RACHEL’S
Apple, Rosemary and Brown Butter Blondies
These blondies are the first thing that Rachel, our former Head Baker and trainer, baked for Alice and the team when she joined Luminary. They always take us back to those early days. We love the salty-sweet contrast in the blondie batter – the soft juicy apples, surrounded by comforting cinnamon and fresh rosemary. They’re one of Rachel’s favourite and most-baked recipes and everything we adore in one squidgy square!
MAKES 12
190g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
2 large eggs
100g soft dark brown sugar
100g soft light brown sugar
110g caster sugar
1½ tsp vanilla extract
175g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
100g dark chocolate (70% coca solids), cut into chunks
2 eating apples (we use Granny Smiths), chopped into rough 1cm chunks
3 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary (about 3 sprigs)
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/Gas Mark 4 and grease and line a 20 × 25cm baking tin with a little butter and baking paper.
First, make your brown butter – also known as buerre noisette. Melt the butter in a small saucepan with a light-coloured base (if possible) over a gentle heat, then turn up the heat and let it bubble for 5–10 minutes. Watch it like a hawk – the milk solids can easily burn if left for too long. The butter will start to bubble and might spit a little – this is okay – then it will start to foam and you will be unable to see below the thick froth. Keep heating, swirling the pan from time to time, until it smells nutty and fragrant and the butter has turned an amber colour. Take it off the heat and pour into a large bowl, making sure you scrape the brown bits into the bowl as well – these are the cooked milk solids that have caramelised on the bottom of the pan and they give the butter its delicious nutty, caramel flavour. Set aside to cool for about 5 minutes.
Add the eggs, sugars and vanilla to the cooled butter and beat with an electric mixer for about 5 minutes until pale and thick.
Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon over the top of the mixture and gently fold it in until no lumps of flour remain.
Finally, mix in the chopped chocolate, apple and rosemary. Pour the batter into the baking tin and smooth it out with a spatula.
Bake for 45–50 minutes until an inserted cocktail stick comes out clean. Unlike brownies, these blondies don’t want a wobble in the middle, they should be reasonably firm when pressed.
Allow the blondies to cool completely in the tin before turning out and cutting into 12 pieces.
