Episode 47
April 24, 2011
Earl Grey Blondies
I’m not exactly sure what it is but lately I’ve been in a cookie mood! Cookies are great because they are easy to make and quickly bake up. They can be a little high maintenance especially if you have lots of dough and little oven space. I love doing cookie episodes because it gives me a nice break from all the long weekends!
Blondies are one of my favorite bar cookies. (In case you didn’t know – blondies and brownies are both considered a kind of cookie.) Now with that being said, I do love a nice chewy fudgey brownie but there’s something about the chocolate chip-like flavor a blondie has that makes them totally addictive. Blondies are great to experiment with flavor-wise because they have such a light delicate flavor on their own. Nuts and other additives come out much stronger than they would in a brownie.
While I do say that blondies are great to experiment with flavor-wise it can be a little tricky. For many recipes in the bake shop there is a substantial liquid component – whether it be milk, cream, simple syrup, or something like that. In those instances, the easiest and fastest way to add flavor is to steep it (if you don’t have an extract or oil which is even easier). In the video I give the example of making jasmine whipped cream – boil the whipped cream on the stove, steep in jasmine tea for a little while, strain the tea out, refrigerate and whip up and you have jasmine whipped cream! However, in many cookie recipes this just isn’t possible because they tend not to have a liquid component. In this case you have to strongly rely on extracts and oils. It’s actually very easy to make your own extract and I explain how I made my Earl Grey extract in the video using vodka. I have a separate page explaining how to make extract so I’ll just link you there instead of repeating myself : )
The Earl Grey flavor in the blondies was a huge hit. The sweet floral scent really went well with the chunks of white chocolate and the caramel-like goodness of the blondie. I love to experiment with flavor, especially tea since there’s no end to the vast kinds of tea, and I always strongly encourage people to try. Not everything will be a success but it’s fun to try and create something different!
Anyway, here’s the blondie recipe using vanilla extract (which can be easily switched to a different oil or extract) and the video is below! Thanks for watching!
I love this it is brilliant! I think I may also have a soft spot for tea infused baked goods. I had never thought of making my own extracts but now I have so many ideas! Have you ever tried infusing loose leaf teas into melted butter on the stove? It is quite the process, and incredibly messy to strain out but gives very nice flavors since the essence becomes encapsulated in the oil. My favorite tea to steep in butter is the Tazo Passion tea, it makes the butter a bright pink and imparts so much flavor. It takes so long for the butter to resolidify for creaming though…Sigh. Extracts seem like a much simpler and more readily accessible route. Another great episode full of ideas! Thanks Jason!
@Erik – Wow steeping tea in butter – that’s some serious flavor infusing right there! Flavor is fat soluble so flavor will taste better and be better absorbed in butter so that is a great idea! I like using tea for flavoring because there are so many different kinds of tea : ) If you’re really into using oil/fat instead of alcohol to make your own extract you can use oil in the same way. However, since alcohol kills off mold and bacteria it has a longer shelf-life than the homemade oil does – especially if you’re using fresh herbs for infusion.