(Courtesy of my mum’s old camera, complete with strange light settings.)
In a perfect world, baked goods would cancel out heartache.
More specifically, a batch of white chocolate and macadamia blondies would make panicky feelings disappear, and you’d be able to go to sleep at night feeling sure that your gorgeous, dear, kind, pure-and-sweet-as-coconut-buttercream-frosting friend was no longer feeling even the slightest hint of sadness or uncertainty.
(Courtesy of my camera, complete with inability to focus.)
The unbroken roundness of macadamias would represent the fact that new opportunities are always just around the corner, and that no one in this world can shatter you if you don’t let them.
The sugar would represent the sweet endorphins that true and lasting friendship deliver, and the aroma of vanilla essence would represent the deep breaths we all have to take when we face obstacles in life.
(My blurry-lame camera.)
The white chocolate would represent the smoothness of a hug-that-means-a-hug, and its taste as you swallow would represent the lingering sensation of knowing that there are people in this world who care and hope and care that you are happy.
The self-raising flour would represent our unfailing ability to reach out a hand (or take the hand that’s offered) in order to pull ourselves out of the mire. And the eggs? Well, perhaps they represent the fact that the friend I speak of today is female. (Gotta love reproductive system jokes.)
Dearest friend for whom I baked these white chocolate and macadamia blondies recently, I cherish you and your friendship. Each day will get brighter, I promise.
Dearest other readers who are perusing this post today, enjoy the blondies! They really are remarkably delicious, even if they can’t entirely heal the world in the way a certain monkey-lovin’ man once sang.
(Mum’s crazy-frog camera.)
White Chocolate and Macadamia Blondies
From Family Circle’s Brownies, Fudges and Toppings
- 100g unsalted butter
- 100g white chocolate
- 1/2 cup (125g) caster sugar
- 1 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 1 cup (125g) self-raising flour
- 1/2 cup (80g) macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
- Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease and line (the base of) a 20 cm (8 inch) square tin with baking paper.
- Melt the butter and white chocolate in a heatproof bowl, over a pan of simmering water (don’t let the bowl touch the water), stirring until smooth. Conversely, do your best Hannah impression and just microwave the blighters in the microwave on low, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted.
- Add the caster sugar to the bowl and then gradually stir in the lightly beaten eggs. Add the vanilla, fold in the flour and nuts and then pour the mixture into the tin.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes. If the top starts to brown too quickly, cover lightly with a sheet of foil. If you start to brown too quickly, stop standing directly in front of the oven with your forehead pressed to the super-hot glass. Remember: you’re super-hot enough as it is.
- When cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin before turning out and cutting into squares.
- Deliver to a friend who’s experienced some heartache, and hope that they can tell you baked in several hugs of support.
{ 74 comments… read them below or add one }
You could bake that for me, you’d simply be forced to eat the lot of it. Back in the day, OMG I’d be all into that
But if I switched out the dairy and gluten, and took away the white chocolate, then you could eat it…. and then it wouldn’t be this particular baked good, thereby defeating the purpose. I present to you this smile instead: SMILE.
Bring me macadamias. Yay!
Flavoured? I can do flavoured! Sweet or savoury?
*confused*
I mean would you like roasted cinnamon sugar macadamias, or maybe tamari macadamias, etc… Or does this still not make sense? :S
This almost makes me want to experience some heartache. Like… immediately.
No no no, Lizzi. I’ll bake for you without the tears, m-kay? P.S. When are we having coffee?
Let me know when you’re free! Perhaps an after-work sorta time? Or a weekend-y catch-up?? I’m keen for whatev!!!
An afterwork time would work great at the moment, as I have the car for most of May. This week might be a bit busy with the budget coming out… maybe either late next week or weekend?
one might even say that blondies are named after a certain very cool glamourous Deborah Harry who was an inspiration to women everywhere – best wishes to your friend in putting one foot after an other – sometimes it seems impossible but us humans are amazing beings – blondies seems a great start in the healing process
Thanks Johanna. I hope she read your lovely words
Alas, Deborah Harry is before my time!
I didn’t really grow to appreciate Deborah Harry until she was long out of the spotlight but worth a listen and even reading a bit about her – more of an approachable female punk icon than polly styrene – another punk girl – who died this week (E told me as he knows his punk far better than me)
Oh, that’s sad! I didn’t even realise (s’pose the bin Laden death has been getting more coverage…) I do know bits and pieces about her – think we covered her in a sociology of popular music course!
Such a lovely post, uplifting in it’s own sweet way. I think sometimes we do reach for the baked goods thinking that they’ll cancel out the heartache but really it’s our good relationships that we draw strength from, and the delicious baked goods our friends bring us
Thank you
I personally think world peace could be brought about with simply a surplus of baked goods and few comforting hugs 
Ah, I wish life would be so easy that a heart ache could be cured with a chocolate blondie …
Maybe if we all just close our eyes and wish on a little pixie dust?
Eyes closed & heart felt wishing going on here. Tell me when to open my eyes OK
A next step in the healing process could be enjoying all those great Deborah Harry moments from the days of yore… such as her rapping when she was still young and not creepy-looking, while passing by a dapper Uncle Sam (2:31). Or my favorite, portraying the old woman who lived in the shoe . Rock N’ Rhymeland: my favorite movie from childhood. Start at 3:00 to enjoy the excellent early 90′s song! Deborah Harry will appear at 3:47. Oh man. If this doesn’t cheer ya up, I don’t know what will. …Oh yeah, the blondies! Right:)
Oh gosh, I must say those videos strike as more insane than anything else – I guess I missed the Deborah Harry fanboat! Then again, my music of choice tends to be musicals and soundtracks
I did enjoy watching them though!
These would be great cut into small squares and dipped in dark chocolate. You’re welcome.
Most likely! But then again, I almost never bake with chocolate, so I think you should just be impressed I managed to use the white kind
Do you think if I am no longer suffering from heartache, this can still be a cure for something? That way I can justify eating the whole pan!
Absolutely! It’s just a cure for the stress of daily life, then
Oh wow those look tasty!
That they are. That they are.
I am sure days will be brighter with these blondies. I’m sure your friend must have felt better, and comforted to have a friend like you!
Thanks Kayla. If I helped even the slightest bit, then I’m over the moon.
How can life NOT start to look up if someone has a friend who delivers such tasty sweet treats
That’s my hope!
how sweet
I loved reading what the ingredients represent. Macadamia nuts – I miss those.
Heidi xo
They’re kinda horribly expensive these days, aren’t they? Ah well, my friend is worth it
you are a lovely friend i hope they feel better, just looking at these blondies makes me happier
Thank you Suze! That really does mean the world to me
I hope you keep feeling happier!
Your friend must be feeling lucky to have you, even if other things in her life aren’t going so swimmingly right now.
Thanks Kath
Happily, she’s just like Dory: just keep swimmin’, just keep swimmin’…
Oh god, Hannah. Blondies- white chocolate- nuts- I’m having heart palpitations right now–(the good kind?) Surely these put at least a tiny, tasty little bandage on your friend’s heart.
I think they might have managed that
Though speaking of delicious blondies, I’ve been meaning to make your vegan peanut butter version for months! Stupid me!
Such a great friend. Im sure the blondies helped
Thank you
I hope so!
Mmm I love a blondie
omgsh! blondies are haunting me!! I JUST saw someone’s post with another delicious recipe. 0_o” ahhaha I can’t get away from them, it’s a sign~
It absolutely is! Go forth and blondie-bake, young grasshopper!!
Hang on, baked goods don’t solve all life’s problems? Hmm I must have (deliberately) missed that memo
I think life works more nicely when we believe baked goods do solve everything
Let’s continue living the lie!
Your friend won Lotto when she found you Hannah!
Speaking of white chocolate that offers the smoothness of a hug……..I find a good book gives me a virtual hug if I spend some time reading when I’m emotionally distressed.
I’m still waiting for a post about the good books you’ve read recently!
Oh Margaret, you’ll make me cry! Thank you so much.
You’re also completely right – a lovely book can also be the perfect comforting escapism in hard times. Oops! I’ll try and get to that post soon. For some reason I find the idea of recommending books very nerve-wracking!
Aww this is so beautiful! You are truly an awesome person and I hope that you know that. It is very cheesy but it reminds me of these chocolate and peanut butter cookies M made for me long before we were together (oh how I hate that term but I couldn’t think of anything else) when I was going through a bad time. It really was like a little ray of light in the dark.
Oh Vaala, thank you so much. Smiles and hugs and smiles
That story isn’t cheesy at all (it’s chocolatey! Oh-ho-ho!); it shows how wonderful M is and how much you deserved some kindness. xoxo
Yeah, he’s awesome
But I do wish someone had baked me stuff when I was suffering heartache (too many times when I stop and count). Perhaps it might have prevented me going completely off the rails, you know, to know someone cared. But then I guess life wouldn’t have turned out quite how it has and right now is just just how I want it (well, sort of…perhaps now (well, in a few hours when I finally get there) but without those earthquakes and maybe with me magically having gotten a job!).
I know exactly what you mean about wishing the horrible times hadn’t happened, but at the same time knowing that they partly shaped the who, where, and why of us today. That said, I very much wish you had had someone there to make you believe they cared – I’m sure people did, but it sucks that they couldn’t show it. Retrospectively I’m there for you a hundred ways!
P.S. I’ve been thinking of you lots these past few days, wondering how the transitition is going! So excited for you – Commence Next Wonderful Stage of Life Now!
And you are awesome too!!!
You know what makes these blondies so magical though? They are the media between your heart and your friend’s.
You are just lovely.
I love how you wrote this post, Hannah! Oh, and those blondies… I’m seriously into nuts, and macadamias are some of the best. They go so very well with white chocolate, but are hard to find (and super expensive) here in Europe. Best excuse for a trip to Hawaii though!
)
Thank you, Karen! That really means a lot, as sometimes I like the writing aspect even more than the cooking
Wait, no, not a trip to Hawaii! A trip to Australia! After all, macadamias are native to here, not there! (Sadly, they’re mighty expensive Down Under too…)
Fantabulous. Baked goods made with love are a surefire cure for the blues.
That’s my hope!
Baked goods always improve my mood
I hope they mended your friend’s heart!
My hope is they helped
Oh Hannah. You’re making MY heart ache by tempting me with these blondies…I love white chocolate + macadamia combos. Really really lusting after these right now!
Then you should probably make them, right? And afterwards move to Australia, the home of macadamias
Lovely. I’m sure they helped in the way that really good brownies baked with a kind heart only can!
I wish macadamias were a bit cheaper here, they’re so incredibly delicious – I think it’s in the texture.
Thanks Laura! Sadly, macadamias seem to be incredibly expensive no matter were one lives! They’ve never been a favourite nut of mine, but I must admit the butteriness works well in some cases (like this!)
Such a sweet post! Feeling a lot of good in the world in those blondies and your words.
Oh, thank you! Your words in turn have made me feel rather good
Beautiful post and such gorgeous blondies!!
Thank you Maria! A little too high in sugar and butter for your tastes, I bet
Yum – I made white chocolate and raspberry blondies for the first time recently and oh my god they were amazing. Moist and sweet and tart all at the same time.
White chocolate and raspberry is one of those amazing combinations, isn’t it? I need to replenish my stock of vegan white chocolate and get more creative
Such a beautiful sentiment… I can feel the love that went into these just through your words, so I’m 100% certain that your friend could taste the love as well!
Thank you Hannah! From her response, I think she did, and that’s all I could ask for
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