Irish Coffee Bar

Wow, we have just passed mid of March. Time really flies quickly ....
There's no special story for now. We're still here, in Jakarta, I mean we're not moving anywhere. The whole family really focus to give support for our daughter who is facing final exam and National Exam for all 6th graders in this country.

Mellow Yellow March. Cloudy and windy still accompany our daily activities.

Last week, our children were so excited to remind me that last Saturday was St. Patrick's Day. Honestly, we never celebrate that day. The reason why the children were excited about it is because of their names are related with it. That's all.

So, to be responsible for my husband and my decision to give the names ('Patricia' and 'Patrick'), I decided to bake something to make a fun day at home. It was a cloudy day after I got back from my 'tiring' swimming routine, both of our kids were on one day school break, our son was not well (got mild fever), when I chose to bake the Irish Coffee Blondies from Martha Stewart Living Magazine.

It's an easy baking with good result. I just baked 1/2 recipe, and used 8 inch square pan instead of 9x13 inch pan. The plan was to produce 'chewy' blondies. Unfortunately I baked a bit too long so we got normal blondies, I mean not chewy one.

I substituted the Irish whisky for the glaze with Irish Coffee Cream, so the color of the glace became darker; it's light brown instead of white.

I'm happy for the result, I do love the harmony combination of the brown sugar, coffee flavor, almonds, baileys, and ...soon it's gone very quick. And the most important one was my son got back his eating appetite after finished some slice of this blondies with extra glaze.

Happy St. Patty's Day.

Chewy Irish Coffee Blondies
Source : Martha Stewart Living Magazine, March 2012.
Skip the green food coloring. We've raised the bar for Saint Patty's Day desserts. These blondies are enriched with Irish coffee-inspired flavors -- ground coffee in the batter, whiskey in the sugar glaze. And you don't have to pull out the heavy stand mixer: A bowl and a wooden spoon will do.

Ingredients
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 (I used Nescafe Protect)
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 (I used Irish Coffee Cream)
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

Directions
1. Make the blondies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan, and line with parchment so that it overhangs on all sides. Butter parchment. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and baking soda.

2. Melt butter, and pour into a mixing bowl with brown sugar, ground coffee, and 1 teaspoon salt. 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.

3. Make 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). Using a spoon or a pastry bag fitted with a plain round tip, drizzle glaze over blondies in a rough crosshatch pattern. Let glaze dry 1 hour. Cut blondies into 2-inch squares.

Cook's Note
* Blondies can be stored at room temperature up to 2 days.
* 350 F ~ 177 C.