01 Dec Cinnamon Crunch Blondie Trees

When Cadbury launched their Limited Edition Festive range last year, I absolutely fell in love with the Dairy Milk Festive Gingerbread flavour (and gobbled up more slabs than I’d like to admit). This year, when Cadbury asked me to make an easy Christmas treat that kids would love, it was the Cadbury Dream Cinnamon Crunch I reached for. For me, the combo of creamy Dream and crunchy cinnamon bits brings to mind flavours of Milk Tart – and who doesn’t love Milk Tart?

To make these Blondie Christmas Trees, I’ve incorporated large chunks of Cadbury Dream Cinnamon Crunch into deliciously dense, cinnamon flavoured blondies. Kiddies will absolutely love decorating their “trees”, but the recipe his so simple that they can help to make the batter too. The trees are totally customisable- go for bright and colourful with sprinkles and stripy straws like me, or simple and elegant with silver balls or a light dusting of metallic dust. You can watch me make these Cinnamon Crunch Blondies on the Expresso show by clicking here.

Ingredients:

(Makes 12)

For the blondies:
175g salted butter
225g brown sugar eg. Demerara (280ml)
2 large eggs
225g flour (400ml)
5ml ground cinnamon (1 tsp)
150g Cadbury Dream Cinnamon Crunch

To decorate:
2 x 80g Cadbury Dream
sprinkles, silver balls, sugar stars etc
paper straws or ice cream sticks

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 190°C. Line a 20cm x 20cm baking tin with baking paper.
• Melt the butter in a large bowl, then allow to cool slightly to room temperature.
• Add the brown sugar and beat well. 
• Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
• Add the flour and cinnamon, mix until just combined.
• Roughly chop the Cadbury Dream Cinnamon Crunch, then stir into the batter.
• Spread the batter into the prepared dish and bake for 20-22 minutes, until lightly golden brown.
• Allow to cool in the tin for about 30 minutes, then carefully remove.
• Trim the crusts then slice the square of blondies in half. Slice each half into 6 triangles.
• Push a straw or ice cream stick into the base.
• Finely chop the Cadbury Dream and place in a heatproof bowl. Place over a pan of simmering water and stir until melted. 
• Drizzle or pipe the melted chocolate over the blondie “trees” to form a tinsel design. Decorate with sprinkles as desired!