White Chocolate and Apricot Blondies

White Chocolate and Apricot Blondies
Home Cooking

One of my biggest struggles with deciding what to bake is that it needs to be able to keep. Wednesday is my official baking day because that's when I don't have to work. I don't see Marc or my parents until the weekend and that's who I need to share the products with. Cookies seem fine but most cakes pose a bit of a problem.

I did some research and found that mudcakes keep well, as well as brownies and most slices. I extrapolated that to include blondies too. I've put way too many brownie recipes on this blog to feel interested in doing another one (unless it's AMAZING, in which case, feel free to share) so the thought of making a blondie seemed much more appealing.

A blondie is pretty self-explanatory. It's a light-coloured brownie usually flavored with white chocolate rather than milk or dark chocolate, aka a white fudge cake. Because the flavor is milder, there are often more flavor combinations available. The appeal still lies in the chewy, moist and dense texture.

My recipe is directly out of a book called  '200 Cakes and Bakes' written by Sara Lewis and published by Hamlyn. I'm proud I'm using a recipe out of a cookbook rather than resorting to the internet, which is what I normally do. As an owner of over 50 or so cookbooks (most of them in the field of baking), it's nice to know they do get occasional use and aren't a total waste of money.

I followed the recipe exactly as is so that's how you'll see it outlined below. I did forget to leave some chopped chocolate to sprinkle on top... but that's not a recipe-thing, that's just me being absent-minded.

White Chocolate and Apricot Blondies
Makes 20 or so squares

Ingredients:

• 300g white chocolate
• 125g butter
• 3 eggs
• 175g caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 175g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 125g ready-to-eat dried apricots

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line a 18 x 28cm slice pan.
2. Break half the white chocolate into pieces and place in a saucepan with the butter. Heat gently and stir until melted.

3. Dice the remaing pieces of chocolate with the apricots (I did this with a cleaver. It was fun!)
4. Whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla together in a bowl using an electric whisk (I used my stand mixer) for about 5 minutes, until it is thick and foamy and the whisk leaves a trail when lifted above the mixture.

5. Fold in the melted chocolate into the egg mixture, followed by the flour and baking powder.

6. Gently fold in half the chopped chocolate and apricots.

7. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and sprinkle the remaining chocolate and apricots evenly on top (I didn't do exactly this because I'd accidentally mixed all my chocolate and apricots into the mixture, ran out of chocolate and so just sprinkled some more chopped apricot on top).

8. Bake in the preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes until the batter has risen, the top is crunchy and the centre is slightly soft. I took it to about 30-35 minutes. This is something you can't test with the skewer method but luckily, it's not that precise anyway. You just want the batter to be cooked throughout but it is supposed to be sticky.

9. Leave to cool in the tin then lift out the baking paper and cut into 20 small pieces (I actually got 18 but who's counting). The blondies can be stored in an airtight tin for up to 3 days.

I thought this recipe turned out rather well. It was an easy one to follow. The hardest part was chopping up the chocolate and apricots but if you were really short on time, you could buy chocolate chips and pre-chopped apricots and all your troubles would be gone.

The recipe suggests that apricots can be replaced with dried cranberries for a more Christmasy version so that's something to keep in mind.

Close-up shot

Blondies are definitely not as rich and decadent as brownies. In a way, that's dangerous because you can eat more of them without feeling sick. They're a well-rounded dessert in one: sticky, slightly crunchy, soft, chewy, sweet and with chunks of chocolate and fruit. They don't require any accompaniments and make an excellent snack for a treat.