roasted strawberry jam blondies
these roasted strawberry jam blondies are packed with rich, buttery, caramelized flavor, balanced with a sweet, tart and earthy strawberry jam. they are rich, chewy and perfect for summertime snacking!
Equipment
- 2 half sheet baking sheets (for roasting berries and white chocolate)
- medium sauce pan (for browning butter)
- 9X9 aluminum baking pan
- parchment paper
- whisk and silicone spatula or big mixing spoon
- large mixing bowl
Ingredients
roasted strawberry jam
- 1 ½ c strawberries, washed hulled and cut in half
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 2 tsp water
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 2-3 fresh or dried bay leaves, optional for flavor
roasted white chocolate (fast version of caramelized white chocolate)
- 4 oz (113g) good quality white chocolate, evenly chopped
caramelized white chocolate blondie base
- 10 tbsp unsalted butter, browned to reduce down to 113 g (or ½ c) sub with ½ c (113g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 ½ c (180g) all purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- 1 c (200g) light brown sugar
- 2 eggs (113g) large eggs, room temperature
- 2 tsp (10ml) vanilla extract
- 4 oz. (113g) roasted white chocoalte crumbles, cooled to room temperature (will be the color of caramelized white chocolate)
- ¼ -⅓ c (59-79ml) roasted strawberry jam, cooled to room temperature sub with room temperature store bought strawberry jam or preserves
- flaky salt for topping, recommended
Instructions
roasted strawberry jam
- Toss all ingredients in a small mixing bowl until all the berries are coated. Gently/lightly mash the berries while in the bowl. This is to help release some of the juices prior to roasting. Pour all the berries and any juices onto a clean baking sheet or ceramic baking dish. The ceramic dish is preferred if possible. Roast the berries at 375F (190C) for 20-25 minutes. Stir the berries after about 10-15 minutes. If any very large pieces remain, mash them to the same size as the smaller pieces. Roast until the berries the juices have thickened to a syrup consistency. Discard the bay leaves after removing the berries from the oven.Cool to room temperature before using in the blondies. The berries will thicken more as they cool. It is recommended to do this step at least an hour before using in the recipe. This can be made 3-4 days ahead.Reduce the temperature to 325F (163C)
roasted white chocolate
- Place evenly chopped pieces of white chocolate on a very clean and dry baking sheet. Roast the chocolate in the oven at 325F for 7-10 minutes. The chocolate will turn a caramel color and will look like dried out crumbles. This is exactly what this recipe calls for! Normally CWC is roasted for several hours at a very low temperature (245F). This results in a liquid white chocolate that is caramelized. If this is the route you want to go, you can! Roast the chocolate and use in the recipe at the same step as the crumbles. Increase the temperature to 350F (177C) once the chocolate is removed.
caramelized white chocolate blondie base
- Make brown butter about 30 minutes before you plan to bake blondies It will need about 15 minutes to brown and another 15 minutes to cool to room temperature (but still melted). To make the brown butter, melt butter in a clear heavy bottom sauce pan. Once the butter starts to foam, whisk continuously until brown bits start to form. Remove from heat, pour into clean bowl and cool 15 minutes to room temperature.
- Heat the oven to 350 F (177C). Line a square baking pan with parchment paper, leaving 1-2" overhang on two sides. This helps remove the blondies after baking.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a seperate bowl, whisk together the room temperature melted browned butter and brown sugar until smooth and no lumps of sugar remain. Whisk in eggs one at a time, until smooth and well combined. Whisk in vanilla extract until smooth and well combined.
- Add in the dry ingredients. Stir until most of the dry ingredients have been incorporated. A few flour streaks is totally fine!! Fold in roasted white chocolate crumbles. These bars will rise slightly, but are meant to be chewy! Don't overmix, but don't worry too much about how much you've mixed.
- Evenly drop scoops of batter into the prepared pan. Using an offset spatula, mini spatula or spoon, press the batter evenly into the corners and sides. Smooth the top as needed. Drop small spoonfuls of jam (about 1-2 teaspoon big) all around the pan. Focus on the edges, working to the center. Try not to get big "glops" of jam in one place (this takes longer to bake!). Using a toothpick or end of a knife, drag through the strawberry jam drops to create the swrils.
- Bake at 350 F for 32-37 minutes. Look for set , golden brown edges, slighly pulled from the sides of the pan and a golden brown top. A few moist crumbs is from the center is perfect. Top with flaky salt straight out of the oven. Mine were perfect between 33-35 using coventional baking. Cool in pan for 30 minutes. Gently loosen the non lined edges from the pan using a butter knife. Lift the blondies from the pan using the overhang. Cool an additional 15-20 minutes before slicing for the cleanest cut.
Notes
The roasted strawberry jam is recommended, but it does take some time to make. You can use a high quality strawberry jam that has little added sugar.
Brown butter is optional, but I found that it enhanced the flavor of the caramelized white chocolate. This is why I chose to keep it in place of regular melted butter.
Roasted white chocolate crumbles. I really loved the flavor this brought to the blondies! Since this has been modified to take 7-10 minutes, I do recommend you try it in the recipe!
The flaky salt is the thing that brings all the flavors together. Try a piece without and one with some on top. Decide what your tastes are. It's recommended, but optional.
9X9 pan is the best size for this recipe. Tests were done with an 8X8 pan. The center remained too underbred, while the edges baked too quickly. If you use an 8X8 pan, focus more of the jam along the edges vs the center.
Conventional baking temperature: 350F for 32-37 minutes
Convection baking temperature: 325F for 32-27 minutes
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