We Tried Dolly’s New Chocolate Chunk Blondie Bar Mix

Slowly but surely, Dolly Parton’s baking mixes are becoming my go-to picks. Dolly’s Fabulously Double Fudge Brownie Mix won “Best Fudgy” in our brownie mix ranking, not to mention being called out by name in my author bio for over two years now. While Sporked hasn’t published a sugar cookie mix ranking yet, Dolly’s entry is nigh guaranteed a podium position based on our previous coverage. (If we need someone to volunteer for that task, I’ll be a team player and jump on the buttery grenade.)

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Duncan Hines just sent over the newest addition to the country legend’s baking mix collection: Dolly Parton’s Chocolate Chunk Blondie Bar Mix. Will this join my hallowed pantheon of faves? There’s only one way to find out, and it starts with me putting on my apron.

New Dolly Mix!

Dolly Parton’s Chocolate Chunk Blondie Bar Mix

Pros: Y’all, any blondie bar mix that tells me to start by melting an entire stick of butter has my loyalty. These sweet, golden brownie alternatives have absolutely met my high standards for Dolly. Thanks to my long history with Graeter’s Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip, I have very high standards for chocolate chunks; the hunks found here are no joke. Plus, since boxed blondie bar mix isn’t too common in the baking aisle, you might be able to disguise this three-ingredient baking process (seriously, you just add butter and an egg) as entirely homemade! You’re welcome, bachelors.

Cons: Folks, a simple recipe doesn’t mean you can disrespect the recipe. Thanks to an oven timer snafu, I pulled these out a few minutes earlier than the box recommends. As such, removing them from the pan to cool on a wire rack ended up a visual disaster. Oh well, we all know it’s the taste that counts.

Credit: Griffin Parker / Duncan Hines

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Where can Dolly go from here?

After blondie bar mix, anything feels possible. The baking lineup has slowly expanded over the years, recently adding a few new fruity cake mixes and frosting tubs. The big steps came last year when Duncan Hines’ parent company, Conagra Brands, expanded Dolly’s influence into the freezer section with four frozen dinners and an oven-ready peach cobbler. Nearly a year ago, I wrote out my dreams for the next great Dolly Parton food product; I will repeat them here for posterity: Dolly Parton’s Banana Pudding. Dolly released a banana pudding recipe in her 2006 cookbook Dolly’s Dixie Fixin’s that she attributed to her mother; if Conagra produces it in a ready-to-thaw format, I’ll die a happy man.