Banana blondie

• 275g caster sugar
• 2 tbsp. water
• 75g brazil nuts, chopped
• 100g butter
• 200g white chocolate
• 1 egg
• 2 bananas, peeled and mashed (about 200-250g)
• seeds scraped from 1 vanilla pod
• 225g plain flour
• ½ tsp baking powder

METHOD

1. Make the brazil nut toffee ahead of the game: bring 75g of the caster sugar to the boil with the 2 tbsp. of water, cook until the temperature reaches 120C or a drop of the caramel sets to hard ball in a glass of cold water – there will be hardly any caramel left in the pan. Turn off the heat, stir in the chopped nuts, turn it out onto a tray and leave to cool – it will set almost instantly. When it’s cold and set, chop in into small pieces.

2. Line a 20cm square tin with parchment and preheat the oven to 190C/375F/gas 5. Dice the butter into a bowl, add the chopped chocolate and melt it over a bain-marie or a pan with a little simmering water. Take it off the heat just before it’s all melted, the white chocolate has the propensity to split when heated too much.

3. Transfer the butter and chocolate mixture to a large bowl or the bowl of a standing mixer with a paddle attachment, add the remaining sugar and beat briefly. Beat in the egg, then the mashed bananas and vanilla until smooth and only small bits of bananas appear. Sift in the flour with the baking powder and fold in, then add the chopped brazil toffee nuts and fold those in. Transfer to the tin.

4. Bake for 35 minutes but check after 30 - it should be still a tiny bit wobbly in the middle.

5. Cool completely in the tin before cutting into squares.

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See also

Brownie

White choc chip cookies