Cherry Bakewell Blondies

Cherry Bakewell Blondies recipe

This year, Mother’s Day, like most other celebrations, will be a bit different. So many people have not seen their families for so long, this day meant for cherishing Mother figures will be from afar. These Cherry Bakewell Blondies were made with a) my stomach and b) postability in mind. If you get them in the oven soon, they can be in the post in time for Sunday.

Having made far too many brownies during my baking career, I love making a blondie for a change. The genius addition of almonds and cherry jam make this particular Cherry Bakewell batch absolutely irresistible. Think all the flavours of a Bakewell tart in a much easier format with the rather lovely addition of some white chocolate. These have the density of a brownie with a lovely hit of jam and the bite of white chocolate. A big thank you to Jane’s Patisserie for the inspiration for these.

These Cherry Bakewell Blondies will cut up beautifully and if packed securely, travel well in the post to the Mother figure of your choice. If all else fails they’ll make an extremely delicious box of crumbs.

Nuts, chocolate, jam and butter, what a bloody lovely line up for these Blondies. The jam choice is up to you, make these raspberry or strawberry blondies if you prefer. White chocolate is a must, use chocolate chips or cut up a bar for chunks.

Make a start by lining a Swiss roll style rectangular tin and pre heating your oven to 160 degrees fan assisted. Now, take a bowl and add your melted butter and whisk in both the caster and the soft brown sugars.

Next, whisk in the eggs and almond extract until you have a smooth batter.

Fold in the flour, ground almonds and cornflour until you can no longer see any streaks of flour.

Fold in the white chocolate then scrape into your lined tin and dollop on teaspoons of jam. Be generous, more is more here.

Swirl the jam into the blondie batter using the tip of a knife then sprinkle the top of the bake with the flaked almonds.

Pop in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Your blondie will be golden, smelling amazing, firm to the touch and be only just cooked through.

Leave your CBB to cool before cutting into squares. The original recipe suggests popping into the fridge for extra fudginess; I didn’t have that sort of time on my hands and was frankly desperate to eat them, so I can’t vouch for this.

Wrap well, box them up beautifully, and pop in the post to your chosen well deserving recipient.

You’ll notice the recipe makes around 20, if not more, blondies. This means you get to gift some and get to eat some. These Cherry Bakewell Blondies are literally a gift all round.

Lucy x

Cherry Bakewell Blondies recipe

Makes at least 20, more if you cut them smaller

You will just need one bowl for these and a lined Swiss roll sized tin, around 6 x 12 inches

250 g butter, melted

125g caster sugar

125 g soft light brown sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon almond extract

100g ground almonds

200g plain flour

1 tablespoon cornflour

200g white chocolate chips, or a bar cut into chunks

250g Cherry jam, or use another flavour if you’d rather

50g flaked almonds

Pre heat your oven to 160 degrees fan assisted and line a rectangular Swiss roll style tin, measuring around 6 inches by 12 inches.

Take a large bowl and add the melted butter and caster and soft brown sugars. Whisk until smooth then add the eggs and almond extract and beat again.

Fold in the flour, ground almonds and cornflour until you have a smooth batter then add your white chocolate chips or chunks. Scrape into your lined tin. Dollop on blobs of your chosen jam then swirl using the point of a knife. Sprinkle the top of the blondie with flaked almonds. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until just golden and barely cooked through.

Leave to cool completely before cutting into generous squares. Serve with a cup of tea or plenty of cream or custard as a dessert. Any spares will keep nicely in an airtight tin for the next 2 to 3 days.