How to make hazelnut-studded white chocolate and cinnamon blondies

Whip up a batch for your mom on Mother’s Day, package the blondies in a box and include a jar of the white chocolate drizzle for serving.

They’re perfect for leisurely Sunday baking too!

Makes 24 EASY 1 hr 30 mins

 The flavour combinations

Blondies

75g ground almonds

255g cake flour

10ml (2 tsp) baking powder

pinch salt

5ml (1 tsp) ground cinnamon

2 x 80g slabs white chocolate,
finely chopped

400g demerara sugar

250g butter, softened

5ml (1 tsp) vanilla essence

2 eggs

100g hazelnuts, roughly chopped

White chocolate drizzle

2 x 80g slabs white chocolate,
finely chopped

100ml fresh cream

pinch salt

How to do it

1 Preheat the oven to 180°C, and grease and line the base and sides of a 23cm-square baking tin.

2 In a medium bowl, combine the ground almonds, cake flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Whisk to combine well, then set aside until needed. Place the 2 x 80g slabs finely chopped white chocolate in a glass bowl and melt the chocolate over a pot of barely simmering water, stirring the chocolate occasionally (do not allow the base of the bowl to touch the water). Once melted, remove the bowl of melted chocolate from the pot of simmering water and allow it to cool slightly, 5 minutes.

3 Place the demerara sugar, softened butter and vanilla essence in a bowl,
and beat until fluffy, using a hand-held electric beater or a free-standing mixer, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time while beating, a further 3 minutes. Add the melted white chocolate to the egg mixture and stir to combine well. Add the dry ingredients to the egg-chocolate mixture and gently fold together until just combined. Stir in
the hazelnuts.

4 Scrape the batter into the prepared baking tin (it will be fairly thick) and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake in the preheated oven, 35 – 45 minutes (the centre should be slightly gooey).

5 While the blondies bake, make the chocolate drizzle by placing the 2 x 80g slabs finely chopped white chocolate in a bowl. Add the cream and salt to a small pot and bring to a boil, then pour the hot cream over the 2 slabs finely chopped white chocolate and stir until smooth. Set aside at room temperature until needed.

6 Allow the blondies to cool down slightly at room temperature,
30 minutes, before carefully removing from the tin and slicing into 24 squares of 3cm – 4cm size. Serve the white chocolate drizzle alongside and add dollops as needed, or stack the blondies and drizzle over the white chocolate.

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