White Chocolate Brownies

I swear I wasn't going to bake from "Baking, From My Home to Yours" this week. I promise! The TWD recipe was vanilla ice cream. And since we have a lactose-free house (for the most part) I thought I'd take a week off...

But then my mom brought over some fresh raspberries. I simply love fresh raspberries. When I first got this cookbook I saw this recipe and swore that when raspberries were in season I'd make it.

Well I improvised a little...I didn't have ground almonds, orange zest, or enough eggs to make a meringue. And I put it in a 9" square pan (so it had to bake longer). It was still delicious - or so I hear (talk about will power!!). I didn't try any, but I did treat myself is some of the leftover berries:)

Here's a picture of what mine looked like, and the full complete recipe. Enjoy!

White Chocolate Brownies

from: Baking, From My Home to Yours

For the Brownie:

2/3 cup flour

1/2 cup finely ground almonds

1/2 tsp salt

1 stick (8T) unsalted butter

4 oz white chocolate

1 cup sugar

2 tsp grated orange zest

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup fresh raspberries

For the meringue:

3 egg whites, at room temperature

pinch of salt

1/2 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 9x13 pan. Put pan on a baking sheet.

Whisk the flour, ground almonds and salt.

Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of only-just-simmering water. Put the butter in the bowl, top with the chocolate and stir frequently until the ingredients are just melted - you don't want them to get so hot that the butter or the white chocolate separates. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.

Working in the bowl of a stand mixer or in another large bowl, rub the sugar and orange zest together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and aromatic. Add the eggs and beat on medium high for about three minutes. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and blend in the melted butter and chocolate. Still working on low, mix in the dry ingredients, stirring only until they disappear into the batter. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the raspberries over the batter. Set aside as you make the meringue.

In a cleaned mixer bowl with a clean whisk attachment, beat the egg whites with the salt on medium speed until they are just foamy and just turn opaque. Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and add the sugar in a slow steady stream. Whip the whites until they form firm but still glossy peaks.

Gently spread the meringue over the brownie batter.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the meringue is browned and crackly and the brownies pull away from the pan. Cool and cut into 32 bars.