blondes or brunettes? (sorry redheads)

I may have wished what I consider my bland mouse-brown hair to be the engaging red that my grandmother was blessed with but I'm also a bit of a purist and believe that what you are born with is ultimately the best fit for you in the end.  Of course, I am not opposed to experimenting but if you know me, you know how I lament the two dark "caterpillars" on my face that give Bert a run for his money.  They just don't scream "go lighter!" to the top of my head.  Saddy-sad, too bad.  I guess I'll have to play with my food instead.
Now as much as I'd love a redhead brownie (I am partial to red velvet cake, after all), we're going to focus on the originals: blondies and "brunettes."  I'm a diehard blondie fan thanks to my love of the chocolate chip cookie prevailing way over any hunk of deep chocolate.  However, I wanted to take the two and see what their progeny would look like.  My tweaking ended up with about 85% blondie to 15% "brunette."  Chocolate has a much more overpowering flavor and thus this percentage seemed the most appealing in order to taste both.  All taste buds are different so maybe you will want to adjust this yourself.  I must say, those wild blondes and staid brunettes make a pretty tasty brownie baby!

Marbled Brownies

Yield: 16

INGREDIENTS
Blonde brownies a la my Grandma-ma-Sue-the-best (this is 1.5 x's the original Blonde Brownie recipe)
*1/2 C unsalted butter, melted and browned
1 1/2 C brown sugar
1 1/2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 plus a pinch of a tsp baking soda 
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 C flour
1/2 C chocolate chips (did not tweak original amount to keep chocolate flavor down a little)
*(depending on how gooey you want your brownies to be, you may want to add a tablespoon more.  I found that the centers had an almost undercooked consistency when doing this but the edges were perfectly chewy and not over-dried)
**(you can actually purchase spoons with the old-fashioned measurements, I find these helpful when tweaking the sizes of recipes as done here)
 
semi-sweet chocolate brownies adapted from Kraft

2 oz semisweet chocolate

2 T unsalted butter  

2 T plus 2 tsp granulated sugar

1/2 egg, beaten

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/4 C all-purpose flour 

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease and/or line 8"x8" or 9"x9" pan with foil.

blondies

1. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.

2. Crack two eggs into small bowl and beat.  Set aside.

3. Melt and brown butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Remove from heat once foamy and amber in color.

4. In a large bowl, mix together butter and brown sugar until sugar is completely moistened.

5. Add vanilla and 3/4's beaten egg (you will use the last bit for the chocolate brownies, did you think I would have you waste half an egg for those?! pssshh)

6. Slowly add in flour mixture until completely absorbed into wet mixture.

semi-sweet chocolate brownies
1. Place the 2 oz of semisweet chocolate and the butter in large microwaveable bowl (or melt over stove top).
2. Microwave on high stirring every 30 seconds until chocolate is completely melted.
3. Add sugar; mix well.
4. Blend in eggs and vanilla.
5. Stir in flour until well blended.

make your brownie love-child

1. Spread two-thirds of the batter into the pan. Sprinkle the 1/2 C of chocolate chips over the top.

2. Alternately drop the rest of the blondie batter and semi-sweet chocolate batter over the blondie base. 

3. Using a knife or end of a wooden spoon, swirl batters together to marble.  Do so as much or as little as you prefer.

4. Bake for 25-30 min.  If you are making a gooier brownie, that toothpick you customarily insert at the end will never come out clean!  Just a warning!  Let brownies fully cool before cutting.

Nutrition: 240 cal, 12g fat, 71mg sod, 31g carb, 21g sugars, 1g fiber, 3g protein