Cranberry Blondies

Like most blondies, these are very sweet and so should be consumed in moderation- I used half the amount of the ingredients from Taste of Home, so the one I've written up makes about 18 small(ish) triangles.

The cranberries go really well with these, as they counterbalance the brown sugar and white chocolate with their slight tartness. The sweetness could be reduced a little by using a lighter sugar- light brown soft, brown caster, or even white caster would do the trick, though they wouldn't be as soft or dense.

Cranberry Blondies

Makes 18 pieces

Ingredients:

85g butter

160g muscovado (or other sugar)

1 egg

½tsp vanilla extract 

135g flour

¾tsp baking powder 

¼tsp salt

¼tsp cinnamon  

30g dried cranberries

85g white chocolate, coarsely chopped (or chips)

Topping:

110g cream cheese

55g icing sugar

85g white chocolate, melted

30g dried cranberries

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180◦C/ 350F/ gas mark 4 and line a 7.5 inch/19cm square tin with buttered greaseproof paper (or use a disposable foil tin).

2. Melt the butter and stir in the sugar; leave to come to room temperature.

3. Beat the egg and vanilla into the butter and sugar. Sift in the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and stir until well incorporated. Fold in the chocolate pieces and cranberries.

4. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for about 25 minutes, or until a skin has formed and a skewer inserted near to the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool for about 15 minutes before taking out of the tin and cooling further on a wire rack.

5. For the frosting, soften the cream cheese in a small-medium bowl and sift in the icing sugar. Beat together and add half of the melted chocolate, cooled slightly.

6. Spread the frosting on top of the blondies, then sprinkle on the cranberries and drizzle on the remaining melted chocolate. Place in the fridge and leave for about 15 minutes before slicing into portions.

Store in the fridge