Maria's Ridiculously Good Best Ever Blondies

I normally find it quite arrogant when people put their names on recipes but I couldn't resist putting my stamp on this one as it's my definite favourite of all the baked creations I've made up myself so far, and their irresistible butterscotchy flavour really makes them ridiculously good!

I was reluctant to reveal my secret ingredient to my eager samplers but I shall share it here for the benefit of the baking community at large (ahem). And that secret ingredient is...*drum roll*...custard powder. This idea came about when I was simply too lazy to look up a blondie recipe and decided just to go by my fail safe brownie recipe (available here: http://cloudninepointone.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/best-ever-jack-daniels-brownies ) and substitute the milk chocolate for the white variety. It then dawned on me that I had no idea what to add in place of the cocoa powder. There's no such thing as white cocoa powder (to my knowledge?!) and I was worried that making up the cocoa quantity with more flour would affect the flavour and make them too plain so, in the absence of butterscotch Angel Delight, I reached for the vanilla scented custard powder. And hey presto! The rest is scrumptious cakey history.

The lovely golden blondies pictured with their darker chocolate bretherin, pre-cutting...

INGREDIENTS

• 200g granulated/caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 80g self-raising flour
• 120ml cooking oil
• 130g white cooking chocolate
• 4.5 tbsp custard powder
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• Few drops of Lakeland buttery caramel flavouring (optional but really makes the butterscotchy flavour pop!)

METHOD

• Grease the baking tin with margarine/butter or line with baking parchment.
• Briefly whisk the sugar, eggs, oil, vanilla extract and caramel flavouring together in a large mixing bowl.
• Chop the chocolate into small chunks and melt in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of hot water or place in the microwave and heat in blasts of about 1 minute until smooth, then pour into the mixing bowl.
• Fold the flour and custard powder into the mixture and pour into the lined tin.
• Pop in the oven and bake at 180 degrees C for about 20 minutes until a cocktail stick inserted into the cake comes out pretty much clean then leave to cool.
• Cut the blondies into squares using a sharp knife and marvel at their deliciousness as you dive in.