A UK-based Food and Travel Blog – Recipes, Baking, Travel and Lifestyle
Last week I spent nearly 24 hours on a wedding cake (take a peek at it here). It was totally worth it and I loved every second… aside from the clean up!
Spending this much time in my kitchen means that in the days that follow I want to be in there as a little as possible as I know that I’ll be working on another time-consuming wedding cake the week after, and y’know I’m no slave to the oven 😉
But… after a day or so of hanging out with my boyfriend I can’t help but feel the need to bake again. It needs to be something particular quick and simple but equally as delicious too. I love baking something we can store and eat over the next few days, and if it’s something my son can pack in his school lunch box, even better.
It’s probably why this blog consists of recipes like Peanut Butter cups which are made in minutes, my famous brownies which I can now whip up in no time, Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, or shortbread which can be adapted and tarted up in so many different ways.
I guess I’m just a dessert junkie!
Strolling around the supermarket yesterday I spotted some good old Jammie Dodgers on offer and remembering that one of my subscribers had asked if I knew a good blondie recipe, I do, I couldn’t resist throwing them in my basket and baking them.
Similar to my brownie recipe these blondies are infinitely adaptable and you can throw anything in the mixture; chocolate chips, Oreos, raspberries… your favourite biscuit! Whatever takes your fancy. Blondies are considered the opposite of brownies mostly because they are vanilla-based rather than chocolate-based but they do share similar ingredients to brownies and the process is the same too.
I prefer both my brownies and blondies to be chewy, with just a little crackle that comes from using eggs and I never use baking powder or bicarb cause y’know, they’d start turning into cake and not the artery-clogging yumminess I’m known for knocking up.
I also added some smooth raspberry jam as it tastes amazing with the white chocolate.
[shopr_shopthepost collection=”blondies” size=”medium” title=”Shop the Equipment”]
To bake I use one glass bowl, one pan, a spatula and a brownie tin. No mixer is needed and no fancy equipment.
Preheat your oven to 180C/160Fan and line your tin. I used a 9″x9″ square tin but the brownie tin in the gallery above is perfect.
Using a bain-marie pop your glass bowl on top with the butter and sugar in and stir on a low to medium heat until melted. (A bain-marie is a pan of water with a glass bowl on top – the steam melts the contents of the bowl).
Add half the chocolate and again stir until melted and take off the hob and leave to cool for five minutes or so.
Sieve the flour and salt into the mixture until combined, it will be quite thick at this point.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until each one is fully combined.
Finally, add your vanilla, remaining chocolate and pour into your lined tin.
Spoon over some jam and using a skewer or a butter knife swirl it around a little then lay your Jammie Dodgers on top. (Or any other biscuit/delicious treats you like)
Bake for 30 minutes. Mine sometimes take a little longer, so I check every 5 minutes with a skewer. They need to be soft, but not wet.
Leave them to cool in their tin for as long as you can manage, I’m incredibly impatient so I can usually only last around 45 minutes, then move over on to a cooling rack and leave them again. Don’t eat them warm as they’re actually still cooking. I fridge mine for 30 minutes to firm up making them easier to slice up too.
The worth is wait it. Trust me. Enjoy.
