Snickerdoodle Oatmeal Blondies

Have you ever heard of the cookie called a Snickerdoodle?  They are an old-fashioned New England and Pennsylvania recipe that predates the chocolate chip cookie -- and have nothing to do with Snickers candy bars.  They are vanilla butter cookies coated in cinnamon-sugar -- essentially a "cinnamon toast cookie".

Twice recently I was in a situation where I needed a simple dessert on the quick.  It needed to be faster than cookies (didn't have time to portion it out!), and come together more quickly than brownies (didn't have time to melt chocolate, didn't have enough cocoa powder on hand to make due with that!)  Thankfully I found this recipe by Baking Bites and modified it a little, so here you go -- the perfect fast dessert using minimal ingredients, with buttery/spicy cinnamon toast flavors and a delicious chewy texture that will please nearly everyone.



Snickerdoodle-Oatmeal Blondies
yields a 9x13 pan of blondies to cut apart at your discretion

Blondies:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour (one of these can be white-whole-wheat)
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats

Topping:
2 tablespoons sugar + 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 and butter a 9x13" baking pan.

Beat softened butter and both sugars together until fluffy (about 3 minutes).  Add salt, eggs and vanilla.  Beat well until light (about 3 more minutes).  Add flour and mix on low until just combined. Scrape the bottom of the bowl to be sure the flour is all incorporated.  Add oats and continue to mix on low until they have just disappeared into the batter.  Scrape the batter into prepared pan and smooth into the corners (it will be fairly stiff).  Combine cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle over the surface.  Bake for 25-30 minutes -- just until lightly golden.  Allow them to cool for at least 10 minutes to set before cutting into them with a sharp knife.



Enjoy!