Chocolate Chip Tea Sandwiches

These chocolate chip tea sandwiches are less sandwich and more elegant blondie square, the kind of bite-sized sweet that shows up at bridal showers and afternoon tea. Brown sugar and shortening get creamed into a rich caramel base, then loaded with semisweet chocolate chips and pressed into a sheet pan for a thin, chewy bar that cuts cleanly into dainty pieces.

Baking in a jelly roll pan is the trick. You get that perfect blondie ratio of chewy edge to soft center in every square, and a single batch yields two dozen tidy pieces instead of fighting with round cookie dough.

The flavor is pure butterscotch-chocolate nostalgia, and they stack beautifully on a tiered serving plate.

Pro Tips

• Pack the brown sugar firmly when measuring, loose brown sugar leads to dry, crumbly bars.
• Don’t overbake. Pull at 10 to 12 minutes when the top is light brown and the center still looks slightly underdone, they firm up as they cool.
• Let the pan cool fully on a rack before cutting, warm blondies tear and crumble.
• Use a sharp knife wiped clean between cuts for cleanest squares.

Variations

• Swap half the chocolate chips for butterscotch chips for a double-caramel flavor.
• Add 1 cup chopped toasted pecans or walnuts for crunch.
• Drizzle cooled bars with melted white chocolate for a prettier tea-service presentation.
• Cut into triangles or diamonds instead of squares for visual variety on a cookie tray.