2011 Cooking Club Week 3: Raspberry and Pecan Blondies

Pigwidgeon

For anybody who doesn't know, blondies are just a white chocolate version of brownies, they're much lighter to each and not as filling. I like to put a bit of a twist to mine and add some pecans and raspberries. It's a combination that I think works really well, and they never last too long. It's a pretty simple recipe too.



Ingredients

- 150g White Chocolate
- 125g Unsalted Butter
- 150g Caster Sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1.5 tsps Vanilla Essence
- 200g Plain Flour
- A Pinch of Salt
- 120g Shelled Pecan nuts
- Raspberries (enough to cover the top)

Method

- Preheat the oven to 170°C

- Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pot of simmering water

- Remove from the heat and add the sugar. Mix until all the ingredients are incorporated

- Add the eggs and vanilla extract. (Make sure you stir briskly, so the eggs don’t scramble!)

- Sift in the flour and mix.

- Add the salt and pecan nuts and mix until evenly dispersed.

- Pour the mixture into a baking tray, lined with greaseproof paper.

- Scatter the raspberries over the top of the batter. (It’s doesn’t really matter too much how much you use, I usually just judge by eye how much I think is enough)

- Bake in the preheated oven for about 35-40 minutes, or until golden brown.

Malari

Yum, they look tasty! Never heard of blondies before.

Faith

Oh my god, screw the diet, I'm making these tonight!!

The Black Oil

Oh, a friend of mine has a recipe similar to this which I was going to use on here. :pac: Will definitely give your version a shot.

Malari

Faith wrote: »

Oh my god, screw the diet, I'm making these tonight!!

This is the problem - everyone's on a bloody diet these days. Then they blame it on the baker when they succumb to temptation! I can't eat them all myself!

Faith

Malari wrote: »

This is the problem - everyone's on a bloody diet these days. Then they blame it on the baker when they succumb to temptation! I can't eat them all myself!

That's exactly why I don't bake half as often as I'd like to - people make such a fuss about getting fat! I only want one or two of a batch, other people have to eat the rest!

That's one reason why I really miss my ex-boyfriend - he'd happily scoff everything I baked and never complain about being on a diet

Malari

Faith wrote: »

That's exactly why I don't bake half as often as I'd like to - people make such a fuss about getting fat! I only want one or two of a batch, other people have to eat the rest!

That's one reason why I really miss my ex-boyfriend - he'd happily scoff everything I baked and never complain about being on a diet

Oh my boyfriend will eat everything too, that's why he complains. Bloody cyclists...worse than women

nice1franko

Ladies, the answer to your problems.

The Black Oil

There's a distinct lack of white chocolate in the local supermarket. Hmm.

Malari

I got some "luxury white chocolate" in the baking section of Tesco. I've used this stuff before and it's reasonably good. Better than the Wunderbar chocolate-flavour stuff anyway, yuk.

Pigwidgeon

The Wunderbar stuff is horrible I agree. If I can't find better cooking chocolate, I usually combine some of that with just standard chocolate and it works out fine.

Although I made brownies with all Lindt chocolate around Christmas and they were amazing.

Faith

True to my post, I made them tonight . Slight alteration - they became mixed berry, and I didn't use pecans. I used Butler's Mixed Berry White Chocolate. They are delicious!!

what2do

These look yum, was thinking a good option for my weekend splurge!

Thinking mixed berries could be tasty- could I just use the frozen ones, and I presume frozen to mix cos otherwise very wet??

Thanks

blueirishangel

Love blondies!!! Made peanut butter blondies before and they were yum.

Ok to use frozen raspberries?? Also, can you just pecans up anywhere?

Will Deffo be trying these

Faith

I used frozen berries. The end result was that the batter still looks a bit raw around the berries. It tastes great, and maybe I should have just left them in for another 5 minutes, but I got really impatient . But in my experience, mushiness around berries can be a common problem with frozen ones, and isn't anything to worry about.

angeldelight

Oh God I almost wish I hadn't clicked in to look at this week's recipe!! So tempting! Am off tomorrow too, hmmm think I'll have to give them a whirl. Are pecans readily available?

Pigwidgeon

I've mainly just used frozen berries when I've made them before. I let them defrost a bit though and slightly dry them with some kitchen roll so they aren't too wet.

Angeldelight: you can get pecans in telco. They usually aren't too expensive, in the one near me they are with the other baking stuff

Malari

Urgh, not an egg in sight when I got home. An unprecedented event in our house. Will have to try them tonight instead!

shinikins

Oooh haven't made Blondies in ages, mostly because the last time i made a batch they disappeared so quickly i didn't get a sniff of them myself

Nice recipe, i've never made them with melted chocolate, i would usually throw in choclate chips as part of the mix, does it change the texture much?

Also, if pecans aren't to your taste i can reccomend macadamia nuts-the result is NYOM!!!

angeldelight

Yummy! I was afraid I'd done something wrong at first because the chocolate and butter mixture looked awful but it turned out ok in the end. I used frozen raspberries too because I couldn't get fresh and it was delish. I've had 3 and have sent the rest off with my dad to bring into the staff room so at least I won't have to eat any more! Very tasty

Asphyxia

I can't believe I have never noticed The Cooking Club until now it's terrible :eek::eek: I am totally signing up next year

I hope you guys don't mind in me taking part in the cooking/baking

These were so easy to make I was quite happy with my results they look good if I do say so myself, my only negative was I wish my raspberry's could have been fresher.

Malari

I too had a moment of fright when the chocolate and butter mix seemed to split. The sugar did nothing to help, but the eggs went in and sorted the whole lot out. Phew.

I used walnuts and blueberries, which were lovely and juicy when you bit into them

angeldelight

I want more :-(

Malari

My boyfriend texted me at lunchtime yesterday saying "I love your whiteys".

Took me a while to figure out he meant the blondies, and wasn't poking through my undies drawer or something

Sparks

Malari wrote: »

I got some "luxury white chocolate" in the baking section of Tesco. I've used this stuff before and it's reasonably good. Better than the Wunderbar chocolate-flavour stuff anyway, yuk.

Heck with that. Use the Green&Blacks white chocolate instead. Far, far, far better.

Hard not to eat it out of hand though

nice1franko

Sparks wrote: »

Heck with that. Use the Green&Blacks white chocolate instead. Far, far, far better.

Hard not to eat it out of hand though

Definitely. Always get the best ingredients you can afford - you can't make a silk purse out of a pigs ear!

Malari

Sparks wrote: »

Heck with that. Use the Green&Blacks white chocolate instead. Far, far, far better.

Hard not to eat it out of hand though

OK, never tried it! Don't eat much chocolate, but will give it a go next time.

Wurly

Malari wrote: »

OK, never tried it! Don't eat much chocolate, but will give it a go next time.

You wont be disappointed. Green and Blacks white chocolate is SENSATIONAL!!:) /drools

JohnK

Made these tonight with the Green & Blacks white choc and used some frozen summer mixed berries from Dunnes - very very tasty

TheFlamingo

Made these yesterday and they were gorgeous. Am currently eating my fourth one.. I'll try and get a picture up at some stage!

what2do

What can I say... having a glass of vino and some freshly cooked blondies - What a lovely way to spend a Friday night.

These are yummy - thanks so much for the recipe!!!

blueirishangel

Made these tonight!! Yummy tastic!!!

TEENY bit doughy in middle, but I think I didn't leave them for long enough in oven but I'll know for next time.

Great combination of flavours! Will try post a pic tomorrow!

Aoibheann

I probably could have made a slightly thicker batter for these - the raspberries pretty much went through into the mix, but still delicious (raspberry + white chocolate is really one of the best combinations going!). Actually, the raspberries through the mix really worked for me. Definitely on my list of regulars from now on.

Novella

Oh, these look so good! I'm in the process of moving house atm though, so I have no ingredients but as soon as I'm settled in next week, I'll give these a shot in my new oven. Nom nom nom!

The Black Oil

Dunnes were also lacking in white chocolate.

angeldelight

The Black Oil wrote: »

Dunnes were also lacking in white chocolate.

I got 2 big bars of Milky Bar in the Dunnes near me to make them, and it worked out very well!

terlywerly

Made these tonight in my wonky oven, baked in around 30 mins. Left out the pecans but added in white chocolate chips instead, and oh my god they were fantastic! I wouldn't normally make brownies/blondies although I would do a good bit of baking but these are most definitely being added to my regular bake list, I couldn't get over how tasty they were, my tray made 16 squares and I think there are 4 left (I made them at half 7... the whole lot here are savages!) which will probably be eaten for breakfast!
Thank you so much OP for putting up this yummy recipe!! :cool:

nice1franko

I'd only 100g of white choc... I should have added in more butter or oil or something but didn't so mine were a *little* bit dry. Still very tasty though. I also used blueberries and wallnuts:

Mr Magnolia

I'd be going with more chocolate next time round myself. I timed them for 35 and they were a bit over. Thanks kateos2, we enjoyed them.

Oh, I was also calling them 'Whiteys'. Reminded me of Me, Myself and Irene.

Little Alex

This is what my ones turned out like:



Just had some this afternoon and they were delish!

timbertime

Made these last night and they were lovely. I think their going to take over from the chocolate brownies as the favourite snack! I used macademia nuts instead of pecans (taking inspitation from my favourite subway cookie )

Neyite

Could not believe how easy these were to make. They were a big hit with himself, so much so that I'm making them again at the weekend for his mum and dad. Brownie Blondie Points. Hehehe!

Thanks!

fred funk }{

I made these this evening. I used blueberries and normal sugar instead of caster. They are absolutely gorgeous! These will be a regular thing in my house from now on. Thanks OP.

Roesy

Great recipe! I made these yesterday with one or two slight changes. I thought that I had enough pecans in the cupboard but was about 40g short so I threw in the equivalent in dark chocolate chips. They turned out great. The only complaint myself and my boyfriend have is that they are too easy to eat, half of them are gone already

Elbow

10 more minutes in the oven

Had to make 2 slight alterations though i didn't have raspberries or pecans

So added peanut butter instead



Update:
Overdone it on the peanut butter slightly so the white chocolate is a bit overpowered but very tasty.
I try to avoid baking normally because something always goes wrong but this recipe was easy even for me
Thanks OP

The Black Oil

Didn't get must taste from the chocolate, but this turned out well. Will try a smaller tin next time. Thanks OP.

Faith

I was thinking I'd put white chocolate chips on top next time alright to increase the chocolate flavour.

Malari

OK, I tried with the organic Green and Blacks chocolate, but to be honest, the first attempt with Tesco Finest chocolate was just as good, so I'll stick to that. I've already had two requests to make more of them, they were such a hit

jw297

Finally got round to making these last weekend. Just moved in to new rented accommodation and figuring out the oven so I decided to be cheap on the ingredients and use white cooking chocolate that I had instead of getting decent stuff. Also overcooked the blondies a bit. But despite being a bit too crunchy, and not tasting very strongly of white chocolate, they were YUM Will definitely be making these again with various types of chocolate/fruit/nut mixes, and will take them out of the oven 10 mins sooner next time!

nice1franko

A few people have mentioned now that there wasn't much a white choc flavour from this recipe.

In other Blondie recipes the white chocolate is not melted into the batter but added as chips/chunks. Doing that, instead of (or, as well as) melting the choc into the batter might fix that problem.

angeldelight

I'm surprised by the comments about them not tasting like white chocolate, mine were extremely chocolatey! As I said before I used big bars of Milky Bar so perhaps that made the difference for me