Cinnamon Roll Blondies

The first record album I can remember owning is Eat to the Beat by Blondie. Every year at Easter, my brothers and sisters and I would get a few chocolate Easter eggs, but the thing we really looked forward to was the little gift our Mum would give us. She would leave a little something on the end of our beds on Easter Sunday morning. The gift was never wrapped, just left there for us to find. Most of time is was something practical that we really needed like a new pair of slippers or winter pajamas (our Easter is at the beginning of Autumn). Sometimes it was a cardigan she had knitted or a colouring book with some new pencils. But this one year, on the end of my bed was a the grooviest gift I ever got at Easter, my very own album by my favourite band at the time. For weeks after, I channeled Debbie Harry and sang into my hairbrush until I was hoarse. That's about as close as I ever got to Blondie... until now.

Cinnamon Roll Blondies

slightly adapted from Sally's Baking Addiciton

Makes 16

125g plain flour (I used cake flour)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

70g unsalted butter, melted

150g light brown sugar

60g caster sugar

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 tablespoon demerara sugar for sprinkling

For the Vanilla Glaze:

3/4 cup icing sugar, sifted

2 - 3 teaspoons milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Make the Blondies:

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Line the base and sides of a 20cm square cake pan with foil, leaving enough foil to hang over the sides of the pan. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon and the nutmeg together. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar and caster sugar. Add the egg and vanilla extract and whisk until combined. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, stirring with a rubber spatula until incorporated. Do not overmix. The batter will be thick.

Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth it out to the edges and into the corners with a spatula. In a small dish, mix the remaining 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and demerara sugar together. Sprinkle over the batter.

Bake for 25 minutes or until light golden. Allow to cool completely in the pan.

Make the Vanilla Glaze:

Put the icing sugar in a small bowl. Add the vanilla extract and enough milk to make a smooth paste. Spoon the glaze into a disposable piping bag and cut a small opening in the tip.

Glaze the Blondies:

Lift the blondies out of the pan using the over-hanging foil. Pipe the glaze over the blondies in a criss-cross pattern. Cut the blondies into squares.