Funfetti Butterscotch & White Choc Chip Cake Batter Blondies

Birthdays are a specialty of mine. Others, not mine of course… My birthdays are marred by the birthday blues and no amount of sugar/glitter/champagne/balloons/presents/any combination of the above can rectify this horrible disease. Other people’s birthdays, on the other hand, I LOVE!!

When I heard that a friend’s birthday was coming up, my mind immediately went into overdrive of what I could bake. Birthdays should always be special, with lots glitter, on EVERYTHING! I used to have a huge stash of edible glitter (holographic being my favourite shade), but sadly it seems that they didn’t quite make the move from St Andrews down to London. So instead of charming the pants off the birthday girl with an abundance of glitter, flavor and funfetti would have to suffice.

Let me present to you the epic Funfetti Butterscotch & White Choc Chip Cake Batter Blondies. There’s something about the combination of funfetti, cake batter and white chocolate which is so reminiscent of childhood birthdays… My baking partner was TOTALLY against the use of funfetti (Childish?! No way!!) but I love them, and what is life without colour, eh?

         110g butter (melted)

         1 egg

         1 cup white sugar

         1 tbsp vanilla essence

         1 cup flour

         ½ cup white choc chips

         ½ cup butterscotch chips

         ¼ cup of rainbow sprinkles for batter + extra for decoration

First preheat the oven to 175°C.

In a bowl, whisk the melted butter with the egg, sugars and vanilla essence. To this mix, add in flour. When fully combine fold in the white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and funfetti. Pour this batter into a lined/greased 9”x9” (or similar) cake tin and bake for 20 minutes. Leave the blondies to cool for 20 minutes before cutting up into squares. Pile them up high, sprinkle with more funfetti and ENJOY!!

P.S. They were such a hit the first time round, I baked them again… not for a birthday, just because.

Millionaire's Mac & Cheese

School has been totally kicking my butt, and I have been pretty much a hermit, cuddling up exclusively to my books and laptop. But after handing in an essay I decided enough was enough, I missed my friends and I wanted to know EVERYTHING that was going on in their hectic lives. We caught up on the past couple of weeks over good food, good company and good wine.

Cheesey/Champagne-y/Truffle-y Conchigle....

It has been so bitterly cold in London with sub-zero temperatures. All of this windchill has created a serious longing for some comfort food. KCH and I have been whipping up our jazzed up version of the humble Mac & Cheese for a while, and it has been a staple of our dinner parties. Knowing this recipe quite literally off by heart, I decided the MMC deserved an outing.

This recipe is super easy and is a surefire crowd pleaser. The simple addition of truffles truly elevates this dish and adds a richness that complements the creaminess (and cheesiness!) so well… It is a truly decadent treat, so I opted to serve this alongside some crispy salad leaves.

            500g dried pasta of choice (I used conchigle)

            3 tbsp flour

            3 tbsp butter

            2 cups milk

            1 cup bubbly (I used Prosecco, but feel free to use champagne)

            1 cup Mascarpone cheese

            1 tsp ground nutmeg

            2 tbsp truffle oil

            1 tbsp chopped up truffles

            1 cup fresh breadcrumbs

            1 garlic clove
            zest of 1 lemon

            few knobs of butter

Start off by cooking the pasta according to the instructions, not forgetting that big pinch of salt of course! Once cooked, drain the pasta, and drain it very well and leave to the side. Then onto the cheesy white sauce: in a saucepan melt the butter and add the flour, whisk the two together so that a paste is formed. Cook this paste for a little bit (a little brown and lumpy) before adding the milk and bubbly. The milk should be very cold and once added to the roux, should be vigorously whisked. Keep whisking and cooking the sauce until it becomes thick before adding the cheese, nutmeg, truffle oil and chopped up truffle. Add the pasta to the cheese sauce and mix so that the sauce is evenly spread, then pour this mixture into an ovenproof dish. 

In a food processor, blitz the fresh breadcrumbs with the garlic clove and lemon zest. Top the Mac&Cheese with this breadcrumb mixture and dot a few pieces of butter around the top of the dish. Place this dish under a hot grill and allow the breadcrumbs to go brown and the sauce to go bubbly… serve hot & enjoy!

...Apparently the treat was even better after a few champagne cocktails... with ketchup of course!!

Samoa Blondies: A Blondie for My Blondie

Between the years 2010-2012 KCH and I were absolutely convinced that we were going to replicate our favourite cookies in the whole entire world, Girl Scout Samoas. KCH’s wonderful sister would ship her boxes of these delightful treats, which we would scoff whilst simultaneously indulging ourselves with our Gossip Girl fix. Gossip Girl is now over, KCH has repatriated back to the States, and I have no sister in America to send me Girl Scout cookies…

I was catching up with KCH over the weekend, and for the longest time after our phonecall all I could think of were the happy memories we shared. From discovering the joys of quinoa, to blissful days spent in bed tending to her Smurfs, and our epic trip to Budapest when we ALMOST didn’t make our flight, and how we cried through our hangovers until there were no tears to be shed even when her fiancé called to let her know that he got into law school! KCH is truly one of the best friends I have ever had. The kindest, most thoughtful friend any girl could wish for, with a jewelry collection so fabulous it puts Iris Apfel’s to shame. So this blondie recipe is dedicated to you, my favourite blondie in the whole entire world, KCH…

            150g butter

            1 cup dark brown sugar

            ¼ cup white sugar

            1 large egg

            2 tsp vanilla extract

            1 ¼ cup flour

            1 ¼ cup desiccated coconut

            1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 180°C. First brown the butter by heating and melting it in a saucepan over a medium heat. Keep a close eye on it as it burns easily, but it should start to smell nutty and look amber. Allow the browned butter to cool for a few minutes before combining it with the sugars. Then stir in the egg and vanilla before stirring in the flour, coconut and chocolate. Pour the batter into a greased/lined cake tin (I used 8”x8”) and bake between 25-30 minutes, depending on how gooey you desire the blondies to be. Allow the blondies to cool before cutting up into squares.