These Five-Spice Apple Blondies aren’t for me. Which isn’t to say I’m not going to eat them. Maybe you’ve noticed that I’ve been featuring sweet treats more often than usual. Well, these Apple Blondies are a family obligation. As with all family obligations you have to take the good with the bad. Or in this case the sweet with the savory.
Families are funny things. There’s the family you grew up with, and then there’s the family you end up with. In my case, these two families couldn’t be more different.
As I’ve written before, I grew up the son a pediatric cardiologist, which demanded a certain type of propriety. We weren’t particularly religious, but we were “culturally” Episcopal. This is a short-hand combination for genteel reticence. I’m not saying there wasn’t love in our family. I’m just saying our love was best expressed through respectful behavior and good grades. We didn’t speak loudly at the dinner table, the TV shows we watched were decided democratically as a family (though of course, we were Republicans) and our I love you’s were (mostly) reserved for birthday cards and broken bones. In my family, Apple Blondies and other sweet treats were for after school and special occasions. This is the family I grew up in. It’s the kind of family I’m used to. However, the family I ended up with does things completely differently.
I won’t bore you with details or stereotypes. I will say there are things to love in both types of families. Besides, family obligations exist in every family. Only sometimes they’re shouted and sometimes they’re whispered.
I bring this up because there’s been a change to my family. My partner Ken’s mom has moved in with us. She’s the one with the sweet tooth. She’s the reason I baked Apple Blondies. Some families like to end every meal with something sweet. Some do not. That’s one way families are different. There are lots of others. However, I’d like to talk about the way families are the same. In my experience families come “up to the plate” in times of need (that’s a baseball metaphor, not a dining metaphor).
Lately both my families have needed me to come up to the plate at the same time (on two separate coasts). My father has been struggling with health issues that have kept him bed-bound in Florida for a couple of months. You may have also noticed from reading this blog that I’ve spent quite a bit of time in Florida lately.
However, my partner’s mom has also been experiencing some age-related issues. My father’s problems are physical and he’s getting better. It’s more complicated for Ken’s mom. She’s physically quite healthy for a woman in her 80s. Frail, sure – but her heart, her lungs and her zest for life are all rather hardy. Still, she can no longer be alone. She forgets things, short term things especially. But also simple things. The kind of things that make it easy to worry about her. She has a tendency to repeat herself. I find myself saying, “Yes, it’s a beautiful day” 100x a day.
I also find myself saying “I love you, too” to her “I love you” more times in one day than I ever said to my own mother in her entire lifetime. It’s revelations like this that make you stop and think about families.
Apple Blondies
Anyway, she’s moved in and we’re making a new type of family. The type of family that ends its meals with something sweet. I’m happy to do it. Sure, it means binge-watching Friends, and baking more cookies, cakes, and Apple Blondies than I used to. But it also means saying “I love you” 100x a day. I think that could be good for me. GREG
Apple Blondies
Bars can be stored in an airtight container up to 5 days.
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoon salted butter, melted and cooled (plus more for dish)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon Five-Spice powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup chopped, toasted nuts (I used hazel nuts)
- 2 large firm-sweet apples (about 1 pound total), peeled, cored, and cut into ½‑inch cubes (2 3/4 cups)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in center position. Generously butter an 9‑by-9-inch (or equivalent) baking dish. Line the dish with a piece of parchment sized to fit edge to edge and extend over two sides by a couple of inches on each side. Butter the parchment and set the dish aside.
Whisk together flour, five-spice powder, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, beat together butter, sugar, and egg with a mixer until pale, about 2 minutes. Add nuts and apples, and stir by hand until combined. Add flour mixture, and stir until combined, about 30 seconds more.
Spread batter in pan, and bake until golden brown and slightly firm, about 45 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack 30 minutes, then use the extended parchment to lift the blondies from the dish. Cut into bars before serving.
How did I miss this post? Such beautiful writing. My 91 year old mother has dementia but she refuses to move. She lives in Utah and is stubbornly independent, but can’t drive any more. I live in Oklahoma, and my sister spends half the year in France and then in Florida. Our mother is not a kind person, and I’m relieved that she doesn’t live with me, but she’s certainly made life challenging for us, trying to help. I know I’ve said this to you before, but I so admire what you’re doing. It takes one heck of a special person.
You are a good man Greg. And the apple blondies look amazing.
How lovely that you’re taking care of your partner’s mother! Good wishes to your father, too. These blondies sounds and look wonderful! And they’re rather healthy, no? “An apple a day…” and these have two! 🙂
Ahhhh… I experimented with Apple Blondies at length this Autumn, but couldn’t get it right! I will have to give your recipe a go 🙂
What about beautiful story Greg! I hope you and the family have a wonderful Holiday season. I’m sure it will be filled with love, laughter and plenty of delicious food.
What a thoughtful post, Greg. Wishing your mother-in-law and father the best — and aren’t you lucky to have someone telling you they love you 100 times a day.
SO true about how families can greatly differ, even the ones we are apart of. I am so sorry to hear you are being torn into different directions and having to care for a few people in your life. But, I think it speaks volumes about your character that you step up to the plate… Not many people are willing to do that. I hope your father gets better and it sounds like your partners mother is very lucky to have you… AND you, her! Blondies are one of my favorite desserts and the addition of apple sounds just wonderful, almost as wonderful as hearing “i love you” 100x a day. 🙂 Can’t wait to try these! Cheers and thanks for sharing the YUM!
What a beautiful post, Greg. Your keen perceptions of family are so spot on. Love isn’t always what we say, sometimes it is what we do. I feel like I am a member of many different families, each one there to fill voids the other families leave. Sounds like Ken’s mother will be a great addition to your family. How many times a day does she say, “You’re such a nice boy.”?
Love the blondes. And my saying is this: every meal needs closure. Period.
Greg, you’ve had a lot on your plate (yes, intended!) but seem to be handling it beautifully. I feel for both of you dealing with the challenges of aging parents. You are doing something that is key — finding the bright spots each day that will eventually be your comforting memories. I’ll think of you when I make this awesomely autumnal “something sweet.”
Ah, “plate”. That’s a dining metaphor – not a baseball metaphor, right? GREG
We’re in the same stage of life. My MIL may be coming to live with us for a while to give my BIL’s family a break. Thank goodness I love her dearly and will work on fattening her up! Apple brownies would please us both. Thinking of you as you help out your dad—it’s a tough road.
I think if you substituted the words Jewish and insurance salesman you would be describing how I grew up. Luckily with my own family we tried to do it differently. In any case, Ken’s mom is one lucky lady and of course, Ken must be one lucky man. You sound like you are being pulled many different directions right now, but I love you’s so make it worth it. As do these bars!
Very sweet of you. Ken and his mom are lucky, indeed.
I love this line: “I love you’s were (mostly) reserved for birthday cards and broken bones.”
Ken’s mom is one lucky eater to be living with you. If you could have seen (or worse, tasted) the food they served at the retirement home my mom lived in…ouch! You’re a good boy, Greg!
Entering a new chapter. These blondies look delicious and I’m sure Ken’s mom appreciates them.
These blondies look like a warm hug. Such a delicious dessert!
Ken’s mom is so very fortunate to have you both. (And fortunate to get to eat those delicious blondies.) Sending hugs to all.
I can so relate to every bit of your story, with my mother-in-law and my mother both in assisted living. This time in life, so frail and precious and fleeting, is a challenge and gift. Lead the way, Greg, with your Apple Blondies, and all they represent. I will be making them.
What a lucky Mom she is to be with you two. Thank you for the family story. Five Spice!!!
Greg, this is why I adore you and reading your blog. You have such a way with words when telling stories of life and observations as you grow and learn, like we all do. We can all identify. I’m so glad to hear your father is feeling better. You are a good man to bake Blondies and desserts for Ken’s sweet mom. My next post is for Apple Pie Blondies (with streusel), so I dropped by to see your recipe when I saw it in my feed. I’m so glad I did. 🙂 Have a wonderful autumn and holiday season, my friend! xo