Last night’s was another Screen on the Green in the park across from my condo.
One of the reasons I love Atlanta
The showing was 16 Candles. My group was enthusiastic about re-living the 80s on the lawn with bottles of wine.
This is Kathleen’s enthusiastic face. Really.
Our wine of choice was a Malbec (one of my favorite varieties). I was gifted a bottle of a 2008 Antigal Uno from Mendoza, Argentina. It was perfect of the slightly crisp evening.
We enjoyed it with crackers and Cypress Grove Lamb Chopper (a creatively-named sheep’s milk cheese). It was a great pairing! I could also see this wine being wonderful with pizza or lamb.
Name: 2008 Antigal Uno
Tasting Notes: Lingering juicy blackberry taste, followed with end notes of chocolate. As it opened up, a hint of spice in the middle. Satisfyingly smooth ending.
Price: ~$15
Added bonus: the bottle is really neat
One the friends is gluten-free, so I thought this was the perfect time to try out a special recipe for her! Sadly, she isn’t eating any carbs right now. Happily, that meant more for me!
I gave her one in a baggie to take home and freeze for when she’s eating carbs again. 🙂
She should have had a bite… ’cause they were really friggin’ good.
Blondie had a bite.
Leggo my Blondie!
For my friends’ benefit, I referred to these as “Surprise Blondies” due to the secret ingredient.
Katie @ Chocolate-Covered Katie shared these “Genius Blondies” a while ago and I’ve had them bookmarked ever since.
Bloggers were raving about how good they are… but sometimes these “trends” turn out to be all hype. I’ve tried a few and they weren’t realllly all that good (microwave protein muffins down right suck).
Katie’s Blondies? They live up to the hype.
Blondies have more fun
Katie’s were originally made in a brownie pan. I would use mini-muffin tins. That way they’re easier to serve and you don’t need to cook them very long (the faster I can get to my dessert, the better). You can fill each hole nearly to the top with dough – they aren’t going to puff up a lot (i.e. they aren’t going to turn into muffins).
I used a square “bar” pan. This pan rocks, btw.
I made adjustments to 90% of the ingredient amounts and added a couple items, so I’m re-posting the entire thing for ease. Know that they originated here with Katie.
Surprise Blondies
- 1.5 C chickpeas (drained and rinsed with skins removed)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 C brown sugar
- 1/2 packet Stevia
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 C ground flax
- 1/4 C peanut butter
- 1/4 C chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a food processor, blend all ingredients (except chocolate chips) until completely smooth. Hand mix in chips, and scoop into a greased mini-muffin tins.
Bake 15 mins. You want them a teensy bit under-done so they remain moist and doughy when cooled.
Note: You don’t HAVE to remove the skins from the chickpeas, but it will make the batter much more smooth. (Same goes for using them in hummus, FYI.)
***
What’s your favorite way to sneak in veggies?
Mine is now Zucchini Oatmeal. Or these brownies. And, of course I’m now a Blondie-believer.
These blondies are awesome! I’m already looking forward to making them again! YUM! You need to try the zucchini muffins Katie posted on her blog a couple of weeks ago…SO good!!!
Mmmm malbec… 🙂 Have you tried Fat Bastards Pino Noir?? It’s larvvly! 🙂
Oh yes – I bought that one for the name. 🙂
Looks like you guys had fun! I like wines with hints blackberry, especially in malbec and shiraz.
AREN’T THEY AMAZING! I couldn’t believe it.
Justin even ate them!
She definitely has a gift for creating fabulous vegan desserts. I love to sneak shredded carrots, zucchini into food.
Everyone is making these but I haven’t tried them yet!!! And I TOTALLY agree, those microwave protein muffins are just NOT for me. Mine tasted like rubber. Blehhhh.
These blondies look excellent! You can seriously make me some anytime 😉
And I gotta comment on the Lamb Chopper. I LOVE that cheese. It has to be one of my favorite sheep’s milk cheese (along with manchego)
Matt. What cheese ISN’T your favorite?! 😉
I made a protein muffin in the microwave once and had to throw it out, it was horrible.
I made black bean brownies for my co-workers once but made the mistake of telling them there were beans inside.
Glad you had more success with this recipe than me! I love the uncooked “cookie dough batter,” but was not very happy with how my blondie bars turned out. Oh, well–worth the experiment, and I love the batter dip now.
You should give it another shot – these were great! I can see how the batter would be amazing. Next on the list!
The outdoor filming seems like so much fun! My campus holds those a lot in the football stadium. I should definitely check out the next one!
That screen on the green looks like so much fun. I always enjoyed the Symphony on the Prairie performances at home in Indy and this looks like just as much fun. I’m so glad that those blondies have another glowing review because I can not WAIT to try them out. Katie really is a genius isn’t she?
That sounds like so much fun! I wish we had THAT.
So fun! Here in Austin they showed Sixteen Candles as part of the Paramount’s Summer Film series. It was so much fun to watch on the big screen (and not on TBS).
Ha ha – TBS re-runs rock.