Hey Blondie!

I don't think blondes have more fun.

I don't know where that myth came from. I would kill for lovely dark hair as well as the dark eye lashes and brows that accompany it.

You see being a fair lass myself, I am cursed with equally fair brows and lashes, making it look like I have neither unless they are coloured in and lacquered with mascara. On the rare occasion I go to the gym without either painted onto my face I find that no one recognises me. Awkward!

Anyway that is all somewhat irrelevant since I joined the strawberry sisters.

I have been on a real baking drive lately. I want to make as many things as possible these holidays. I have a nice long list if things I want to make.

I had a flick through my Hummingbird baker cookbook and found this blondie recipe. It looked simple and didn't require copious amounts of chocolate which all their other brownies need.

The process is kind of strange. You melt the chocolate and butter together in a double boiler then add the sugar. This causes the mixture to split and look crazy wrong but trust me and persevere! Once the eggs are added the lecithin in the yolks emulsifies the butter and the water in the mixture. Win! I love science!

This is a nice sickly sweet alternative to its brown cuzzie. The addition of pecans is delicious but walnuts or even macadamias would be equally amazing. I added extra chopped white chocolate because what is a brownie or a blondie without extra chocolate!

So shall we then?

White Chocolate Blondie
Adapted from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

150g white cooking chocolate
125g butter
150g castor sugar
2 eggs
200g plain flour
120g pecans, chopped
100g white chocolate chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees bake and line a small slice tin (20x30cm) with baking paper.
In a heat proof bowl over a saucepan of boiling water (make sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl - I used a cookie cutter to prop it up) melt together the butter and white chocolate. Remove from the heat.

Once melted, whisk in the sugar and vanilla and stir until dissolved. It is here where the mixture looks like it has split but don't worry about it. Quickly mix in the two eggs making sure they don't scramble.

Sift in the flour, mix until just combined. Do not over mix. Add in the pecans and extra chocolate and very quickly mix to spread them out.

Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 25 minutes. It should be nice and gooey.

Leave to cool completely before slicing.

Enjoy!! :)

Mini Date and Pecan Pies

Hello there,

Yesterday I showed you how to make mini pumpkin pies. Knowing how to make these absolutely to-die for pecan versions and not sharing with you is just cruel.

I once tried a pecan pie slice. It was amazing. It was the best thing I had ever tasted. It was nutty and caramelly. Words really cannot describe it's excellence.

These are definitely worth the hideous amount you pay for pecan nuts (we are talking $6/100g). The best thing about these ones is that you only need one nut per pie. So say you are making 30, you only need 30 nuts. Although I did chop a few up and pop them in the mixture. I don't think you need to do that though.

You will make friends for life with these pies. They are that good. Pretty sure a few boys could be seduced with these things too.

I found a recipe for baby pecan pies on Jo Seagars website which was really simple. I then found another pecan pie variation with dates in them on the Fisher and Paykel blog. I love dates, sure I coudn't afford fresh ones but I could use dried ones to bulk up the pecan pie mixture so I could get more bang for my buck. The dates leant a lovely dark sugary caramel flavour to the pies, more than what the brown sugar lends. I soaked my dates in hot water for a few minutes then chopped them up. This way they became nice and juicy.

As I had far too many things to do, I decided to cheat in the pastry department. I don't have a food processor to help me out and my skills in the pastry department are significantly lacking. I'm sorry. I have let you down.

To cut out the pastry to fit the mini muffin trays I used, I used the lid of a marmite jar. The cut out you use needs to have a diameter of 5-6cm. Luckily I was lent the most amazing of tools for helping me line the muffin trays. Before making these I had never seen a tart tamper in my life (probably due to my avoidance of all things pastry). It fit perfectly into the muffin trays and allowed me to press the pastry in evenly and without forming lump or hole. Try spraying your tamper with a bit of baking oil then dipping it in some flour. This will stop it from sticking the the pastry when you press it in. Those little toys are genius!

Luckily Alix prefers the pumpkin pies whilst I am team pecan, so no arguments over who gets the last one there :).

Mini Date and Pecan Pies
Adapted from Jo Seagar's recipe 
makes 30

2 sheets, pre rolled sweet crust pastry
24 pecan nuts (1 cup)
1/2 cup dried dates, soaked in boiling water, drained and finely chopped
1 egg
60g butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

2 mini muffin trays
baking spray
rolling pin (or a bottle of cider haha)
flour for dusting the bench with
5-6cm circle cutter (eg a marmite lid)
a tart tamper (or fingers if aesthetics aren't of the biggest concern)


Preheat the oven to 180 degrees on bake. Spray the mini muffin trays generously with baking spray.

Flour the bench and carefully roll out the prerolled pastry a little thinner (so it stretches out another cm or so in both directions).

Take the cutter you are using and cut circles out of the pastry. Using the tart tamper or your fingers, carefully line each muffin tray with pastry shells.

Place a pecan nut inside each shell, you can break them into smaller bits if you wish.

In a bowl, whisk together the melted butter, sugar, egg and vanilla. Mix in the mushy dates. Whisk until the mixture is thick and 'gluey'.

Spoon a teaspoon and a bit of the mixture into each pie shell.

Bake for 17 minutes or until the pastry is golden.

Leave to cool for a few minutes before twisting each pie to release it from the muffin tray. Leave them to cool on a wire rack or clean tea towel.

Don't forget to respray the tins for the next lot that you cook. They can easily become very stuck if there is any left over pastry crumbs in the bottom too.

Mini Pumpkin and Mini pecan pies :)

These are best served warm. If you are making these in advance, store them in an air tight container once they are fully cool. You can heat them up for a few seconds in the microwave.

Enjoy! (I know we did :))

Sophie x