Here we are going into week six, or is it seven, of quarantine. Recently the witch’s family was doing Pina Coladas. Obviously we couldn’t get over there to partake. I don’t drink either, but it inspired me. I like blondies so I wonder if I can get the flavor of a Pina Colada into a blondie. Testing time! We ran out to the store and I grabbed a few things that we needed. We hit a liquor store for some rum. The witch made one so I could take it. I will say I had a small taste of the rum to see what we’re dealing with. As I told my European friend it tasted like “hot coconut fire poison”. Just another reason I don’t drink. At least I now have a flavor profile I can work with. Another friend mentioned adding almonds for crunch. I have some tropical trail mix and decided to go with macadamia nuts instead. That idea was heavily backed by said friend and we now have what we need.

The recipe for most blondies involves browning butter. I’ve never done that before so it’s time to learn something new. Martha Stewart’s cookbook wasn’t a lot of help there, but as usual Hummingbird High’s was. She has a great write up, with pictures, by the way. I was a little nervous that I’d burn it since the bubbling makes it hard to see just how brown it is. My pans are black so yeah. Once the butter was browned the rest of it came together pretty quickly. Now it was just adding some coconut extract and coconut rum and tasting to see where we were flavor wise. I ended up using more pineapple juice than expected but it worked perfectly. Thank god for taste testing during recipe creation and testing. The witch has a more sensitive palate than I do in my old age.

Time to bake. I put them in the oven. I figured I could tent them if I needed to. I baked them for about 35 minutes total and was still nervous. The toothpick came out clean but they really felt as if they weren’t baked all the way through. The witch does what she normally does and calmed me down. We let them sit and cool completely. They are very fudgy like a fudgy brownie. If you wanted less of that texture and more cake like I’d recommend adding 1/4 - 1/2 cup more flour. There’s 2 packed cups of brown sugar so they aren’t very cake like. They’re just the way I like them. Flavor-wise I will say the brown butter does leave its blondie impression pretty heavily. The rest of the Pina Colada flavor is next in line. It’s very balanced and very rich. If you’re worried about brown butter over powering the flavors just melt the butter instead of brown it.

Get out there and party it up. Dream of beaches and better days. Turn off Jimmy Buffet. That guy sucks.

Stay safe and keep your physical distance.

Ingredients

1 Cup Unsalted Butter (2 sticks)
2 Cups Dark Brown Sugar (packed)
2 large eggs - room temperature
1 Tablespoon of vanilla (yes Tablespoon)
1 teaspoon coconut extract
1 teaspoon of coconut rum
1/3 Cup of pineapple juice
2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 Cup dried sweetened pineapple chunks
1 Cup macadamia nuts
1 Cup Sweetened coconut flakes
1 4oz bar of white chocolate

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees
Line a 9x13 inch baking pan with parchment letting a few inches hang over the sides (spray with cooking spray before you add the batter)
Brown the butter
1. Place 1 cup of butter in a sauce pan over medium heat
2. Melt the butter
3. Swirl the melted butter while in the pan and occasionally scrape down the sides with a spatula
4. The butter will start to bubble, continue cooking for another few minutes
5. Once it starts to brown keep an eye on it. It will burn quickly
6. Once there’s a toasted nutty smell remove from the heat and pour into a liquid measure cup to cool for a few minutes
Place the brown sugar In the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment on
Turn on the mixer to medium low and slowly pour in the browned butter
Mix in the eggs one at a time
Mix in the vanilla, coconut extract, and rum
In a separate bowl combine the flour, salt, and baking powder
Slow mix in the dried ingredients to the wet, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed
Rough chop the pineapple chunks, the white chocolate, and macadamia nuts
Fold in the sweetened shredded coconut flakes, chopped white chocolate, chopped pineapple chunks, and chopped macadamia nuts
Pour the batter into the parchment line baking pan. Make sure you spray the parchment with cooking spray right before this
Smooth the top of the batter
Bake for 30 - 40 minutes or until I toothpick comes out clean
Let rest in pan for 10 minutes
Using the parchment as handles lift out the blondies and let cool on a wire rack