Should I Break Out the Good White Chocolate?: Blondies with Salted Pistachios and Lemon

Sweet Paul's Blondies with Salted Pistachios and Lemon have been on my to-bake list for a while -- I love a good bar and I love pistachios. I decided to make these with some of my precious supply of Valrhona Ivoire 35% white chocolate, using up 10.5 ounces because I multiplied the recipe by 1.5 to bake the bars in a 9-inch by 13-inch pan.

These bars come together very quickly. You whisk together eggs, sugar, flour, and salt until light and fluffy; incorporate melted salted butter and white chocolate; and fold in chopped salted pistachios and lemon zest. You pour the batter into a pan and bake.
My bars had a very deep golden top crust and they cut cleanly after cooling. I tried a bite of a bar the day they were baked and thought it seemed more like cake. The recipe does instruct you to bake the bars a day ahead of time, and by day two, the texture was more dense and blondie-like. The lemon zest is a terrific complement to the creamy white chocolate; I think the bars would be too sweet without it, and the salt in the batter, butter, and nuts also help.

These bars were quite good, although I wouldn't be willing to spare any more Valrhona Ivoire to make them again. But I definitely appreciate the distinctive combination of white chocolate, pistachios, and lemon -- and would be willing to make the bars again with some less expensive white chocolate. 

Recipe: "Blondies with Salted Pistachios and Lemon" from Sweet Paul Magazine.

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