Hot Cross Blondies

Fudgey white chocolate blondies with spices, fruit, chocolate chips and icing crosses

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Blondies

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 30

Total Time 50

Servings

Calories 415kcal

Author thebakingexplorer

Ingredients

For the blondies

250 g Butter or baking spread I prefer butter
300 g Light brown soft sugar
250 g White chocolate broken into squares
1 tsp Vanilla extract optional
3 Eggs large
250 g Plain flour
2 tsp Mixed spice
1 tsp Cinnamon
200 g Mixed dried fruit
100 g White chocolate chips

For the icing

50 g Icing sugar
1-2 tsp Water

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Pre-heat your oven to 160C Fan/350F/Gas Mark 4, and grease and line a 9" square tin
Melt the butter with the light brown soft sugar in a pan on a low heat
Once the butter has melted, take the pan off the heat and add the white chocolate. Leave it for a couple of minutes to melt, then stir together. Leave the mixture to cool for 5 minutes. Don't worry if it looks a bit lumpy
Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl. Add the eggs to the mixture, keep whisking as you pour them in
Add the plain flour, mixed spice and cinnamon, and whisk them in, then stir in the mixed dried fruit and white chocolate chips. You can toss the fruit and chocolate chips lightly with a little flour before adding them to help avoid sinking, or mix them into the plain flour before adding it and add them all together with the spices too
Pour the batter into the lined tin. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden all over
Leave them to cool in the tin, chill in the fridge for a couple of hours, then remove from the tin and slice into pieces
Make an icing by mixing together the icing sugar and water. Add the water slowly as you may not need it all
Use a piping bag with the end snipped off to pipe crosses over each piece of the blondies
Store leftovers in an airtight container in a cool place and eat within 3 days

Notes

You can use either butter or a baking spread for the blondies. I personally prefer butter.
Avoid using cooking or baking chocolate for the blondies, and also I don't recommend using Milky Bar or any white chocolate with low milk solids as they can stop the blondies from setting.
If you don't have light brown soft sugar, you can use regular caster sugar or golden caster sugar.
You can swap the mixed dried fruit for raisins or sultanas if you're not a mixed peel fan.
Mixed spice is a British spice blend usually containing cinnamon, coriander seed, nutmeg, clove, pimento and ginger. If you can't get hold of it, you can use a Pumpkin Spice mix instead. Or try 1 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp ground ginger and ½ tsp ground nutmeg.
Although I provide cup measurements, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients out using digital kitchen scales. It is the most accurate way to measure ingredients and will ensure the best results. Digital scales are very low cost and can be purchased for around £12 ($16.50) .
For teaspoon (tsp) and tablespoon (tbsp) measurements, please use measuring spoons and not the type of spoons you eat with. Again this will ensure accuracy and provide the best results.

I updated this recipe on 19th March 2023. I personally think the new version is so much better, so I do recommend trying it! However, if you'd like the old recipe here are the ingredients:

200 g Butter or baking spread
300 g Light brown soft sugar
150 g White chocolate broken into squares
3 Eggs large
225 g Plain flour
2 tsp Mixed spice
100 g Mixed dried fruit
50 g White chocolate chips

Nutrition