Double Chocolate Blondies

 My sister has always been a big fan of the brownies I make, but unfortunately I can't claim credit for them because the recipe is from the fantastic How To Be A Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson. From time to time, though, I like to make blondies instead. I still use Nigella's recipe as a base, but I change it up enough to call the recipe my own.

These were another Christmas present, then, for my sister. As far as I know, they went down very well; I had to trim them to make them look more presentable so unfortunately had to eat the bits I cut off (poor me), and from my perspective they were very good indeed. Gooey, with a crispy layer on top and chunks of chocolate floating around in there as well. I'll definitely be making them again!

You could vary the chocolate chunks in the recipe as you wish, for example you could use chilli chocolate or just dark chocolate throughout - whatever your preference. I realise that some of the quantities in this recipe are more than a little alarming, so you might want to refer to these Healthy Brownies and adapt the recipe to fit these blondies.

Makes 30
Ingredients

• 400g Caster Sugar
• 375g Butter
• 350g White Chocolate
• 300g Plain Flour
• 1 Tsp Baking Powder
• 3 Eggs
• 100g Milk Chocolate

Recipe

• Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan and line a brownie or roasting tin with parchment paper.
• Melt the butter and 250g of the white chocolate together in a pan over a low heat until smooth.
• Allow to cool slightly, then beat the eggs into the chocolate mixture.
• Sift the flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl and stir in the sugar.
• Roughly chop the remaining white chocolate and the milk chocolate into small chunks.
• Pour the chocolate mixture into the mixing bowl and fold the ingredients together until well combined.
• Fold in the chocolate chunks.
• Pour the batter into the tin, then bake for 20-25 minutes. Keep checking from 20 mins onwards as there is a fine line between a gooey brownie and a dry one. The top should be set and a skewer should come out with a bit of blondie stuck to it when ready.

Now that I've talked about my sister and these blondies, I feel I've earned the right to brag about my birthday! I turn 22 tomorrow, and though I'll have to spend the majority of the day revising when I could be shopping I am still very much looking forward to opening the pile of presents on my desk. I doubt I'll get a birthday cake, but I'm going to bake a celebratory cake once my exams are over and this will definitely (if all goes to plan) suffice as an alternative. 

I hope everyone has a good weekend. Remember, there's only just over two weeks left to enter Baking With Spirit (this month the theme is champagne), so get baking!