I have a terrible guilty pleasure.
Gossip Girl is a terrible show.
Really… really terrible. There are times I can’t look directly at it because I can’t believe the horrific situation the writers have come up with for the characters this week.
But I can’t stop watching it.
Help me.
I almost started watching the show when it first came on the air, intrigued by the promise of Kristen Bell, a girl crush of mine from her Veronica Mars days.
However, I soon heard it was the teenage soap opera to end all soap operas, about a bunch of snobby rich kids who were all incredibly mean to each other.
I love a good teen drama (Dawson’s Creek or Gilmore Girls anyone?) but that premise just sounded… annoying to me.
So I passed and ignored it fully, even after it ballooned to enormous popularity.
But then all my girlfriends got into it and made ooh and aahh noises about “Chuck” this and “Waldorf” that and it was like a foreign language was being spoken.
And then all of Gossip Girl showed up on Netflix…
I can’t stop. What the heck.
I can’t stop not looking directly at Gossip Girl. A lot.
I can’t stop being mad at the characters every time they switch partners into a pair I’m not a fan of.
They switch partners a lot.
To every possible combination under the sun.
Except Dan and Jenny because they’re siblings.
Although I’m only in Season 2… oh god, ewww…. they would never, would they? I mean, I was hoping the Rachel thing wouldn’t actually happen and then..
Augh, don’t tell me. I don’t want to know. No spoilers at all please.
Just send help to pull me out of this crazy teenage drama world of sleeping with everything, drinking everything, and constant polarizing switches between hating/loving their best friends, crazy swamp of deceit that I seem to be stuck in.
Or just send enough blondies to tide me over until Chuck and Blair get back together.
Do NOT tell me if/when it happens.
No spoilers.
(..help.)
Spiced Oat and Pear Blondies
Recipe from Bon Appetit
Topping
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup old-fashioned oats
- 1/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
Blondie
- Nonstick vegetable oil spray
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2″ slices
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 3/4 cups (packed) light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups 1/4-inch cubes cored peeled firm pear (such as Bosc or Bartlett; about 2 large)
- Powdered sugar (optional)
Directions
- Combine flour, oats, brown sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Using your fingertips, rub in butter until moist crumbs form and no dry flour remains. Cover and chill. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled.)
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 13x9x2-inch baking dish with nonstick spray; set aside. Stir butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, swirling occasionally, until melted, deep golden brown, and dark brown bits form at the bottom of pan (do not burn), 7–8 minutes. Pour into a medium bowl; let brown butter cool slightly.
- Whisk flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl; set aside. Whisk brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla in another large bowl until mixture is smooth.
- Slowly stream brown butter into brown sugar mixture, whisking constantly; whisk until well blended. Add pears to dry ingredients; toss to coat. Stir into brown sugar mixture (batter will be thick). Using a spatula, scrape batter out of bowl and into pan. Smooth top. Scatter chilled topping over batter.
- Bake blondie until golden brown, edges pull away from sides of pan, and a tester inserted into the center comes out almost clean, with a few moist crumbs attached, 30–35 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let blondie cool completely in pan.
- Cut blondie into squares. Dust with powdered sugar just before serving, if desired.
Amandeleine 