Dark Chocolate Pecan Blondies

With all the glorious bounty of fresh summer fruit, it's been delightfully easy to continue maintaining our "mostly fruit desserts" resolution. I can't deny, though, that I still often I feel compelled by the urge to bake, and I do always love the challenge of creating more healthful alternatives to traditional confections. This weekend, since we were driving to South Carolina on Saturday evening to join our friends Emily and Aaron in celebrating their 3rd wedding anniversary,

I had the perfect opportunity to play with flour, some dark chocolate and the oven!

Great minds think alike (or maybe Emily and I just know each other too well after having been roommates for 3 years back in college :-), because Emily also treated us to a batch of perfectly fudgey brownies (when it comes to the fudgey vs. cakey brownies debate, I am always decidedly on the side of fudgey brownies) with a flawless dark chocolate ganache...

My contribution was a bit on the blonder side...

Dark Chocolate Pecan Blondies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup butter or light vegan marg
1/4 cup applesauce
1 3/4 cups (packed) brown sugar
4 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped pecans, divided
2/3 cup dark chocolate chips, divided

~ Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 8X8 baking pan with cooking spray, followed by a dusting of flour.
~ Stir together the flour, salt, and baking soda.
~ In a large, microwave safe bowl, melt the butter or light vegan marg.
~ Whisk the applesauce and brown sugar into the melted butter or marg.
~ Vigorously beat the egg whites and vanilla into the brown sugar mixture.
~ Stir in the flour mixture until just combined.
~ Fold in 1/4 cup pecans and 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips.
~ Pour the batter into the baking pan, and scatter the remaining pecans and dark chocolate chips on top.
~ Bake for 35 to 40 minutes - until the batter is set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean.
~ Serve warm or cooled...

HAPPY WEEKEND! :-)