These blondies have to be one of my favourite sweet treat recipes I’ve ever developed.
I think this is my first sweet Aperitivo Time? I normally lean savoury, but recently my sweet tooth has been needing a little more satisfying than usual. And I’m not mad about it.
Rhubarb is one of my favourite fruits to use in desserts. Rippling it through something traditionally very sweet, like a white chocolate-speckled blondie, brings a gentle sharpness that balances out the flavours nicely.
As for the Rhubarb Sour, you can find the recipe in my book, What to Cook & When to Cook It. It is available in most retail stores near you/online. You can find where it is stocked here.
RHUBARB, CARDAMOM & WHITE CHOCOLATE BLONDIES
These blondies have to be one of my favourite sweet treat recipes I've ever developed? Bloody delicious!
Ingredients
- 9 cardamom pods
- 115 g unsalted butter melted
- 190 g soft light brown sugar
- 1 medium egg
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste
- pinch of salt
- 145 g plain flour
- 150 g white chocolate roughly chopped
rhubarb compote
- 200 g forced rhubarb diced into 2cm chunks
- 40 g caster sugar
Instructions
-
Start with making the rhubarb compote. Combine the rhubarb, caster sugar and 2 tbsp of water in a small saucepan. Clamp on the lid and place over a low-medium heat. Cook for 6–8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chunks of rhubarb have broken down into a thick compote. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
-
Preheat the oven to 180°c (fan assisted) and line a brownie tin with parchment paper. My brownie tin is 21cmx21cm, but you’ll be fine with one slightly smaller too.
-
Bash the cardamom pods to access the seeds. Grind the seeds in a pestle and mortar, into a fine powder. Set aside for use later.
-
Combine the melted butter, soft light brown sugar, egg, vanilla bean paste and a pinch of salt in a mixing bowl. Sift in the plain flour and ground cardamom and fold gently, until fully combined. Stir through the chopped white chocolate.
-
Randomly dollop both blondie batter and rhubarb compote into the prepared tin, alternating between them. Use a knife to marble them gently together, then bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden and set on top.
-
Allow the blondies to cool completely in their tin, before chopping into slices and keeping refrigerated. You can eat them at room temperature when they are slightly gooey, but I prefer them straight from the fridge when they have turned fudgy and chewy. Both options are delicious, but see what you prefer.
Recipe Notes
If you are making these with field-grown rhubarb, rather than the earlier-season forced rhubarb, you might want to add a little dash of pink food colouring to your rhubarb compote. It helps them look slightly prettier, but it is, of course, in no way a necessity.
If you can’t get enough of rhubarb at the moment like me, you’ll love my breakfast recipe for Poached Rhubarb & Ginger Granola. Or, for more recipe inspiration, head over to my Instagram.
Leave a Reply