It’s not Easter until someone opens a bag of mini eggs and these mini egg blondies are the perfect Easter treat, giving you the best excuse to open another bag! Chewy on the outside and gooey on the inside, these blondies are the best sweet treat and are incredibly easy to make. They can also be adapted to make nut-free or dairy-free blondies too! Take a look at the recipe below for some coeliac-friendly blondies that you won’t believe are gluten-free!
Blondies are the lesser known companion of brownies, but essentially the same fudgey bars, just made with white chocolate rather than milk chocolate. My take on blondies are without the white chocolate but laced with vanilla and crushed mini eggs, just the perfect sweet snack for Easter!
So, how are easy are these blondies to whip up. Well, even the less confident of bakers will feel comfortable with this recipe. After melting and cooling the butter, the eggs, vanilla extract, light brown sugar and white caster sugar is whisked in until completely combined. In a separate bowl, the flour, ground almonds, Xanthan Gum, salt and baking powder is whisked together before being combined with the wet ingredients to form a thick gloopy mixture. Fold in the crushed mini eggs before transfering the mixture to a square baking tin, and baking for around 30 minutes at 160C. Once the blondies have that classic shiny and crackled golden top, they’re done and ready for a drizzling of extra chocolate before being devoured! The key is not to overbake the blondies so that they retain that gooey texture rather than a cakey one.
What substitutions are possible?
Nuts– If you need to make these blondies nut-free you can substitute the 50g ground almonds for 30g extra gluten-free plain flour.
Butter – Butter can be substituted for a vegan/dairy-free block if necessary. Try not to use a soft spread such as margarine as this may not work as well.
Chocolate chunks – Milk, dark or white chocolate chunks/chips can be used depending on your preferences if you want to make them extra chocolatey
What equipment do I need for these blondies?
- Square baking tin sized 8 inch/20cm
- 2 bowls
- Baking paper
What ingredients do I need?
Sugar – A mixture of light brown sugar and white caster sugar provides the perfect balance of sweetness in this recipe and helps to hold them together
Eggs– Eggs provide structure to the blondies and are best used straight out of the fridge in this recipe. Room temperature eggs blend into batters and mixtures much more easily and allow for more rise than cold eggs straight out of the fridge. Blondies need to be gooey and dense, so it is best to use cold eggs for these in order to achieve that denser texture
Butter – Use unsalted butter for this recipe so that you can control the amount of salt being added. The butter needs to be cooled to room temperature after melting to avoid cooking the eggs when whisking up together. Melting the butter makes the blondies extra gooey so don’t skip this step!
Gluten free flour – A gluten free flour blend such as Doves Farm Plain Flour or Schär Mix C for Cakes is perfect for these biscuits. Self-raising flours tend to contain baking powder which means you can’t fully control the amount going in and therefore the spread of the blondies. Try to go for a plain flour so you can anticipate and control the spread with the baking powder that you add in
Xanthan gum – Xanthan gum is essential for most gluten free recipes and there’s no exceptions here. Doves Farm is my preferred choice but you can use any brand. Xanthan Gum is a gluten replacement for gluten-free baking and helps to replace the lost elasticity that gluten provides, keeping your blondies together and stopping them from crumbling into dry pieces later
Baking powder – Baking powder acts as a leavening agent, helping the blondies to rise. Any baking powder will work, just again, check that it is definitely gluten-free as not all brands are.
Salt – A pinch of salt in a recipe enhances the flavours of the other ingredients and offsets the sweetness of the blondies. I like to sprinkle a tiny amount of sea-salt on top of the blondies after baking too!
Chocolate chunks or chips – Semi-sweet chocolate chunks or chips are folded into the blondies in the final stage before baking. Any gluten-free chocolate can be used! These are optional!
Crushed mini eggs- Roughly chopped or crushed mini eggs are folded into the recipe right at the end, after 15 minutes of baking, more whole mini eggs are pressed into the blondies on top
Vanilla essence – A few drops of vanilla extract enhances the flavour of the blondies. Vanilla paste can be used too or vanilla from a vanilla pod
Milk chocolate – Milk chocolate is melted and drizzled over the blondies at the end to finish them off perfectly (optional)
Mini Egg Blondies
Ingredients
- 265 g gluten-free plain flour blend
- 210 g unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 150 g white caster sugar
- 150 g light brown sugar
- 50 g ground almonds
- 2 large eggs cold
- 1 tbsp corn starch or corn flour
- ¼ tsp Xanthan Gum
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 240 g mini eggs crushed, plus whole eggs for the top
- 50 g chocolate chunks optional
- 50 g melted chocolate to drizzle, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160° C Fan and line an 8 inch (20cm x 20cm) baking tray with baking paper. Grease thoroughly with a greasing brush and set aside.
- Melt the butter and allow to cool to room temperature before whisking in the eggs, vanilla extract, white and brown sugars.210 g unsalted butter, 150 g white caster sugar, 150 g light brown sugar, 2 large eggs, ½ tsp vanilla extract
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, Xanthan Gum, ground almonds, salt, baking powder and corn starch.265 g gluten-free plain flour blend, 50 g ground almonds, 1 tbsp corn starch or corn flour, ¼ tsp Xanthan Gum, ¼ tsp salt, ½ tsp baking powder
- Using the flat of a knife, crush the mini eggs roughly, leaving enough whole ones to scatter on top half way through baking,240 g mini eggs
- Fold the crushed mini eggs and optional chocolate chunks into the mixture before spooning into the baking tray and levelling off with an offset spatula. If the mixture is too sticky to spread evenly into the sides, wet the spatular slightly and try again.240 g mini eggs, 50 g chocolate chunks
- Bake on the middle shelf for around 15 minutes, before pressing the remaining whole mini eggs into the top of the blondies. Place back into the oven and continue to bake for a further 10 minutes. The top of the blondies will be starting to turn a more golden brown and have a shiny crackled surface when done. Try not to overbake them as they still need to be gooey inside.
- Set the blondies aside to cool before drizzling with melted chocolate (optional). To cut, first cut into quarters, then quarters again and then again to get 16 pieces.50 g melted chocolate
