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Recently, I found myself with an abundance of caramel frosting leftover from a caramel cake. Check out that recipe here. Instead of freezing this frosting, I decided to crack open my trusty cookbook of recipes from The Grit Restaurant and make their famous Grit Blondies as a substrate for my caramel frosting.
The Grit Restaurant was an icon in Athens, Georgia, until it closed in 2022 to general sadness in the community. A fully vegetarian restaurant, The Grit served delicious foods that appealed to all, vegetarian or not. In addition to its delicious breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu, The Grit’s desserts were a well-known attraction in and of themselves!
Blondies, in case you are not familiar, are similar to brownies but without chocolate, something like a sugar-cookie bar. I decided to make a few changes to The Grit’s recipe to make it more appropriate for my purposes. I left out the chocolate chips and walnut pieces in the original recipe, for instance, because I planned to frost the blondies with caramel frosting. I have adapted my blondies recipe from the recipe in The Grit Cookbook, which can be purchased on Amazon. The cookbook is well worth the investment for vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike.
Storage and Tips
You can, as we have, store these blondies in your freezer for up to 2-3 months in an airtight container or freezer bag. Simply remove a blondie as a craving strikes you and enjoy! These blondies are delicious cold or at room temperature. We cut our blondies into fairly small pieces before storing them since they are very, very decadent, especially with the addition of the caramel frosting.
“Grit-Inspired” Blondies (with Optional Caramel Frosting)
Check out the caramel frosting recipe here.
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 2 cups lightly packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Optional: Southern caramel frosting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan, metal or glass.
- Combine butter and brown sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix well.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add this to the original butter mixture and stir until fully incorporated.
- Pour the batter into the baking pan.
- Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown and slightly puffed up in the center. Cool completely before cutting to the desired size.
- Optional: add caramel frosting to the top when blondies are still warm but not hot and spread evenly.