Go on, spoil yourself...make some raspberry and white chocolate blondies!

Ok so you HAVE to try these. They are diiiivine. That is if you like raspberry and white chocolate, of course. But really, who doesn't? Personally, I think they go together brilliantly, as the tartness of the raspberries balances out the sweetness of the chocolate just perfectly. And white chocolate is very sweet, which is probably why I like it so much. I've always wanted to try making brownies with white chocolate and I'm so glad I did! Brownies in general are just delicious - it's that combination of biting down on a cracked crust on the outside, but then the middle is still all gooey and scrummy. Mmmm...heavenly. The trick is to take them out of the oven before you think you should (which proves a little difficult when you're using an outdate French oven which you have to light with a match! Yes, a match. And never seems to get quite hot enough. Sometimes it does feel like I'm living in the last century here). Apart from that, they're really easy to make. Just hard to stop eating!

Oh, and I have some exciting news! Self-raising flour does exist in France, under the guise of farine de blé avec poudre levante pour gâteaux. Well it's not much of a guise actually, because it literally translates as 'wheat flour with baking powder for cakes', so I don't know why I couldn't find it. It's just a bit of a mouthful! Anyway, I digress. Get baking!

Raspberry and White Chocolate Blondies makes about 12

Ingredients:

150g white chocolate

100g butter 

3 eggs

175g caster sugar (although I just used granulated and it worked)

1 tsp vanilla essence

200g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

175g raspberries (preferably fresh, but I used frozen which didn't seem to matter) 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
2. Line baking tin with greaseproof paper.
3. Break chocolate into a pan and add butter.
4. Melt. 
5. Remove from heat and stir in sugar thoroughly.
6. Add eggs one at a time and then vanilla essence, along with the raspberries. 
7. Stir in flour and baking powder.
8. Pour into prepared tin.
9. Bake for 30-35 minutes - it should be ready when a skewer inserted still comes out a bit sticky. 
10. Allow to cool.
11. Remove from tin and peel off paper, then cut into squares.
12. Try one...or maybe two, because be warned, they are very moreish!!