Irish Coffee Blondies

I had already decided what recipes I was going to make for St. Patrick's Day when I opened the Martha's March issue and saw this recipe. I knew I needed to include it in the rotation. I love blondies, truthfully. I also love coffee and whiskey. Sounds like a match made in heaven.

You'll need:

For the blondies:
2 sticks unsalted butter, plus more for pan
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups packed light-brown sugar
3 tablespoons freshly ground coffee
Salt
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup sliced almonds, skin on

For the glaze:
1 tablespoon melted butter, warm
2 tablespoons Irish whiskey
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

Disclaimer: Sometimes I decide to make things after I get home from a 13 hour day. Sometimes I intend to stop at the store on my way home and sometimes I forget and make due. This is was one of those times. I only had 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar so I substituted 1/2 of granulated sugar. I also didn't have almonds, so I just went without. I also only had bourbon on hand, not Irish whiskey. They still turned out ok (more than ok).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan, and line with parchment so that it overhangs on all sides. If you cut into your parchment square parallel to the long edge of your pan and the depth of the short edge, you'll be able to fold a nice corner by folding the long side around the short side. Butter parchment.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and baking soda. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine brown sugar, ground coffee and 1 teaspoon salt.

Melt butter, and pour into a mixing bowl. Stir to combine. Stir in eggs and vanilla extract. Stir in flour mixture until just combined.

Pour batter into pan, and sprinkle with almonds. Bake 27 to 30 minutes, depending on how chewy you like your blondies (a shorter baking time results in a chewier blondie). Let cool completely. If you let your blondies cool for 15 or so minutes, the parchment makes it possible to lift them free of the pan. They'll cool faster in the parchment on a cooling rack. The parchment will serve to protect your work surface when you glaze them.

For the glaze, whisk together butter and whiskey. Gradually whisk in confectioners' sugar until glaze is thick but pourable (you may not need all the sugar). Martha instructs you to use a spoon or a pastry bag with a round tip to drizzle the glaze. I use a sandwich bag with the corner cut off just a tiny bit. It works just as well. Drizzle glaze over blondies in a rough crosshatch pattern. Let glaze dry 1 hour. Cut blondies into 2-inch squares.

These are so yummy! They're probably amazing with the almonds. I was skeptical about adding coffee grounds to a baked good, but it's fine. I adds a little texture. If I had a mortar and pestle I would probably smooth out the coffee a little, but it's good without doing that. The coffee if flavor is strong, but delicious. The whiskey glaze is awesome and I'll probably use it on other things.