Maple-Pecan Fudge Blondies

Deliciously indulgent white chocolate based maple blondies with crunchy toasted pecans! These blondies are wonderfully dense and fudgey and satisfyingly chewy.

First off, I’m going to have apologise for the lack of images in this post today. Aside from the fact I whipped these up just before heading off to work for my colleagues to devour, they also just didn’t last long enough for me to give them the full photo shoot they truly deserve! Which I suppose is not an entirely bad thing!

These blondies are truly heaven, although technically we cannot really class them as a traditional blondie. Blondies are typically made on a base of butter, brown sugar and eggs - no melted chocolate in sight. These delightful little bars, however, are made very much the same way as a chocolate brownie, except we are using white chocolate as our base instead of semi-sweet or dark chocolate. Therefore it would probably be more fitting to call these bad boys “brownies” - except this makes absolutely no sense as they aren’t brown..? You see my dilemma here.

Well, whatever you decide to call them (I’ve started referring to them as “the reason I’m now wearing stretchy clothing”) I can guarantee you that they will devour your soul just as quickly as you devour them. With their sweet, caramel and maple flavours, chewy edges, soft, fudgey and dense centres, and subtle toasty notes of crunchy, nutty pecan, you will almost certainly struggle, as I did, to stop at indulging in just the one!

Even more dangerous, is how easily and quickly they can be whipped up. Minimum effort - maximum weight gain. You’ve been warned...

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Maple-Pecan Fudge Blondies

Prep time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 50 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

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Ingredients

230g Unsalted butter

175g pure white chocolate, chopped

175g fine white sugar

75g soft light brown sugar

6Tbsp maple syrup

1 Tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs and 2 egg yolks

210g all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

150g pecans.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170C (150C fan) and line a 9 x 9 inch pan with baking parchment (I recommend leaving an overhang of parchment which will help lift the cooked blondie from the pan)

2. Spread pecans evenly over a lined baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes until slightly darkened and your kitchen is filled with a nutty aroma. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Once cool enough to handle roughly cop and set aside

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and salt and set aside

4. In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt butter and chocolate together in 30-second bursts, stirring after each burst. Once fully melted, stir in maple syrup and vanilla extract and leave 5 minutes to cool slightly

5. Once cooled, stir in both sugars, eggs and yolks until fully combined. Add flour mixture and fold until fully incorporated, being careful not to over mix. Gently fold in toasted pecans and pour mixture evenly in the prepared pan. Note that, unlike a regular chocolate brownie, the mixture should be of moderate thickness rather than very thick.

6. Bake at 170C (150C fan) for between 45-60 minutes until the top looks set and a skewer, when inserted into the middle, can be removed with just a few moist crumbs attached. Note that metal pans will cook faster than glass dishes.

7. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely to room temperature before attempting to cut into slices.

Note: I like to drizzle mine in a maple glaze! Mix 120g icing sugar with 30g maple syrup until smooth and use a teaspoon to drizzle glaze over each slice!