White Chocolate Rolo Blondies

I hope you've all had wonderful chocolate-filled easters wherever you've been celebrating. We're away for a few days, spending time with family and although the weather has been pretty horrible, we've spent a wonderful few days enjoying new board games, making treasure maps for our (many) easter egg hunts and running outside to make the most of the occasional rays of sunshine.

As if we haven't had enough chocolatey loveliness over the long weekend, today I decided to make us a sweet treat -- and when I say sweet, we all declared this was truly one of the sweetest sweet treats I've made -- before going on to devour whole squares of it. White Chocolate Rolo Blondies. A white chocolate version of a brownie stuffed with the yummiest Rolo sweets. Although if you've been overwhelmed by easter eggs filled with lots of yummy sweeties, you can exchange the Rolos for your own favourite sweet. Mmmm...I'm now dreaming of Maltesers 💕

This is an easy one-bowl batter but for something so simple to make, it rewards big time in flavour. White chocolate is my favourite chocolate and the Rolos turn really squidgy and chewy in the final bake. After the chocolate and butter are melted together, we just add the ingredients one by one, stirring after each addition until they're all combined. After this is spread evenly in a baking tin, then the Rolos are squished (yes, this is technical term!) into the batter and then it's popped into the oven to bake.

Once it's out of the oven, it's left to cool in the tin until just warm and then divided into squares with a sharp knife. How many squares, you decide. I cut ours into 16 but we thought we could actually cut them up smaller into one bite blondies. To drizzle or not to drizzle is entirely up to you, but a dusting of icing sugar and some melted white chocolate makes them a little more special.

So, after all your easter eggs, if you are still hankering after something a touch sweet, insanely chewy and just that little bit decadent, this is the treat for you. 

They don't hang around for long :)

White Chocolate Rolo Blondies

Makes 16 squares

Ingredients

• 250G WHITE CHOCOLATE, CHOPPED
• 115G UNSALTED BUTTER, CUBED
• 100G CASTER SUGAR
• 2 LARGE EGGS, LIGHTLY BEATEN
• 1/2 TSP VANILLA EXTRACT
• 130G PLAIN FLOUR
• 1/2 TSP BAKING
• 100G WHITE CHOCOLATE CHIPS
• 16 ROLOS

Method

• Preheat the oven to 170 degrees (fan)
• Grease and line an 8 inch square baking tin
• Put 175g white chocolate and the cubed butter in a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water (making sure that the water doesn't touch the base or sides of the bowl)
• Stir the chocolate and butter gently over the heat until they're melted together
• Remove the bowl from the heat and stir in the sugar until smooth
• Slowly add the beaten eggs and then the vanilla extract and stir until the mixture is smooth and glossy (this takes around one minute)
• Sift the flour and baking powder over the top of the bowl and then stir to combine
• Finally add the white chocolate chips and mix through gently
• Pour the batter into the prepared baking tin, ensuring that it reaches all the edges and is evenly spread
• Then place 16 rolos across the batter and press them down into the mixture (you will still be able to see them)
• Bake in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes until a skewer in the centre comes out clean
• Leave to cool in the tin
• Once just warm, remove from the tin and divide it into squares with a sharp knife
• Dust with icing sugar
• Finally melt the remaining 75G white chocolate in the microwave on short bursts (remove from the microwave when 2/3 of the chocolate is melted and then stir gently until all the chocolate is melted)
• Drizzle the melted chocolate across the top of the blondies
• Enjoy :)

Chocolate Brownies with Peanut Butter & Popcorn Frosting

I love my weekends. I love my weekdays too but the weekends come with family time, long lie-in's and lots of snuggling with my boys. Perfection. And it also comes with weekend baking. Making lots of comfort food that we eat straight from the oven. Trying new combinations of ingredients because we happen to love them all and wonder what they'll look like together.

We didn't need any more sweet delights this week. We had Mini Almond Lemon Lamingtons to celebrate Australia Day, a big birthday chocolate cake to celebrate hubby's birthday, freshly baked Nutella Brioche for hubby's birthday breakfast and Pumpkin Dutch Pancakes. But what's one more chocolate delight amongst friends?

My little one and I decided to bake brownies and pair it with some of our favourite things - Chocolate Brownies with Peanut Butter and Popcorn Frosting. Three things we tend to eat a lot of in this house!

The brownies are lovely and squidgy. We got them out of the oven a little sooner than most would choose so they are *very* squidgy. That's just the way we like them. They were still warm when we frosted them so the peanut butter started to melt a little bit around the edges. That was okay. Then we sprinkled them with toffee popcorn and dusted them with icing sugar. And inhaled them.

The Chocolate Brownies are simple to make. I love that brownies are so quick to get in the oven and these ones promise a huge chocolate hit. The recipe is adapted from Hummingbird's Chocolate Brownie but I decreased the sugar a little and switched to golden caster sugar. I also decided that we'd bake it in a bread tin and make a slightly smaller batch. This is a one bowl recipe which when you do as much washing up as I do, is always a big win! Chocolate and butter are melted over a bain-marie until smooth and the sugar is added and mixed until smooth. Then the flour is added and mixed until smooth. Finally the eggs are added and mixed until smooth. Once poured into a lined baking tin (in our case, a bread tin lined with baking parchment) it goes in the oven for around 35 minutes. We baked ours for 30 minutes (when we put a cocktail stick in the middle, it was still slightly damp) and the brownies, even cooled, are pretty gooey so I'd suggest baking them for at least 35 minutes.

Whilst the brownies were cooling, we made the frosting, The butter is beaten for a couple of minutes and then the icing sugar and milk added. When these are lovely and smooth, add the peanut butter and beat until combined and smooth. We chose smooth peanut butter but you can use a crunchy one as you like. This is also the time to customise your own topping so you can add more peanut butter to taste.

When the brownies are cool and the frosting has been spread liberally over them, scatter the top with toffee popcorn and then dust with icing sugar to finish.

The boys absolutely loved these. What's not to love about a totally chocolatey and squidgy chocolate brownie covered with the sweetest frosting and finished with our favourite kind of popcorn?

Totally a weekend hit and one that can easily be made with the little ones and enjoyed by them. It won't last long!

Chocolate Brownies With Peanut Butter and Popcorn Frosting

Chocolate Brownies

adapted from Hummingbird's Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients

• 150G DARK CHOCOLATE
• 120G BUTTER
• 200G GOLDEN CASTER SUGAR
• 2 EGGS
• 90G PLAIN FLOUR

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees (fan)
2. Grease and line a bread tin
3. Melt the chocolate and butter gently in a bowl placed over a simmering pan of water - remember not to let the water touch the bottom of the bowl
4. Once melted and smooth, remove from the heat
5. Stir in the golden caster sugar until fully combined
6. Stir in the flour and mix until smooth
7. Mix in the eggs until you have a smooth batter
8. Pour the mixture into the prepared bread tin and make sure that the batter is level
9. Bake for around 35 minutes until the top is flakey and the centre should still be a little wobbly - but if unsure, then test it with a cocktail stick that should come out clean
10. Leave to cool and carefully remove from its tin

Peanut Butter Frosting

Ingredients

• 100G BUTTER
• 200G ICING SUGAR, SIFTED
• 2 TSP MILK
• 130G SMOOTH PEANUT BUTTER
• A BAG OF TOFFEE POPCORN (we used Butterkist but you can choose whichever brand you like)

Method

1. Beat the butter in a stand mixer for 2 minutes
2. Add the icing sugar and milk and beat until smooth and fully combined
3. Mix in the peanut butter until smooth
4. Once the brownie is cooled, spread the frosting over the top
5. Sprinkle the popcorn over the frosting
6. Dust the top with icing sugar
7. And enjoy :)

Salted Caramel Brownie Squares

We're speeding merrily through our four week Easter holiday with lots more fun planned and today was no exception. Catching up with friends is always a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon - accompanied by lots of good food and drink! Whenever we meet up with these friends, there's always sure to be lots of dessert as we always make one each - hers was a beautiful chocolate cake made with savoiardi biscuits, mascarpone and almonds; mine was a rich gooey salted caramel chocolate brownie. So lots of chocolate. Always a winner. Especially with five children around to enjoy them too :)

The Salted Caramel Brownie Squares are simple to make but do require a little planning as it needs around 5 hours of setting. And I always use a sugar thermometer for my caramel but this is the only additional equipment you'll need - and you can do it without but I've previously had varying degrees of success with caramel not quite at the right temperature! Once on the brownie, it does take a while to set the caramel and we had to uplift them from one fridge to another mid setting and then end with a quick blast in the freezer - so I'd say the longer you can leave this, the better! But it makes a delicious and rather gooey topping to the lovely little brownie.

Just perfect for sharing with friends.

Salted Caramel Brownie Squares (from Donna Hay) Makes 25 small squares

Brownie Ingredients

• 150G DARK CHOCOLATE
• 200G UNSALTED BUTTER
• 265G BROWN SUGAR
• 3 EGGS
• 110G PLAIN FLOUR (SIFTED)
• 2 TBSP COCOA (SIFTED)
• SEA SALT FLAKES (FOR SPRINKLING BEFORE SERVING)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees (fan)
2. Place the chocolate and butter in a saucepan over a low heat and stir until melted and smooth
3. Set aside to cool slightly
4. Place the sugar, eggs, flour and cocoa in a bowl and whisk to combine
5. Add the melted chocolate | butter and whisk again until well combined
6. Pour the mixture into a greased and lined baking tin (mine is 23cm x 23cm) and spread evenly
7. Bake for 30 - 35 mins until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean
8. Allow to cool a little to room temperature and then refrigerate to cool completely

Caramel Ingredients

• 180ML SINGLE CREAM
• 90G UNSALTED BUTTER
• 330G CASTER SUGAR
• 125ML WATER

Method

1. To make the caramel, place the cream and butter in a saucepan over a medium heat until the butter is melted
2. Set aside to cool a little
3. Place the sugar and water into a saucepan. Mix just until they are combined but then stop mixing and let the sugar bubble and boil with no stirring until golden brown and the thermometer reads 175 degrees
4. Remove from the heat and add the cream mixture in a steady stream stirring all the time
5. Return the pan to a low heat and stir for 5 minutes until the caramel has thickened
6. Pour onto the cooled brownie and then refrigerate for 4-5 hours
7. Cut into squares and sprinkle with salt before serving

Egg Chocolate Brownies

It's almost Easter. Cue a week of chocolate and bakes featuring mini eggs, bunnies and baby chicks. I wouldn't say the boys are as excited as at Christmas, but it definitely ranks up there and we're frequently counting down the number of sleeps until the Easter bunny arrives with an abundance of yet more chocolate! For those of you that don't know me so well, I kind of like Pinterest - not quite as much as some of my friends (you know who you are!!!) - but I love it for inspiration and ideas from cooking to baking to crafts to homes to travel and more. But pinning me down to do something with the pins is another thing entirely. I first saw this idea on Pinterest a year ago and it's taken me this long to do it (well, my excuse is that I was waiting for Easter as that kind of feels like the best occasion for this one!)

Baking brownies in eggshells. Cute, eh? Originally in Italian. I followed a crude translation and my own ingredient quantities but the idea came from Brownies In Eggshells and is inspired. A touch fiddly to create this little work of art, but still lots of fun and I decided to add my own twist and pop in a small chocolate egg into each eggshell. This meant that the holes I had to create in the bottom of the eggs were a touch larger than you'd ideally need but I experimented with two different types of egg: Mini Cadbury Creme Eggs (these mini eggs are actually quite large compared to an actual egg so you do have to create quite a gaping hole) and Lindt Eggs (white and milk chocolate).

So, the results. Well, the recipe suggested baking them for 20 mins. This seemed a long time considering the size of each egg so I went with 15 mins, but really my instinct alarm bells were ringing and I should have gone for 10-12 mins I think for the perfect bake. The Cadburys Creme egg (I only made one with this) exploded out of the top so there was little Creme Egg left in it! The Lindt eggs fared better but still needed a little less cooking I think. I will definitely make this again but perhaps next time, I might try Chocolate Oil & Almond Cake for a change and freeze the chocolate eggs before putting them into the batter. The kids love them. They're addicted to eggs anyway but present them with an egg that they can peel and find a chocolate brownie inside - awesome! And the possibilities are endless with these little creations - definitely fun for Easter and for making with the kids in the school holidays :)

Egg Chocolate Brownies (adapted from Craft Marmalade) Makes 6

Ingredients

• 70G DARK CHOCOLATE
• 40G BUTTER
• 1 EGG
• 60G CASTER SUGAR
• 40G PLAIN FLOUR
• PINCH OF SALT
• 10G COCOA
• 6 EGGSHELLS
• 6 MINI CHOCOLATE EGGS

Method

1. To prepare your eggshells, make a small hole in the bottom of each egg - I used the sharp point of scissors, made a small hole and then picked away some of the eggshell until I had enough of a hole to be able to fill with batter
2. Shake the eggs until the insides come out into a bowl and then soak the eggshells in salty water for 30 mins
3. Remove from the water and allow to thoroughly dry
4. Pour a little olive oil into each eggshell to coat the insides
5. Turn on the oven to 180 degrees
6. Then to prepare the batter, start by melting the chocolate and butter in the microwave (around 1 min but keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn) and then set it aside to cool
7. Put the egg and sugar in a bowl and whisk it by hand and next add the chocolate until thoroughly mixed
8. Then add the flour and cocoa and mix evenly
9. Finally add the salt and stir through until the batter is smooth
10. Pour the batter into a pastry bag and fill the eggshells until they're ¼ full and then insert a little chocolate egg. Then top up the batter until the eggshells are ¾ full
11. Bake for 10-12 mins until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean
12. If the batter spills over the edge of the eggshell you can wipe away the excess when they're still warm
13. Allow to cool, peel and enjoy :)

Dulce De Leche Brownies

Back to school, back to waking up to an alarm clock, back to earth with a bump! This week I am pretty busy with planning and creating - and in need of a bit of time to myself without having to entertain young children, but I always miss them when the house is so quiet. I have a couple of batches of birthday cupcakes for friends this week and have been working on the decorations for my very first (yes, I said very first - eek!) wedding cake due in a couple of weeks time. These things always challenge me but that's good, right?

So we have arrived mid-week and I hadn't even had a moment to contemplate blog baking this week - but then I found a lovely looking recipe for Dulce De Leche Brownies from Butter Baking which was adapted in turn from David Lebovitz. My go-to recipe for chocolate brownies has always been Hummingbird Bakery's but I loved the sound of the dulce de leche with Lebovitz's version. Now this recipe suggests it makes nine to twelve brownies. I took one bite and I'm honestly not sure who could make it through an entire one of these as they are super-rich and very sweet - but cut up into one-bite brownies they are kind of cute and do-able (although I served the boys a brownie bite with ice cream for dessert tonight and they wanted one, then another, then another...I think faced with a whole big one, it's too much but sitting in front of a plate of little ones, you want to keep eating and eating them!)

The recipe is very straightforward and although I've used David Lebovitz's recipe, I added the digestive biscuits that Natasha (Butter Baking) included in her version as I thought they may cut through the intense chocolate. The brownie mix is simple to make but it does make a very heavy, thick mixture which is trickier to spread - so once you add the base of biscuits and dulce de leche and then have to spread the brownie mix on top, it takes a little moulding and was very reminiscent of plastering! But totally worth it as the resulting brownies were squidgy, chocolatey and very yummy :)

Dulche De Leche Brownies (recipe from David Lebovitz & Butter Baking)

Ingredients

• 115G BUTTER
• 170G DARK CHOCOLATE
• 25G COCOA POWDER
• 3 LARGE EGGS
• 200G SUGAR
• 1 TSP VANILLA EXTRACT
• 140G PLAIN FLOUR
• 6 DIGESTIVE BISCUITS (CRUSHED)
• 1 CUP DULCE DE LECHE

Method

1. Line an 8 inch (20cm) square pan with aluminium foil and grease the bottom and sides (I greased my pan and lined it with baking parchment).
2. Melt the butter in a medium pan. Add the chocolate and stir constantly over a low heat until the chocolate has melted.
3. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking after each addition.
5. Then stir in the sugar, vanilla and flour.
6. Sprinkle half of the digestive biscuits over the base of the pan and then add half of the brownie mix, spreading the mix evenly over the whole base.
7. Then using half of the cup quantity, drop teaspoonfuls of the dulce de leche across the brownie mix, evenly spacing it.
8. Sprinkle the remaining half of the biscuits over the mixture and then spread the remaining brownie mixture evenly across the pan.
9. Finally, add the remaining dulce de leche in teaspoonfuls and swirl it lightly with the brownie mix.
10. Start by baking it for 25 mins but it could take up to 45 mins (the two recipes have different timings). You're looking for the centre to feel just slightly firm and then remove them from the oven. My brownies took 30 mins.
11. Allow to cool in their tin and then cut up into whichever size brownie chunks you think you can handle!