Rosemary & White Chocolate Blondies

Usually I do all my photo editing before struggling to put a few words together to accompany. However today I find myself doing the opposite. Main reason is probably because I actually tidied up my room and find myself being able to see my floor sit at my desk in front of my laptop and in general feel comfortable with writing a blog post.

I'm somewhat feeling a bit melancholy today. I guess it's just suddenly dawned upon me how much time has passed. For those who don't know I've finally finished my last shift at a hotel I've been working at for the past eight and a half years. Two of those of which I've had a full time job aswell. I started when I was in 6th form (I was 17!!). Flexible hours + alright wage, which was perfect for a student. Early starts, busy mornings, toast on fire, blood, sweat and tears, tantrums and a lot of yelling and at times I had to question whether I need anger management but it didn't really matter so much as I still had the rest of the day to myself once I'd finished my shift at 12. I enjoyed working with the people I worked with, even the ones that annoy me at times (I do hope they know who they are...) and wouldn't hesitate at all to call them my friends. That was the only thing that made the job a lot easier to handle.

Five uniforms later and seeing many, many staff come and go (or in some cases come back again) I've finally called it a day. The decision wasn't easy- afterall, who couldn't do with some extra cash?But if not now, when? Yes I'm not perfect- you may call me lazy but working 7 days every week eventually takes it's toll. I'm no spring chicken...I'm on the wrong end of my twenties, as my brother kindly points out everytime. I want to enjoy my life, do more productive things, have the luxury of decisions to go for a spontaneous run, morning baking, catch up with friends or go out for Saturday brunch and most importantly- a lie in! Yes, I'd gotten very comfortable in my old job- I was practically the veteran of the place, for goodness' sake!

So I guess this post is pretty apt at summing up today: Trying something new, experience something that's a little out of your comfort zone and freeing yourself from a routine that you may be so used to.

Rosemary is a herb I'd only ever associate with roasted potatoes. Or chicken. But mostly roasted potatoes. And Christmas...where there'd be said roasted potatoes on the table. I've read that rosemary pairs well with white chocolate but never dared venture into this area. Afterall, it's quite a strong herb and getting the balance wrong for a sweet dessert would prove quite disastrous. And most importantly if it tasted that disgusting I'd have noone to feed it to. But on a recent trip to Paris I had the most amazing biscuit- two buttery pieces of crunchy biscuit with a layer of rosemary flecked white chocolate sandwiched in between. That's when I decided I was definitely going to have to experiment with these flavours!

These blondies are like a gooey cookie bar, made with fragrant, nutty browned butter, studded with sweet white chocolate, with hints of vanilla and savoury undertones and almost minty flavour from the rosemary. The rosemary taste, even though subtle, may taste weird at first, especially to those who are not as fond of the herb but it works. Take another bite- it'll definitely grow on you.

This post is dedicated to all the people who I've worked with over the many years. I wish you the best of luck in your futures.

ROSEMARY & WHITE CHOCOLATE BLONDIES
Yields 9 large servings, or 16 smaller ones
Recipe based on Food52

250g unsalted butter
3 springs fresh rosemary
240g plain flour
1 heaping tsp salt
2 eggs
3 tsp good quality vanilla extract
350g dark brown soft sugar (or light brown, if you don't have dark)
100g white chocolate chips
25-50g white chocolate, roughly chopped to decorate

1. In a light coloured, medium sized saucepan- Add the butter and rosemary and melt the butter over a medium heat. Continue to cook the butter until it turns a pale golden brown and the milk solids turn into flecks of reddy brown colour. The butter at this stage will smell lovely with a nutty aroma. Be careful not to heat the butter too long as it can burn quite easily. Take off the heat, cool to room temperature before removing the rosemary sprigs. 
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line and grease an 8 inch square pan and set aside.
3. Sift together the flour and salt into a bowl and set aside. In another bowl whisk together the eggs and vanilla. Using a stand mixer (or you could do this using an electric hand whisk)  mix the cooled browned butter with the sugar for about a minute. Add the vanilla egg mixture until combined and shiny, approx. 20 seconds.
4. Add flour to the mixture and mix until just incorporated. Few flecks of flour visible is ok. Do not over mix. Fold in the chocolate chips.
5. Spoon dough into the prepared baking pan and smooth the top. Bake for 25-28 minutes. The toothpick test will not work in testing the done-ness of the blondies as the batter itself is quite thick. Let cool thoroughly in the tin before lifting out and cutting into portions. These blondies will keep for a few days at room temperature in an airtight container. Or they can be frozen, ready to defrost and devour at a later date. These would taste amazing warmed with a dollop of vanilla ice cream...