RASDak Treats

Jun 6, 2019

By Fran Hill

Summer is here! I had planned to share another amazing salad with you this week. However, my last post was a salad, and while I don’t believe you can ever have too many great salad recipes in your arsenal, variety is the spice of life. So I checked my calendar to see what else was of note and decided that RASDak making a pit stop here in Colome was absolutely noteworthy.

RASDak, or Ride Across South Dakota, is an annual bicycle tour that allows riders to enjoy the beautiful scenery and hospitality of South Dakota. This year’s route began on June 2 in Custer. Other host communities include Hot Springs, Red Cloud, Martin, Mission, Gregory, Wagner and Yankton. Along the way, numerous other small towns and organizations, like my home of Colome, open their parks and even just the hatches of their cars along the road to provide pit stops with homemade goodies and other refreshments to fuel the cyclists’ rides.

Last month, the Colome Area Farmers Market sent out a call for volunteers to donate baked goods, jerky, beverages and other snacks for the lush, shaded rest stop in the Colome City Park. I knew immediately that I wanted to make my Midlife Crisis Blondies for the crew. The name is not a reflection of the cyclists but comes from a time in my own life when I baked multiple pans of these decadent treats and added a purple streak to my hair. My past also includes dabbles with cycling events. Those experiences educated me on the crazy amount of energy consumed when cycling long distances. Soft, sweet cookie bars dotted with not only semi-sweet chocolate chips but also butterscotch and white chocolate hit the mark for quick and easy fuel.

If you happen to be in Colome, or anywhere along the RASDak route, please be mindful of appropriately sharing the road with the cyclists, and feel free to check out the hospitality of the South Dakotans that make this event possible. You might even be able to snag a delicious Midlife Crisis Blondie without pedaling a single mile.

---

 

Soft and sweet Midlife Crisis Blondies might be the motivation cyclists need to pedal those last few miles into Colome.

Midlife Crisis Blondies

 

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 large eggs

3 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1-1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet, but if you prefer a sweeter bar, milk chocolate would be good.)

1-1 1/2 cups butterscotch chips

1-1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Line a 17x12 (half sheet) pan with parchment paper and coat any surface not covered by the paper (edges) with cooking spray.

Beat the softened butter with the sugars until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs and extract and combine well.

Gradually stir in the flour, baking soda and salt.

Add the chips to the batter.

Spread in the prepared pan. Bake 20-22 minutes, or until golden brown. DO NOT OVER BAKE.

Cool in pan completely before cutting. (2 dozen BIG bars, or 4 dozen smaller)

 

Fran Hill has been blogging about food at On My Plate since October of 2006. She, her husband and their three dogs ranch near Colome.