These sultry Cardamom Coffee Blondies with smokey undertones of espresso and the aromatic cardamom aren’t your mom’s chocolate chip blondie!
Don’t worry, cardamom coffee blondies still have the familiar brown sugar and butter crumb of a thick, slightly under baked cookie, the melted pockets of chocolate chips, and a crackled crust with that classic golden sheen. I’m just saying these aren’t your basic bake sale blondies…they’re definitely a little more worldly, which I think you’ll agree that isn’t a bad thing.
Cardamom coffee blondie ingredient notes
You already know I love the coffee plus cardamom combination. You’ve seen it in my Turkish coffee, truffles, and I use the combo in Turkish Coffee Shortbread, but there are so many other ways to enjoy these flavors that I’m always experimenting. (If you’re not familiar you can learn about Turkish coffee here.)
- THE SUGARS: Why use both? Brown sugar keeps blondies moist and chewy with deep caramel notes, while white sugar adds structure and gives them a lightly crisp edge.
- INSTANT ESPRESSO POWDER: Instant espresso powder is finely brewed espresso that’s been dried into concentrated granules. Instant coffee is weaker and won’t deliver enough flavor in these cardamom coffee blondies.
- CARDAMOM: The flavor is complex ~ bright and slightly floral at first, then mellowing into a cozy warmth with hints of eucalyptus and ginger. It’s decidedly less sharp than cinnamon.
- CHOCOLATE: I recommend dark or semi sweet in these chocolate chip blondies.
There’s just something about a blondie
My cardamom coffee blondies may be humble, but they deliver big ~ a paper-thin crackly top, chewy edges, and a rich, buttery center that’s pure brown-sugar comfort. I love those little Shar Pei–like wrinkles around the edges, and the way chocolate chips peek through the surface. Cardamom coffee blondies are simple dessert perfection.
tips and faqs for baking cardamom coffee blondies
Yes, if you don’t do coffee you can leave it out, cardamom chocolate chip blondies are delish!
Great question. Just like with brownies, our standard methods aren’t very useful. If you stick a toothpick into a perfectly done blondie, chances are you’ll come out covered with melted chocolate or brown sugary goo. With blondies there’s a little guesswork involved, but better to under-bake than to over-bake (and remember they really firm up as they cool.) My advice is to stick with the recipe directions, but check on the early side, and definitely make sure your oven temp is accurate with an inexpensive oven thermometer. It’s worth its weight in gold.
You might get different answers from different folks, but I want my blondies to be rich and dense, not at all cakey. My recipe includes a little bit of baking soda to give the batter a subtle lift, but the overall texture is moist and chewy.
Blondies freeze beautifully. Be sure to let them cool completely, then wrap in plastic, then in foil. They’ll keep for 3 months in the freezer.
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Cardamom Coffee Dirty Blondies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 Tbsp instant espresso powder, heaped
- 2 tsp ground cardamom
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract or paste
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, measure by spooning flour into your cup and leveling off with the side of a knife
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 10 oz semi-sweet, dark, or bittersweet chocolate chips, save a few to pop into the top of the blondies before baking
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease and flour your pan.
- Cream the 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup white sugar, 1 Tbsp instant espresso powder and 2 tsp ground cardamom together until fluffy. About 2 to 3 minutes.
- Beat the 2 large eggs in, one at a time. Then the 1 tsp pure vanilla extract or paste.
- Whisk the 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp salt together and then add to the eggs and butter, mixing just until combined.
- Mix in the 10 oz semi-sweet, dark, or bittersweet chocolate chips.
- Spread the batter (it will be thick) into your prepared 9×13 pan. Pop a few extra chips into the top.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes. Don’t over bake. They’ll be wrinkled a bit around the edges, and a little bit of squooshyness inside is a good thing.
- Cool before cutting. (or don't.)
Nutrition
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Thanks so much for the quick response to my overbaked blondie conundrum! I “researched” the truffle idea and contemplated combining some blondie crumbs with cream cheese and then coating with chocolate but did not have the patience so wound up making some chocolate pudding with almond milk and layering with sweetened real whipped cream. Not bad if I do say so myself–Anyway, happy holidays and thanks again!
Made these today and tried to halve the recipe using an 8 X 8 inch pan and wound up overbaking big time! Flavor is GREAT though and I would love to repurpose into something yummy–Any ideas as to what I can do? I was thinking of maybe crumbling to use as a pie crust with some melted butter–and then filling with chocolate pudding or maybe some sort of pudding trifle type thing??? (I actually think a blog post on repurposing baking disasters like this wouldn’t be a bad idea….) Thanks in advance for any suggestions you may have–
Oh too bad, Yael, I do that kind of thing all the time! And I like your idea of doing a blog post about it, that would be fun. As for what you can do, I think a crumb crust might work, and I’ve seen some recipes going around where you grind up cookies, or in your case, over-baked blondies, and create chocolate coated ‘truffles’.
These look fantastic. I am hesitant to put a full tbsp of instant espresso in as kids will be having a small piece. How do you think the flavor would be if I cut the amount down or left it out?
I think that would be fine, Tanya đŸ™‚