One thing I missed when out in Italy was rhubarb, so it was great to come home and for the season to begin! I love combining rhubarb in a crumble which I did last year in my mixed fruit crumble, but I have want/.ed to use it in a blondie for a while! I tried a few different varieties and eventually settled on this simple recipe. These are super moist blondies filled with white chocolate chunks and hits of rhubarb.
By baking the rhubarb first, you help to remove the moisture before putting it in with your blondie mix. This is extremely important as you risk ending up with a soggy inedible blondie. I just throw my rhubarb in the oven with a sprinkling of sugar and prep the rest of my ingredients whilst I wait for it to bake. If you do a big batch, you can just take what you need for the blondie and leave the rest of the rhubarb in an air tight container and add it to your morning porridge!
A tip for combining the sugar and butter, I recommend melting your butter and immediately mixing it with the sugar. This will ensure the sugar will dissolve properly. If you melt your butter and leave it in the side, your sugar won’t dissolve. If for some reason you find that the sugar isn’t dissolving, then you can pour the mixture into a saucepan, put it on a low heat and dissolve it this way – just don’t let it boil!
Step-by-step:
- Preheat the oven to 200℃ / 180℃ Fan. Grease and line an 20cmx20cm (8inx8in) brownie tin with greaseproof paper, set aside. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and spread out the rhubarb on it. Sprinkle over the caster sugar and ensure each piece is coated. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove, set aside and reduce the oven temperature down to 180℃ / 160℃ Fan.
- In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, add the light and dark sugar, ensure there are no lumps before pouring in the warm melted butter, stir to combine until all the sugar has melted. It will become quick thick as the butter cools.
- Beat in the eggs one-by-one until combined. Add the dry ingredients and fold until just combined before adding in most of the chocolate. Fold again and add 3/4 of the mixture into the brownie tin. Don’t over mix!
- Carefully place the baked rhubarb on top (I normally add around 9 pieces) and then spoon the rest of the brownie mix on top to cover the majority of the rhubarb.
- Sprinkle over the final pieces of chocolate and bake for 30-40 minutes. I start checking at 30 minutes with a toothpick, if it comes out really wet, I leave it for another 5 minutes. Once it has mostly set (but not completely), remove from the oven and leave to completely cool in the tin. To serve, slice into 9 big pieces or 16 smaller pieces.
The rhubarb itself will be quite sharp, even after adding the sugar, but you will find that it’s balanced out with the white chocolate! You can even go one step further and enjoy these rhubarb blondies with custard – honestly it’s an amazing combination!
9
servings15
minutes1
hour10
minutes1
hour25
minutesIngredients
150 g Rhubarb (approx. 1 stalk), chopped into 4cm chunks
1 Tsp Caster sugar
165 g Plain flour
1/2 Tsp Baking powder
1/4 Tsp Salt
100 g Unsalted butter, melted
100 g Light brown soft sugar
100 g Dark brown soft sugar
2 Large eggs, room temperature
100 g White chocolate, roughly chopped
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 200℃ / 180℃ Fan. Grease and line an 20cmx20cm (8inx8in) brownie tin with greaseproof paper, set aside. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and spread out the rhubarb on it. Sprinkle over the caster sugar and ensure each piece is coated. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove, set aside and reduce the oven temperature down to 180℃ / 160℃ Fan.
- In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, add the light and dark sugar, ensure there are no lumps before pouring in the warm melted butter, stir to combine until all the sugar has melted. It will become quick thick as the butter cools.
- Beat in the eggs one-by-one until combined. Add the dry ingredients and fold until just combined before adding in most of the chocolate. Fold again and add 3/4 of the mixture into the brownie tin. Don’t over mix!
- Carefully place the baked rhubarb on top (I normally add around 9 pieces) and then spoon the rest of the brownie mix on top to cover the majority of the rhubarb.
- Sprinkle over the final pieces of chocolate and bake for 30-40 minutes. I start checking at 30 minutes with a toothpick, if it comes out really wet, I leave it for another 5 minutes. Once it has mostly set (but not completely), remove from the oven and leave to completely cool in the tin. To serve, slice into 9 big pieces or 16 smaller pieces.
