I always get duped by the Girl Scouts. A few years ago, the company I worked for had a spreadsheet where people could share the links for their Girl Scout children’s cookie order forms. I went through all of them, and saw there was a young Brownie who had only hit like 2% of her goal, and the only other purchasers were her grandparents. So I placed an unnecessarily massive order. Like 10 boxes. Lo and behold, when I checked her progress after I purchased, it said she was still at 2% of her goal. Meaning her goal had to have been 1000+ boxes. An insane goal!!!
I think I’ve talked about that incident before on this blog, but you know what? I’m clearly not over it.
So I’ve been duped conned by the Girl Scouts before. But then also, I’m duped every year when they release a new cookie. And they are just… never good. Just stick to the classics, Girl Scouts.
This year, it was Exploremores. They’re supposed to be “Rocky Road” inspired, with marshmallow and almond creme, sandwiched between chocolate cookies. In reality, they’re just more teddy-graham style Oreo cookies with a non-vanilla filling. The other flavors aren’t really strong or notable. I licked off the frosting from the middle of one and got a very vague sense of almond.
I used up my box to make these blondies.
I read this article titled “I Tried the Newest Girl Scout Cookie Flavor—and Immediately Hid the Box from My Family” and thought A) that’s unhealthy behavior and B) why? They weren’t that good. Truly just tasted like off-brand Oreos with a very basic chocolate filling. So… don’t trust everything you read on the internet.
For these blondies, I decided to focus on the flavors that are supposed to be in these Exploremores cookies that I just didn’t taste. The marshmallow and almond creme. So, almond butter and marshmallow bits. And these blondies really nailed those flavors. And with the bits of the cookie mixed in there, I could sort of imagine that this is how they wanted the cookies to taste. Rich almond flavor, light marshmallow, and the crispy bits of chocolate.
I also included some cinnamon in the blondie base, and truly, when has adding cinnamon ever hurt anything?
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PinIngredients
- 1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter
- 1 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs plus 1 egg large yolk
- 1/4 cup almond butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- heaping 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 sleeves crushed Exploremores (or Oreos, or sub 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips)
- 1 cup dried mini marshmallows
Instructions
- Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a 9×9-inch baking pan, line the pan with parchment paper and grease the parchment paper as well.
- In a medium saucepan, cook the butter over moderate heat until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer the melted butter to a large bowl. Allow to cool for about 20 minutes before proceeding.
- To the large bowl with the butter, add the sugar, eggs and yolk, almond butter, vanilla extract, salt, and cinnamon. Whisk until smooth and well combined. Add the flour and baking powder and stir with a wooden spoon. The mixture will be thick.
- Fold in three-quarters of the Exploremores and the dried marshmallows, until evenly incorporated. Spread the batter into the prepared baking pan. Top with the rest of the Exploremores and marshmallows, pressing in lightly. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until cooked through and golden brown. Insert a skewer in the center of the blondies to test the doneness. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before lifting from the pan and slicing.
- Slice into 9 or 16 equal squares.
- Blondies can be wrapped individually and frozen or stored at room temperature for 4 days.
Notes
Base blondies from Joy the Baker