One thing that is less than awesome about food blogging is that everyone assumes you are a food snob. Now I know where they get this, there are a lot of food snobby-ish food bloggers out there. I read some of their blogs, heck I am friends with some of them. And it’s all well and good. But sometimes my budget has me shopping at Walmart instead of Whole Foods. And some people live nowhere near a farmers market. We can’t all afford organic, fair trade chocolate. And making my own cream soup for a casserole my husband wants is just ridiculous, especially since he wouldn’t notice the difference.
But because people think this they often wont give me food. 🙁 I was out with a friend and her child awhile back and she pulled out a Little Debbie Nutty Bar and gave her kid half. She immediately apologized to me and said how she didn’t have time to bake like I did, and how horrible I must think she is. You know what I was thinking? Gosh I hope that kid only eats one half of that bar so I can have the other half. That’s what I was thinking.
So here are the embarrassing things I eat that some scoff at. Stove Top Stuffing (chicken flavored). Strawberry Frosted Pop Tarts (I lived off of these my first year of teaching). Little Debbie Star Crunch. Hot Pockets (multiple flavors). And truth be told on any given day, though I do love higher end chocolate (especially stuff with sea salt), I’ll take a waxy chocolaty malted milk ball that is called a Whopper over that fancy stuff, no contest.
In fact, I love Whoppers so much that I actually want them to be their own food group. Grains, Dairy, Meat, Fruits and Veggies, Bacon (yes, I feel it needs it’s own separate group, it’s just that special), and Whoppers.
So when I came across what were originally called Brewer’s Blondies and saw that they had Whoppers, I thought, Oh my yes! I ended up making several batches of these. I gave out small samples to many a person, all of whom came back and asked if I could make them more. So I did. Because sometimes I am nice (shhh, don’t let that get out).
These are a great alternative to the every day brownie or blondie (not that there is anything wrong with those items).
Malted Milk Goodness Blondies
Makes 24 depending on how you cut…I got 4. 🙂
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 TBSP malted milk powder
14 TBSP unsalted butter, softened, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 ¾ cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 ½ cups malted milk balls (like Whoppers or Maltesers), coarsely chopped in a food processor (I kept half of mine whole)
¾ cup (9 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and malted milk powder together.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar on medium speed until completely combined. Scrape down the bowl, add the eggs and vanilla, and beat until combined.
Add the flour mixture in two batches until just combined. Add the malted milk balls and chocolate chips; beat until just combined, about 10 seconds. The mixture will be thick. Turn the mixture out into the prepared pan and use an offset spatula to spread it evenly.
Bake in the center of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the blondie comes out clean.
Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 20 minutes. Once thoroughly cooled, cover tightly with plastic wrap and keep at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2008).
sarah says
I love that you aren’t food snobbish! I adore all those foods that you mentioned (especially stove top and hot pockets!), and still regularly make a delicious hash brown casserole full of processed stuff. my (very picky) husband would LOVE these–he is a whopper-holic!
Kaitlin says
I get that a lot, too… People will bake something and then tell me not to eat it because it won’t be as good as my stuff. It hurts my feelings that they think I’m like that.
I do have my food snobbish moments, but I am a sucker for Stove top stuffing, too. And even though I love making homemade pizza, I don’t mind Stoffer’s French Bread pizza in its place. Oh, and don’t get me started on pizza rolls. Or jalapeno poppers…
These brownies sound awesome, by the way. I have a weak spot for Whoppers, too 😀
Memoria says
Ugh, I need to get whoppers ASAP!! These look amazingly good. An embarrassing food I like is Little Debbie’s Swiss Roll Cakes. YUM!!
IslandEAT says
I concur completely about Whoppers as a food group and candy (preferable to Maltesers, in my book, though there are variants with peanut butter, espresso, etc – imagine!).
As for other recipes, I think I will make Dorie Greenspan’s chocolate malt cookies again and do a post on them. You might like to know that Nigella Lawson did a cake with chocolate and Horlick’s – with the Whoppers around the perimter of the frosting, as if it were a malty-chocolate a crown (the kind you’d want to wear, if you were king/queen).
Thanks,
Dan
Rosa says
The same goes for me. I can’t afford buying organic food all the time nor can I shop in classy supermarkets every day…
Those bars look too good! A devilish treat!
Cheers,
Rosa
VeggieGirl says
And this is all exactly why you’re my friend. You rock, Peabody!!
dani says
i always laugh out loud when i read your posts! i can really relate to what u said about not having high-end ingredients at your disposal – i live in rural labrador so i am extremely limited in what i can get my hands on…. that being said, i’d take one of those blondies in a heartbeat 😀
Bridget says
I can’t remember if you were baking with TWD when we made Dorie’s Whopper cookies, but if haven’t tried them, you need to – they are fantastic, and this is from someone who likes but doesn’t love Whoppers.
Heather says
I AM kind of food snobbish especially when it comes to chocolate and coffee. However, whoppers are definately their own food category. I LOVE them. And I also have been known to devour large quantites of those blue crackly whopper inside easter eggs. . . . oh and Peeps. . . . And whopper brownies or blondies are awesome. 🙂
Monica H says
I think is some way or another we are all kind of snobbish when it comes to certain foods. But sometimes I feel less than because someone has turned their nose up at me for using corn syrup or canned soups…or BUTTER! I had one person email me and tell me they’d like to see less fatty/sugary things on my blog. yeah I KNOW!
Mmm, Pop Tarts 🙂
Joanne says
I have to say. Stovetop Stuffing is pretty darn good. And I’ve been known to gnaw on a twinkie. Or 6.
Moral of the story. When you assume…
These look awesome.
Monica H says
Oh and I’ll never understand what the big effin’ deal is about using boxed cake mixes in recipes!
Helen says
How strange that people thing you are a food snob. You are just someone who is so good at adapting recipes and coming up with your own that are so fabulous, everyone wants to make them too! This recipe looks gorgeous and I’ve bookmarked it to make at a later date.
Melinda says
I don’t know what Stove Top and Hot Pockets are. They must have come in to the USA market after I left. I think you did a post about hot pockets before so I can guess what they are. I love, love Rice-a-Roni. My sisters send me boxes in my Christmas gift boxes!
The chicken flavour is the best.
We all have our weaknesses!
I have never thought of you as a food snob, more a goodie-food goddess!
Natalie says
Everything you mentioned I eat on the regular. Except I prefer Smores poptarts, but thats just me 😀
These bars look great. I always want to bake with whoppers but they usually never make it to a mixing bowl. But I think I could hold myself back to make these. I love that they look chewy and rich, rather than fluffy and light.
snooky doodle says
these look so good! I love the malted ball cut in half look 🙂
MyKitchenInHalfCups says
This makes me remember ages ago when I worked nights in the hospital, I would get home about 130 am and be famished. What I would crave often times was some boxed noodle concoction chicken flavored … wonder if they still make that … wish I could try your Malted Milk Goodness Blondies.
Dawn@cocinaSavant says
Looks delicious! I still enjoy an Oreo or candybar once in awhile to-but feel like it’s almost taboo to say so. The brownies look super moist and tasty!
Paula Schultz says
MMmmm, Star Crunch. I have about a half box left in my cupboard right now!
Julie says
I love this post!!! There’s so many things that I love to eat that aren’t homemade. Funny a friend of mine called me a food snob the other day when I said something about her green bean casserole!!!
The bars look amazing too!
kristan roland says
I get that a lot also!! People don’t realize that some of us bake because we enjoy it, not because we are too snobby to enjoy prepackaged food!! I’ve made these blondies for my blog, and they are awesome!! Baked is an awesome book.
Deborah says
I am nothing close to a food snob – and I love ANY Little Debbie snack! These sound wonderful, although I’d have a hard time getting the Whoppers into the blondies before my husband would eat them all!
jenny says
I hope you dont think I’m a food snob but those whoppers arent half as good as the maltesers from home 😉
Jenny says
I love Whoppers. So much better than Maltezers too.
Hannah says
Ah, how I wish there was a vegan malt ball out there! I used to love those things as a kid. Man, does that blondie ever sound amazing…
Mary says
Yum. I love the Baked book and must make these asap. I am not a food snob either…you forgot ramen noodles and brown sugar cinnamon poptarts!
Leslie says
OMG, Malted Mothball Blondies, I am so there!
Elle says
They sure look wicked good. I eat peanut butter cups and lemon drop hard candies from the corner grocer and Ritz crackers. Who needs to be a food snob…lots of food is yum without being trendy. Bacon is absolutely it’s own food group!
Kailee says
In the spirit of revealing non-food snobish tendencies, I absolutely love Kraft mac and cheese. It is my absoulte favorite, over anyone’s homemade casserole version!
These look incredible! Yum!
CookiePie says
DUDE, I am so with you. People always think it’s 10-course meals at our house, when really we think it’s fancy to add broccoli to the mac and cheese (boxed, of course).
LOVE the whopper bars! Yum!
rox says
I totally know what you mean. Sometimes pre-packaged foods are the best, and they’re total life savers. I have a drawer dedicated to them here at work!
Megan says
These look amazing!
Personally, I love s’mores pop tarts. They are made of graham crackers! Too good to be true.
Erika says
So glad you aren’t a food snob! These look sooo yummy. I love blondies.
Jaime says
mmmm, i love whoppers too 🙂 have you made dorie’s malted whopper cookies?
Ellen says
I just got out of a dorm and back into a kitchen so I made these tonight while watching the playoffs. I didn’t have whoppers so I replaced them with a combination of crushed Heath bar and crushed dark chocolate honeycomb chips. They were delicious!
Lynn says
My husband is right with you on the plan to put Whoppers in the food pyramid. Needless to say, now I’ll have to bake these for him.
Cara says
ha! I get the food snob thing too. Recently I had some friends over for dinner, and one brought a salad, and throughout the night apologized profusely for buying roasted red peppers off the salad bar at Whole Foods rather than roasting her own. I kept insisting that I have only roasted my own about 2% of the time and normally buy them in a jar or off the salad bar, but it’s like she didn’t believe me!
Mrs. L says
My husband LOVES malted milk balls so I’ll have to make this for him.
And you won’t believe the “anti-foodie” comments I got because I actually at the KFC Double Down…
Pinky says
Working in food in the Bay Area, I am surrounded my foodies who think I am one of them. They will ramble on to me about truffle butter and such, and then will be shocked when I tell them I don’t care for many of the foods they considers musts for anyone interested in food. (truffles, lobster, pate…so over rated) Just because I can make gourmet foods, doesn’t mean I don’t love mac and cheese with fried hot dogs covered in ketchup (it’s one of my most loved meals, truth be told). And I hear you about not bothering to make certain things from scratch for the husband, he eats anything I give him, and often times I’m convinced he doesn’t even bother looking down to see what it is.
Natalie says
I love that your not a food snob hehe 😀 and these blondies look sooo good 😀
Melissa says
I love Little Debbie Nutty Bars. Whopper Blondies look really goooood.
katie says
Made these with strawberry whoppers and they were fantastic!
JoannE says
Ghhhhhhaaaaaaa!!! Kraft mac & cheese! Yes! Whoppers! Yes! Baked! Yes! I’ve got a batch of their banana espresso choc chip muffins baking right now. Worth the price of the book. Will try these next. Really great write-up btw – funny and smart. Used to make EVERYTHING from scratch and then had two boys. Some nights hamburger helper tastes divine and there are no fights at the table.
Katrina says
They look great. I’m no food snob either!
I gave a chef I’ve been taking classes from for over a year now some homemade goodies for the holidays and she almost cried and told me how wonderful that was because people always think chefs would never eat goodies they didn’t prepare. Same type of thing. She loved it!
Just as I would love anything with Whoppers! Your posts are always so great with smartness and yumminess. 😉
Erin says
Yum, Valentine’s dessert.