White Chocolate and Pecan Traybake
Makes 10 blondies
- 180g white chocolate
- 130g Pecan nuts
- 225g salted butter
- 225g caster sugar
- 150g light brown soft sugar
- 3 x large eggs
- 2 x tsp vanilla essence
- 190g plain flour
- 190g self-rising flour
Line a 22cm square cake tin with some non-stick paper
Put the pecan nuts onto a baking tray and bake in the oven for 10 mins
Cut the butter into small chunks and put into a pan along with the two sugars and gently heat till the butter and the sugars melt
Take off the heat and allow to cool slightly
In a large bowl beat the eggs then whisk in the melted sugary butter
Beat in both the flours and the vanilla essence
Roughly chop up the white chocolate and the pecan nuts
Stir them through the cake batter
Pour into the tin and bake for about 40 mins - till risen and golden
Allow to cool - then cut into 10squares
Prep time - 10 mins
Cook time - 40 mins
C is for Chocolate
"There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate" - Charles Dickens
"Anything is good if it made of chocolate“ - Jo Brand
- Chocolate is a vegetable- it is derived from cocoa beans
- Chocolate syrup was used for blood in Alfred Hitchcock’s movie Psycho in the shower scene and took 7 days to shoot
- The first Chocolate house opened in London in 1657
- In 1875 a Swiss Chocolate maker , Daniel Peter mixed Henri Nestle’s condensed milk with Chocolate, the two men started to manufacture the first milk Chocolate
- 17,000 people in Belgium are involved in the making, selling and promotion of Chocolate
- USA army rations contain 3 x 40g Chocolate bars
- Africa produces 66% of the world’s supply of Cocoa beans
- Chocolate in a blue wrapper won’t sell in Shangri or Hong Kong because the Chinese associate blue with death
- Dark Chocolate eaten in moderation is thought to reduce blood clots and lessen the risk of heart disease and strokes
- Before the Spanish Conquest, Cocoa powder was prescribed, mixed with a little water and the crushed bones of your ancestors to cure dysentery !
- Dark Chocolate is full of antitoxins
- Humans have consumed chocolate for the past 2000 years
- It was first discovered by the ancient peoples of Mexico and Central America
- In 1940 the Mars company invented M&M’s for soldiers going to World War II
- It boosts the economy, last year Britons spent £3 billion on half a million tonnes of Chocolate
- It aids concentration, Chocolate contains a caffeine like stimulant called theobromine, and is a natural antidepressant
- Inspired Roland Dahl to write about Charlie and his magic factory
- Cocoa butter was used as a dressing for wounds
- The word Chocolate comes from the Aztec word cacahuatl or xocolatl meaning bitter water
- The melting point of Chocolate is just below human body temperature , this is why it melts in your mouth
- Dental studies report that eating Chocolate does not cause cavities
- According to the Guinness World Record the largest bar of Chocolate was 7,892.5lb
- There is good sex and there is bad sex, but Chocolate is always Chocolate.