Blondies

From a staff-favourite salted tahini skillet blondie to decadent cheesecake-topped squares, here are a few new ways to enjoy two old favourites.

Blondies, the lighter cousin of the chocolate brownie, won our vote for easiest-to-make holiday square. Then we came up with endless variations and finally whittled them down to our top four.

I’m a fan of both dense, fudgy brownies and chewy chocolate chip cookies, and a blondie is what you’d get if the two united. This variation is spiked with tahini, adding an underlying nutty richness from the sesame paste, and embellished with chopped chocolate and finished with flaky sea salt—and the combination is both sweet and salty. In other words, it’s totally amazing.