Christmas Blondies

Christmas Blondies are recipe #11 of our “Countdown to Christmas” Holiday series where I share 24 recipes over 24 days as a virtual advent countdown to Christmas. Christmas is my favourite holiday, especially when it comes to baking, and I think there are endless creations that we can come up with to reflect the holidays. All 24 holiday recipes will be shared across instagram, tiktok and here on the blog where you can print off the full recipe for your baking pleasure!

The Recipe

I don’t want to play favourites with my holiday baking series, but oh my gosh are these blondies out of this world….. I was inspired by the infamous ‘Christmas crack’ cookies you often see online, which are a jumble of your favourite Christmas goodies all thrown in to a cookie, and they turn out fabulous every single time. I thought to myself, why can’t we do the same thing with blondies? And maybe even stuff them with golden oreos because why not?!

To make this recipe, you start by making one big batch of the blondie batter. You’ll then transfer about 3/4 of the batter in to a lined, 8×8 baking dish. Once this is evenly distributed throughout the pan, it is time for the oreos! If using an 8×8″ pan, you should be able to 16 oreos evenly. Once you have the oreos in, you are going to dollop the remaining batter over top of the oreos. You don’t have to worry about this being too perfect, add the dollops as evenly spaced out as you can, but you aren’t going to cover the entire thing! That is because half way through baking you are going to pull this out of the oven and use the back of a spoon to spread the semi-cooked batter across the oreos. Just trust me ok! This helps it to get all in between the oreo cookies.

Once you remove these from the oven you can top them with crushed candy canes and sprinkles of your choice. Slice these up in to 16 even squares and enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup + 2 tbsp flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup Christmas M&M’s
• 1/4 cup christmas sprinkles
• 16 golden extra stuffed oreos
• Crushed candy cane and extra sprinkles for topping

Instructions

• The first step is to gather all of your ingredients and preheat your oven to 350 degrees. You will need a parchment lined 8×8″ baking tray.
• Start by combining your soft butter and brown sugar together in an electric mixer on medium speed. By soft butter, I mean butter that you threw in the microwave for maybe 10-15 seconds but that is not completely liquid.
• Once the butter and sugar have creamed together, add in your egg yolks, vanilla and salt. Mix until just combined.
• In a separate bowl, combine flour with baking powder and mix. Gradually add this to your wet mixture on low speed until combined.
• Add your sprinkles and M&M’s to the mixer last, allowing it to mix on high speed for just a few seconds to crush up the M&M’s!
• Transfer 3/4 of this mixture to your parchment lined baking dish and spread it out evenly. Layer in your oreos 4×4, you should be able to fit about 16 oreos across the top. Spread the remaining 1/4 of the batter in dollops across the top. You are going to spread this out half way through baking so don’t worry about it being perfect!
• Stick this in the oven and set your timer for 10 minutes. At the 10 minute mark, pull the blondies out of the oven and use the bottom of a stainless spoon to move the melted, partially cooked batter across over the top of the oreos. This helps it to get all in between the oreos and cook perfectly! You can add more sprinkles and your crushed candy cane at this point.
• Stick these back in the oven for another 12-15 minutes until the edges are golden and the middle looks set.
• Let these cool before slicing in to them. Makes 16 bars!

Why I Love This Recipe

Why do I love this recipe? Just look at those bars!!! The layers, the flavours, they are honestly a nostalgic treat dream come true! But really, I love this recipe because I love combining flavours and treats that really do go together well but aren’t often thought of as pairs. We all know and love M&M’s, oreos, and candy canes, they are nothing new, but I bet you cannot recall many desserts that perfectly combine all three of those things! Well, now you do!

I love the layers of these blondie bars, the soft, chewy texture of the centre bite and the festive spin of them. I love how they easily come together in one bowl and one pan and that they are so easy to make ahead in a large batch, cut up in to small squares, and bring to any holiday get together.

If you love this recipe, you should check out my sheetpan shortbread recipe here!