BROWNIES 11

I know strictly speaking these are Blondies, but we're all friends here, I haven't made proper Brownies in a month (am way overdue a Brownie post) and they are the same family - so we'll go with these ... O.K.?

I am actually brimming with enthusiasm about these tasty treats - rich, decadent, delicious AND (fairly) healthy, can you believe it???  They come from Harry Eastwood's "Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache" - the most popular baking book in my kitchen at the moment.  She uses vegetables and ground nuts in place of butter or oil in her recipes, much less sugar than normal - all in all much healthier than your average recipes. I have to say that these recipes don't always pull it off (will blog in more detail soon), but I am getting a high success rate so far.

These were the nicest Blondies I have ever tasted - actually they come pretty high up the Brownie list as well, I'm thinking about third place, which is really good, considering the only fat they contain is in the egg yolks, almonds and 100g of chocolate, plus there is all that healthy butternut squash in there!

I did change the recipe slightly, I used blueberries in place of raspberries.  I  left a quarter of the Blondies fruitless, thinking that this would suit son #2 (have since found out that he doesn't like Blondies at all!). But it was a worthwhile exercise as next time I won't bother  with the fruit at all, as I think they made the finished confection too wet.

White Chocolate and Blueberry Blondies

3          eggs (medium)
120g    caster sugar
250g    finely grated butternut squash (peeled)
50g      rice flour (I used brown)
100g    ground almonds
1 tsp    cinnamon
2 tsp    baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
100g    fresh blueberries (frozen would be far too wet)
100g    white chocolate (chopped into small chunks)
30g      flaked almonds  

Line a 22cm square brownie tin with baking paper
Preheat oven to 200 C

Beat the eggs and sugar for 5 minutes on high (a freestanding mixer is invaluable here)
While this is whisking away, grate the squash (good arm exercise!!)
When the egg and sugar mixture is pale and fluffy, add the squash and beat again.
With a spoon gently add the flour, ground almonds, cinnamon, baking powder and salt.
Pour half of this mixture into the tin.
Scatter with the white chocolate and blueberries, then cover with the rest of the mixture.
Sprinkle the flaked almonds on top and bake for 25 minutes (I should have baked mine for about 35/40 minutes), but be careful not to overcook.
Cool in the tin for 20 minutes.
I got 16 portions from this recipe.