Glazed Lemon Blondies
I wanted to send a cheerful, citrusy gift to Bubby's teacher for her to enjoy over the weekend. When I saw this recipe on Browned Butter Blondie's Instagram the photo was so appealing I just had to try it. I'd had 3 bars of Ghirardelli white chocolate on hand for quite a while that I wanted to use up, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity. But, things never turn out quite as planned...
First off, I was shocked to see the expiration date on one of the white chocolate bars was for 2020! I can't possibly have been holding on to this for 4 years, can I? The other two bars expired in 2021, proving that time does fly whether you're noticing or not. In this case, not.
I did a quick search and found that white chocolate lasts a much shorter time past its expiration date, and sure enough I could tell the bars smelled kind of rancid. So I chucked them in the garbage and had to make an unscheduled trip to the store.
Back at the ranch the recipe came together quickly. It's a rich confection: 3 eggs plus one yolk, a stick of butter and an entire bar of white chocolate. It's supposed to bake at 350 for 25 minutes, and there are many warnings on the blog post not to overbake them because they quickly become dry. It comes with the unnerving direction to bake until the center is just set, as if it were a custard, and something that I'm never good at knowing. When I checked them at 25 minutes, the edges were crisping up but to my surprise the rest of the batter was still liquid! I added 3 minutes and went back to check. Now the batter was set and I took them out. Naturally this was a big mistake, there's no way that in only 3 minutes after having opened the oven door that these babies could have baked all the way through.
The glaze has to be added after they've cooled completely, and these babies took a surprisingly long amount of time to cool. Four hours later, the bottom of the pan was still warm! And so, I wasn't able to start the glaze until after 7 pm.
The glaze calls for 1.5 cups of confectioner's sugar and 4 to 5 tablespoons of lemon juice. I put in 4 tablespoons and it was way too liquid, because I wanted a thick frosting-like glaze. I added quite a few tablespoonfuls of additional confectioner's sugar until it thickened up, although not as thick as I wanted. Because the blondies had sunk in the middle, the glaze pooled and I could tell it was going to take a long time to set. If ever. After 3 hours the glaze did look set, so I covered them and went to bed.
I had a nasty surprise when I went to cut them into pieces the next morning. The blondies were raw inside! Not just underdone, but clearly inedible. And the glaze was still runny, a complete mess. What a baking fail! Always frustrating after spending time and using up ingredients. I cut away the edges, where they were cooked enough to (probably) be food safe, and sampled those. And I must say, I'm not such a fan of the taste. They are too rich, and the glaze leaves an aftertaste.
What went wrong? Obviously they weren't cooked long enough, But judging by how the edges baked in relation to the center, it's also clear my oven was too hot. I never check with an oven thermometer because I have two thermometers and they never agree, and when I've tried to correct the temperature that doesn't work either. But this isn't the first recent bake where this happens, so it looks like I do have an oven problem.
And yet, I wouldn't try this recipe again, because in terms of taste I don't think it's worth the trouble.
I'd already told Bubby's teacher to look out for a treat, so this upended my morning by forcing me to make emergency doughnuts. I hope the oven behaved for those and I guess I'll have to sample one to make sure!
Comments
Post a Comment