These sweet treats are not quite as wicked as they sound. They contain oatmeal and dried fruit so that makes them practically breakfast. The recommended dosage for mood enhancement is two, with decent coffee.
... to butter and base-line a 23cm square cake tin and to pre-heat your oven to 170°C
150g rolled oats (oatmeal flakes)
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
100g butter
50g crunchy peanut butter
50g cream cheese
175g Demerara sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g white chocolate, roughly chopped
75g dried cranberries
75g white chocolate for topping (optional)
Method
First place the rolled oats and baking powder in a food processor and blitz until you have a smooth ‘flour’.
First place the rolled oats and baking powder in a food processor and blitz until you have a smooth ‘flour’.
In a separate bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter, cream cheese and sugar, beating the mixture until light and fluffy.
Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until well combined. Then mix in the oatmeal ‘flour’.
Finally, stir in the chopped white chocolate and cranberries. Mix until just combined.
Transfer the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 30 minutes until evenly golden brown.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly. Melt the remaining white chocolate and drizzle over or simply leave to cool in the tin before dusting with icing sugar and cutting into squares.
These are good slightly warm but even better if left go completely cold, so that the chocolate solidifies back into chunks. They’ll keep for up to a week (yeah right!) if sealed in an airtight container or cling wrap.
My lazy woman’s way to melt chocolate: snap the chocolate into squares and place in a Ziploc bag. Remove as much air as possible from the bag and seal. Half-fill a 1 pint measuring jug with boiling water, then carefully place the sealed bag in the water making sure the chocolate is submerged. Leave for a couple of minutes until the chocolate has melted. Remove the bag from the water and pat dry. Snip off a small corner of the bag and gently squeeze the liquid chocolate over the blondies.
Pin It
Thanks for sharing your recipe and tips, but please forgive me if I revert to dark chocolate for this one. For me, it has "mood enhancing" properties.
ReplyDelete@ An Alaskan Cooks: my mood is always enhanced by dark chocolate too :)
ReplyDeleteThat looks wonderful.
ReplyDeleteWhite chocolate and cranberries are an excellent combination, love the white chocolate drizzle on top too!
ReplyDeletelol! I love your take on the weather man's drizzle! :)
ReplyDeleteOh my yum! That looks so tasty. Anything with white chocolate has my vote!
ReplyDeletelove the cat :-) soooo cute
ReplyDeleteOh we had the exact opposite April-record rainfall even for here in Seattle! Hope your sunshine returns soon- I'll just make these blondies and pretend it actually feels like spring around here.
ReplyDeleteLucky me, I have all ingredients in my pantry. Maybe not cranberries, but certainly some other dried fruits. Yum. Will bake this soon! Thanks. Meowsto handsome cat from mine.
ReplyDeleteThey look yummy, and not bad at all on the calorie side on things, great tip for melting chocolate, I'll never double broil again :)
ReplyDeleteEven when you're down with the rain, you still cheer us up! What lovely, healthy blondies: adore oatmeal (well, we're from the same kind of place on the planet for that stuff!) and great idea with the cranberries and with the drizzled choc. I LOVE your photo of moggy. Really captured that look and the rain. :-)
ReplyDeleteYet another great treat Hester! My husband really love white chocolate (I do too, but I love ALL chocolate hehehe), so these sound like a great treat for all of us. Thanks for the tip about melting chocolate in the ziploc bag... I'll surely try it!
ReplyDeleteThese blondies look great! I like your tip for melting/drizzling chocolate.... Quite a time saver :)
ReplyDeleteMmm, my mood is enhanced already! I love the idea of using cream cheese for fat in cookies; I bet it gives them a nice tang. Totally trying it out...Hope some May flowers come your way soon!
ReplyDeleteI like the little Cranberry caption :) Lovely blondies, perfect for a rainy day! Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteYep definitely in better humour now. I just checked and I don't even have to go out and get ingredients. Will let you know how it works out.
ReplyDeleteAw, Moggy is SO sweet :)
ReplyDeleteAnd now to these delicious bars! 3 of my favorite cookie ingredients...these have got to be fabulous!!! Thanks for sharing~
This is one of the most delicious looking blondie recipes I have seen!
ReplyDeleteThese blondies definitely sound mood enhancing! I love the way they look with the white chocolate drizzled on top. Cranberry and white chocolate is a great combination and the oatmeal definitely gives it a healthy spin.
ReplyDeleteYour cat is soooooo cute! The blondies look absolutely delightful, I'd be a very happy person starting my day with them! A big congrats with foodbuzz top 9! :)
ReplyDeleteCongrats on making it to the Top9 in Foodbuzz! Well done Hester! :-)
ReplyDeleteI LOVED seeing this on Top 9 today!
ReplyDeleteoh those look amazing with the white chocolate!
ReplyDeleteWhite chocolate, peanut butter, and cream cheese?!?!? Oh, yes, mood enhancing indeed! :D
ReplyDeleteOh my these blondis look soooo good. I love white chocolate and cranberries together! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Hester! I am passing along several awards to you that you can find here: http://www.manusmenu.com/chicken-cotolette-with-cheese
ReplyDeleteI love reading your blog!!!
Have a great day!
I BET these would put me in a good mood! I feel better just looking at them. :)
ReplyDeleteMy favorite cookies in the world are white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies. This is so similar, and I love it.
ReplyDeleteHaving these for breakfast would brighten any day! Sounds like a winning recipe!!
ReplyDeleteHester---take a peek at my recent post--there's something there for you!!! HUGS!
ReplyDeleteCount me in! I love anything with oatmeal and fruits in them
ReplyDeletelooks yum - a treat but healthy at the same time. Photos are so cute too!
ReplyDeletelooks delicious, thanks for the tips and I always have bad mood in rainy days, only a sweet treat like these could change it :)
ReplyDeleteJust a quick note to let you know that there is an award waiting for you on my Parmesan Wrap post: http://www.gourmetfashion.net/2011/05/parmesan-wraps-gourmet-appetizer.html
ReplyDeletei always want to comment on your recipes which are amazing then you put up pics of you cat and i forget about the food. love your cat. soooo cute :-)
ReplyDeleteHere in Seattle we would love to have some of your good weather. Wonderful recipe. This would cheer me up!
ReplyDeleteKristi
It appears that Spring is not cooperating with so many of us around the world. I too need your blondies to enhance my mood. I really thing they would start of my day nicely.
ReplyDelete