Hot Cross Blondies
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves: 9
- 1/2 cup/75g/2.6ozs sultanas soaked in 1/2 cup rum for 1 hour or overnight if you have time
- 170g/6ozs. butter
- 200g/7ozs brown sugar
- 135g/4.7ozs caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 250g/8.8ozs. plain all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 150g/5ozs white chocolate chips, divided in half
- 50g/1.7ozs. white chocolate extra to pipe crosses
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 180C/350F and line the base and sides of a 20x20cm or 8x8inch square tin. Drain the sultanas from the rum. Melt the butter in a saucepan on medium heat and allow to froth and brown and become nutty smelling. Remove from the heat and cool for 5 minutes.
Step 2 - While the butter is cooling whisk the flour, baking powder, spices and salt together. Once the butter has cooled for 5 minutes, whisk in the brown sugar, caster sugar, eggs and egg yolk. Mix the spiced flour mixture with the drained sultanas so that the sultanas are covered in flour (this will prevent the fruit from sinking to the bottom) and add this to the mixture with half the chocolate chips and stir to combine. It should be a shiny mixture. Scoop into the tin and sprinkle the other half of white chocolate chips on top. Smooth the top with a palette knife and bake for 25-30 minutes (you want it slightly gooey but not runny). Cool in the tin.
Step 3 - Melt the extra white chocolate and place in a small piping bag and pipe white chocolate crosses over the cooled blondies. For a cleaner cut, refrigerate the blondies until firm and then slice.
These taste exactly like hot cross buns and are a pushy recipe!