited, even though the last one's were delicious this one blew them out of the water. The top was perfectly cooked, no cracks, very moist, the taste of banana was packed with an IMMENSE punch, which I'm extremely happy about because I've been craving banana bread like a fiend lately, and cut myself three pieces the other day from the caterers, plus the bonus of the ground cinnamon and cinnamon chips just made this absolutely perfect!

I brought these into work and people went CRAZY over them. Our crew has dwindled down by about 80% and even though I was skeptical about bringing in the whole batch they completely disappeared by 12. One person came up to me and told me he had just eaten five pieces, then grabbed a plate and stuck about 5 more on them. One guy took a napkin and put a bunch on them then stuck it in his pockets, (a little weird I know, but still). They were a MAJOR hit, and would definitely be a great treat for around the holiday season, heck they're nice for anytime of year but I just find that spice, especially cinnamon is so wonderful around this time of year.

If you have any cinnamon chips or come across them at your grocer pick them up and do yourself a favour and whip these up, trust me you will not regret it... or maybe you will because your waist-line mayyyy change A BIT... but is soooo totally worth it!

Ingredients:

• 6 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup banana puree
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup cinnamon chips
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a nine-inch-square baking pan.

Cream butter, add sugar and beat in egg. Stir in banana puree & vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and cinnamon. Add dry ingredients to wet until just combined.

Add cinnamon chips and walnuts and bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool before cutting into squares.

Enjoy!