White Chocolate Blondies...ish

So, I went to a family reunion last weekend. I was debating between a couple different desserts (brownies and blondies, incidentally) and couldn't decide which one to make, so I made both. The first one was gone so quickly that I didn't even get a chance to take a picture. And I followed the recipe to a "t" (crazy, right?!), so you might as well just check it out from the original source...S'mores Brownies from Lemons & Love. They were amazing--a hit with kids and adults alike. Please do yourself a favor and make them.

The second recipe was somewhat less successful. I had high hopes for these blondies, but they came out more like a dense cake than the chewy, cookie-like blondie texture that I'm used to. I didn't realize this until I was already at the reunion, so it was too late to salvage them for that...so instead, I brought home the (numerous) leftovers and frosted them with a nice glaze to try to play up and take advantage of that cake-like texture. It worked. They're now tasty spiced orange white chocolate pound cake squares. Yum. Is it a true pound cake? No. But it's a dense cake, and I can't think of a better name for it. Here's the new and improved recipe...

Spiced Orange White Chocolate Pound Cake Squares (adapted from Allrecipes.com)

• 16 oz. white chocolate chips
• 1 c. plus 2 Tbl butter (divided), softened
• 1 Tbl. vanilla extract
• 1 Tbl. orange extract
• Zest of 1 orange
  
• 1/2 Tbl. rose water
• 1/2 Tbl. cardamom
• 2/3 c. white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 c. powdered sugar
• Juice of 1/2 orange

Melt the white chocolate and 1 c. butter together in the microwave in a large bowl. Add vanilla extract, orange extract, orange zest, rose water, and cardamom to the melted white chocolate. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs until foamy. Stir eggs into chocolate mixture, then stir in flour just until combined. Pour mixture into a greased 9x13 pan, and bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees, or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool, then cut into 24 squares.

To make icing, cream together 2 Tbl. butter with the orange juice. Add powdered sugar until the mixture is spreadable. Frost each cake square with a thin layer of the icing.