A reminder popped up on my iPhone earlier this week: January 22, National Blonde Brownie ^[1] Day. ^[1]

In my hourly tweet, text and voicemail barrage, some things are lost in translation, bits of information tumbling over one another. Luckily, though, this salient fluff of calendar notification was caught in a quiet moment when CNN had ceased in sending minute-by-minute updates of political drama or the myriad foodies I follow had taken a coffee break from tweeting about 2012’s food trends or the next live conversation I needed to join with an expert on…whatever.

But why did I want to remind myself commemorate a day that celebrates a cookie bar, and so closely on the heels of National Buttercrunch Day on January 20?

And then I remembered precisely why I took the time to schedule the alert. Being fascinated with food history and knowledge, I was curious: exactly when did blondies pop up on the food parade over the centuries? My chef friend, whose family has owned one of Kansas City’s iconic restaurants for nearly 60 years and who was probably fed Sunday sauce as a baby while being exposed to conversations by generations from the Old Country bearing witness to tradition, knows every bit morsel of food trivia possible. Italian, American, French…doesn’t matter. The only off-limits topic is Indian food—he doesn’t know a shred about it.

Turns out the blonde brownie ^[1]—or blondie ^[1], take your pick—morphed into the beloved chocolate treat of bake sales and after-school snacks once chocolate and cocoa became more accessible and affordable to the general population, thanks to mass production. Pre-brownie, the gooey dessert was made with light brown sugar/molasses and butter, reminiscent of butterscotch candy popular in mid-19th century America and before that, it was those crazy European Medieval and Renaissance cooks whipping up shallow pans of gingerbread. Pre-dating that were the ancient Roman, Egyptian and Greeks who made soft honey cakes.
^[2]So there you have it. Not an earth-shattering journey to modern-day cookbooks. No hot culinary trends in blonde brownies ^[1] on the horizon. No half-hour television specials devoted to its humble beginnings. Just another chapter in our cookie jar history, to be enjoyed in all manners.

-Kimberly Winter Stern

If you don’t have time to order the Dean & DeLuca Brownie & Blondie Assortment ^[2] for your celebration on Sunday, make your own treats. My friend, Chef Jasper J. Mirabile, Jr. has shared his slightly addictive recipe for blonde brownies made with his secret weapon: extra virgin olive oil ^[3]. There’s also fresh orange zest and a dusting of coarse sea salt to add intrigue to this beautiful blonde. Pour yourself a cold glass of milk and see if you can eat just one and stop.

Sea Salt Blonde Brownies

Ingredients
2 cups brown sugar ^[4]
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup pecans chopped
1/4 tsp. sea salt ^[5]
2 c. flour (sifted)
2 eggs
3/4 cup XV Olive oil ^[3] (extra virgin olive oil)
2 tbsp. milk
1 tbsp. fresh orange zest
2 tsp. vanilla flavoring ^[6]
1 /2 cup butterscotch morsel
1/2 cup Dark Chocolate chip morsels

Method
Preheat oven to 350°. Combine brown sugar ^[4], baking powder, baking soda, pecans and flour in a large mixing bowl. Mix. Add olive oil ^[3], eggs, orange zest, vanilla ^[6] and milk. Mix well. Pour in greased 9x9x2 baking pan. Add butterscotch and chocolate morsels on top. Dust with course sea salt ^[5]. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool on wire rack and cut into 2X2 squares.

^[4]

Brown Sugar

^[5]

Sea Salt

^[3]

Olive Oil

^[6]

Vanilla

Overland Park, Kan.-based freelance writer Kimberly Winter Stern writes travel, food, lifestyle and design. Also known as the gregarious and cuisine-informed Kim Dishes, listeners tune in weekly for her on-the-road segments on “LIVE! From Jasper’s Kitchen,” a popular Kansas City radio food show. Prolific in eating, writing and discovering, this foodie satisfies an innate desire to sample the world’s gastronomic rainbow by meeting food artisans and trendsetters, gaining insight into the culinary points-of-view of everyone from cheese makers, chocolatiers and chefs who set their city’s locavore pace to farmers who are passionate producers. Stern is a sought-after writer, with work appearing in Better Homes and Gardens, Unity, KANSAS! Magazine, 435 South magazine, KC Homes & Gardens, Generation Boom, Shawnee Magazine, KC Magazine, KC Home Design, KC Business and Midwest CEO. Stern is a national blogger for the Dean & DeLuca Gourmet Food Blog where she cooks, styles, shoots and writes about life and cooking … and loves to lick the bowl clean. This writer may have been given product and/or other compensation from Dean & DeLuca for this post.