gentlemen prefer blondies

It’s been awhile since I attended a bake sale, but I do have fond memories of the events held in our school cafeteria. Plastic tables—heavy with Duncan Hines confetti cupcakes and chocolate chip cookies—were staffed by students with little experience as cashiers, and mobbed by their sugar-toothed classmates. The spectacle was fun enough, but at the end of it all lay the promise of dessert (something not procured from sketchy vending machines!), and the knowledge that you’d helped Mrs. Garcia’s homeroom support a good cause.

If you’re nostalgic too, I can point you to a thoroughly grown-up alternative to the cafeteria bake sales of old. The lovely Phoebe and Cara of Big Girls, Small Kitchen are raising money for The Valerie Fund by baking some amazing-looking peanut M&M blondies through Mother’s Day. Personally, I can think of no more appropriate way to say “I love you” to my wonderful mother (a food-blog reader herself, she introduced me to Phoebe and Cara’s writing). And on this holiday, I feel especially compelled to support families that haven’t been as lucky as ours; the Valerie Fund provides comprehensive care to kids with cancer and blood disease. It breaks my heart that little ones have to go through that kind of pain—and it’s eerily similar to the cause I supported (with particular energy) back in high school.

My senior year, I found small-town life in Wilmette, Illinois to be suffocating, and high school classes seemed to be nothing more than obstacles standing between me and college. Bored and purposeless, I signed up to run a marathon with Team in Training, which meant I’d also be raising money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It was a bold and probably dumb move: I’d been running recreationally for two years, but I was young and green and in no shape to run 26.2 miles. But the training and the fundraising would challenge me, ask something of me. It became the thing that gave me purpose in what otherwise would’ve been a self-centered year, spent resting on my laurels and waiting for my next life chapter to begin.

So on Saturday mornings throughout the long Chicago winter, my dad and I would meet throngs of cheerful teammates by the lakefront path downtown, shivering and hopping in place before our long runs began. Week after week, we’d step up the distance in increments, commiserating about calf pain along the way. In our group, some were old hats at distance running, and some hadn’t jogged a step before they signed up to fundraise; many were survivors of cancer themselves, or were running in the name of a loved one. No matter their motivation, everyone rose to the occasion. We all became real runners in those few months, and real fundraisers too: each week meant a new batch of letters sent to family and friends, another fundraising party. We hadn’t experienced the kind of suffering that leukemia patients do, but marathon training was humbling in its own right, and the money-raising gave meaning to our long runs.

We crave tangible results from our efforts to help others. So to support the causes closest to their hearts, some people volunteer directly, some people run, and some people bake. If you have the time and energy for this kind of effort, I’m certainly impressed! (When my schedule frees up, I’d love to put in a few hours at the animal shelter where we found this little bug.) But if you don’t, please consider writing a small check to someplace that needs it. I’ll be sending these blondies to my mom—and for your own blondie consumption needs, consider making this amazing cashew-and-white-chocolate version at home!

CASHEW-WHITE CHOCOLATE BLONDIES
Makes 16 bars
Adapted from The Essential Baker, by Carole Bloom

Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed (or up to 1 cup if you have a sweeter tooth)
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 2/3 cup cashews, chopped and toasted (Note: Toast nuts in a 350-degree oven for 5-10 minutes on a baking sheet, stirring them halfway through.)
- 3 oz. white chocolate, chopped

Preparation
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with a rack placed squarely in the middle. Line an 8×8-inch square pan with foil or parchment paper, leaving a few inches of overhang, then grease with butter or cooking spray.
2) Cream butter and brown sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add both eggs and vanilla, stirring to combine thoroughly.
3) In a medium bowl, stir baking soda and salt into flour. In three batches, add these dry ingredients to butter mixture, mixing well each time.
4) Add the cashews and white chocolate chunks to batter, stirring gently to distribute mix-ins evenly.
5) Pour batter into lined pan, using a rubber spatula to fill corners and even out the top. Bake blondies for 28-30 minutes, just until cake tester emerges cleanly from the center.
6) Enjoy all by yourself with a glass of milk, but make sure to send along this delicious version to your mom for Mother’s Day!