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Sometimes I want to bake something sweet, but I just don’t want a big fuss with a mixer or running the oven for an hour.
These chewy almond squares fit the bill!
They’re basically blondies, but made with almond extract instead of vanilla, and with chopped toasted almonds mixed in instead of butterscotch.
A big thank you to commenter Chris who made these substitutions on our blondie recipe and shared how well they turned out!
Chewy Almond Squares (Blondies) Recipe
To make the decorative almond halves, take a whole raw almond and pinch it between your fingers. Use a serrated bread knife to carefully cut the almond in half. The almond has a natural break-point so it should split easily once you start to cut it.
No need for a mixer for this recipe, all you need is a whisk and a strong spoon.
You can easily double this recipe.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick, 112 g), melted, plus butter for greasing the pan
- 1 cup tightly packed light brown sugar
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1 tablespoon of almond extract
- 1 cup (128 g) all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch of salt
- 1/3 cup toasted, blanched almonds, chopped
- Whole almond halves for decoration
- One 8x8-inch baking pan
Method
1 Preheat oven, prep pan, toast almonds: Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease an 8x8-inch baking pan with butter. Toast blanched almonds if you have not already done so, and when cool, roughly chop them.
2 Mix wet ingredients: In a mixing bowl, whisk together the melted butter and brown sugar until there are no more lumps of brown sugar. Whisk in the beaten egg and almond extract.
3 Whisk dry ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and pinch of salt.
4 Make batter: Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix until smooth. Stir in the chopped almonds.
5 Pour into baking pan, add almond halves: Pour into the prepared baking pan and smooth the surface. You can "cut" the surface with a knife to make it easier to see where you will want to make cuts once the squares are done. Place an almond half, cut side down, in the middle of each square.
6 Bake: Bake at 350°F for 20 to 25 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cool completely before cutting into squares.
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Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.
Chewy Almond Squares (Blondies)
Just made these! I did not have the almonds and not a huge fan of almond extract, I decided to play just a little. I used the full TBSP of vanilla, 1 cup of chopped pecans, and topped with a little maldon sea salt flakes. OMG they are so good! Think pecan pie meets blondies. Thank you so much for posting this recipe, it is definately a keeper.
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This is another excellent recipe of Elise. Simple yet very tasty. We just love it ! I tried with both blanched and whole almonds. We didn’t really taste bitterness with whole almonds, but if you use blanched almonds, it tastes more sophisticated. It is very easy to blanch whole almonds. Just put them in a bowl of hot water. In a few minutes, you can easily peel the skin. Sometimes I don’t even bother to toast them ! Thanks again for the recipe.
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How can I tell if my almonds are blanched, says whole almonds all natural. I know I have to toast them, but do I have to blanch them?
Blanched almonds don’t have any of the dark skin (which can be a little bitter), they are white and usually slivered or cut into baton shapes. I wouldn’t recommend using whole almonds for this because of the bitterness factor of the skins, but that said, I haven’t tried using whole almonds (other than for the last decorative step). If you try it anyway, please let us know how it turns out for you.
Reply to Sandy S
Look up cream puff dough on Google. The one from Cake Boss is for a cake not puffs.
Thanks Jackie! I had to do a little searching, but I found the recipe I had in mind. It’s called Almond Puff Pastry.
Here is a link: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/almond-puff/
Quite simple but for those who love pastries, it’s a real treat. We used to always make it around the holidays, as it keeps well and can be made a day or two ahead. The scent of Elise’s Chewy Almond Squares recipe reminded me of it. It’s way off my diet these days, so good thing I have this recipe of Elise’s which can be made gluten free and with coconut oil!
My wife made these yesterday, soooo good! I made a lemony whipped cream to top it off and it was the perfect balance.
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