Orange Blondies sweet, delicious

Dear Jeanne: My friend George calls these his "diabetic coma brownies." There's enough sugar to cause one! But they are delicious. Is it possible to cut the sugar and butter? Could baking Splenda be used? Thanks for your help. — Mrs. T. Nakamura, Oceanside, Calif.

Dear Mrs. Nakamura: Yes, this is sweet, rich and delicious. Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing, and this is one example.

I reduced the fat and sugar, and I still came out with a great-tasting result. I think the name is a little misleading, though, because usually this version of a "brownie" with no chocolate is called a "blondie." So I think I'll rename my new version Orange Blondies.

I tested the recipe by grinding up the oatmeal myself in the blender; you will have a little less than a cup of oat flour if you grind a cup of oatmeal. The sugar in the recipe (excluding the glaze) adds about 40 calories to each serving, so if you replace it with sugar substitute, you will save that many calories, but I have not tried this recipe with it, as I prefer the real thing.

ORANGE BROWNIES

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

4 eggs

2 teaspoons pure orange extract

1 teaspoon grated orange zest

Glaze:

1 cup confectioner's sugar

2 tablespoons orange juice

1 teaspoon grated orange zest

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 13-by-9-by-2-inch pan and set aside. In a mixing bowl, stir together flour, sugar and salt. Add butter, eggs, orange extract and orange zest, and beat with a handheld mixer until well-blended. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until a light golden brown and set. Remove from oven and pierce top of entire cake with a fork.

For glaze: Combine all ingredients in a bowl, stirring until smooth. Pour glaze over cake. Cool cake and cut into squares.

Makes 24 servings.

REDUCED-FAT ORANGE BLONDIES

6 tablespoons butter, softened