Hot Blondies Bakery: Blondies and Brunettes get Dressed Up

While the classic brunette brownie that I discussed in yesterday’s post was truly incredible, my task of reviewing the entire box that Hot Blondies Bakery sent me loomed. Could any other bars measure up? I picked up the peanut butter chocolate chunk blondie to see.

The bar, which has a strong nutty aroma, features dark chocolate chunks throughout, which each pack an intense chocolate flavor to compliment the sweet bar.

And how sweet it is. It nearly tastes like peanut butter and brown sugar mixed together (if you go to your kitchen right now to mix those to see what it tastes like, I won’t judge you). This contrasts nicely with the dark chocolate, as well as with the bits of salted peanuts scattered throughout. That said, I would prefer that the chocolate chunks be a bit smaller to enhance this effect; I suppose the “take larger bites” approach would be one solution.

The texture of this bar is a tad drier than that of the classic blondie, and I didn’t happen upon the same doughy center effect that I did with the classic blondie. The peanut butter chocolate chunk blondie also trends a bit more towards cakey than the classic blondie, so while I enjoyed a better flavor balance in this bar, the texture of the classic blondie is a bit superior.

Split the difference. Get both. Obviously.

And then try another brownie, because life requires brownies. All the time. Perhaps you’d be interested in the white chocolate espresso brunette?

I’m generally not a fan of espresso-enhanced chocolates and baked goods, but in this case, the espresso flavor is apparent but subtle, and nicely offset by sweet, creamy white chocolate chips which are small and well-distributed throughout the brownie. The brownie is soft and trends towards fudgy, but isn’t quite as fudgy and gooey as the classic brunette. Intriguingly, I didn’t notice much chocolate flavor, with the creamy white chocolate and bitter espresso dominating the flavor. Though those flavors were nice, I’d like a bit more chocolate flavor to compliment this well-textured bar.

Do you like baked goods with strong espresso notes?