Blondies! Golden cousins of the more familiar brownies, that are just as easy to make. This recipe for most part comes together in a single saucepan and takes all of 40 minutes. I tried a bunch of online recipes to get here…. Some turned out dense, some cakey; some were flavored with chocolate chips and others with walnuts. Figured I prefer a ‘crisp on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside’ texture. Getting the ratio of ingredients just right to achieve this elusive texture took several trails!
Here’s what I’ve learned: Butter and Brown Sugar are the essential ingredients to a good blondie; they create an almost butterscotch-like flavor (mmmmm…), which should be the highlight! Also, the relatively high ratio of butter & sugar to flour, as compared to a regular cake, is what gets you that crisp exterior and soft, chewy interior. Unfortunately, you can’t tone down the quantities of either the sugar or the butter and still achieve this. (Definitely not a healthy recipe!) While experimenting with different add-ins, I took a chance with a classic flavor combination: Rum & Raisins. They worked great!.. resulting in a final product that lets the buttery-ness shine through, has caramelized raisins1 in every bite, and of course, has a nice little kick of rum!
Rum & Raisin Blondies
Equipment
- An Oven (the OTG kind, this will not work in a microwave)
- An 8" square, metal baking tin
- Butter paper/ Parchment paper / Aluminum foil
Ingredients
- 0.5 cup Butter [100 gms]
- 1 cup Soft Brown Sugar
- 0.25 cup Regular White Sugar / Caster Sugar
- 1 cup Maida/ All Purpose Flour
- 0.5 tsp Baking Powder
- 2 Eggs
- 0.25 cup Walnuts [roughly chopped; you can skip these too!]
- 6 – 8 tsp Rum
- 0.5 cup Raisins
- 1 tsp Vanilla Essence Optional
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Grease and line an 8" square, metal cake tin with foil/ parchment/ butter paper2.
- Melt the butter3 in a saucepan over a low flame.
- Turn the heat off and add both the brown and regular sugar to the butter; stir well so that the sugars melt completely and form a golden butterscotch liquid4. Here’s a before and after picture of the sugars being mixed into the melted butter.
- Sift the flour and baking powder directly into the saucepan. Stir well to ensure there are no lumps. The mixture will get to a semi-solid dough like consistency at this point, which is fine. Here’s what it will look like:
- Beat two eggs until the whites and yolks are well mixed; you can add a tsp of vanilla essence to the eggs while beating, though this is not essential. Add the beaten eggs to the saucepan and stir well. The mix will now get back to a batter state. Here’s a before and after picture of mixing the eggs in:
- Add 6 tsps of rum at this point; most of it is going to cook off in the oven and you’ll notice a barely-there rum taste in the final product. Add 2 – 3 tsps more if you want a noticeable, strong, rum flavor.
- Fold the walnuts and raisins into the batter with a spatula or wooden spoon.
- Pour the batter into the lined tin and bake for 25 – 30 mins.
- I recommend baking for 25 mins at first, then checking if the blondies are cooked through by inserting a tooth-pick or skewer into the middle. The skewer should come out clean if they are done. If not, bake for an additional 5 mins. When done, the top of the cake should be a light golden colour, while the edges should turn a deeper golden brown, and be crisp! Here’s what it should look like:
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for about 20 mins. Run a knife around the edges, to make sure it separates from the walls of the tin. Turn the tin over onto a rack/ plate and allow it to release. Flip the blondie slab back onto a cutting board and slice into 16 even sized, squares. You now have a batch of Rum & Raisin blondies to eat warm or store in an airtight container for later5.
Recipe Notes:
1Here’s what the caramelized raisins will look like. Part of their sweetness will cook away and melt into the blondies.
2 Pro-tip: don’t throw away butter wrappers; store them in an airtight container in the fridge and use them as tin liners when baking!
3I’ve used regular salted table butter (Amul!) in this recipe. Better quality butters do yield better tasting blondies, but Amul works fine, especially when you need to work with what’s easily available! Also the typical Amul pack comes in a 100 gms size, so no extra measuring effort required, just pop the whole slab into a saucepan and begin melting 😊
4You can put the saucepan back on gentle heat and stir if you’re having trouble with the sugar melting completely. Just don’t leave it on the heat for more than 10 seconds at a time or you will risk the sugar coagulating into hard lumps.
5Blondies stay good for about 2 – 3 days if stored in an airtight container. (Assuming you don’t eat them all on day 1)
Let me know in the comments below if you need any more instructions! P.S. Please tag @allaboutthattasteinsta if you make these, and post a picture on the gram!✌
Just love the easy step-by-step instructions along with the pics😊. I’m gonna try it this week.
You rock 👏👏🙌🏻
Hi Leela,
Wov, the Blondies looks yummy!!
thanks Lumina! Can’t wait to see how they trun out ❤
Thank you @Carol Bernard! ❤