Brown butter, miso & walnut dark chocolate blondies – nutty with brown butter, toasted walnuts and miso unami and studded with melting pockets of chocolate. Jump to Recipe
Today marks the final week of my fourth year psychiatry rotation – 1/4 of the way towards those looming end of year exams (which I would far prefer to avoid by burying myself in baking, thanks). Though I can’t say it imbued me with a strong desire to become a psychiatrist, it was far more useful than I could have imagined beforehand – and whether a medical student is fixed on becoming a surgeon or a general practitioner, it seems like an essential field to at least scratch the surface of. Because we are not treating diseases, or symptoms. We treat people, often at some of the hardest points in their lives. And that includes the context in which they arrive into a doctor’s care: their state of mind, their family and friends, and all of their past experiences that led them to this point. It all feeds into the success (or failure) of treatment.
Psychiatry is one of the only specialties in which a patient’s background is fully explored – for example, the history taking of a patient presenting with suicidal ideation and depression will be completely different to a patient presenting with a broken hip. However, that older woman currently living in her home who tripped on the edge of a rug and broke her hip still has other needs beyond the orthopaedic treatment, such as grief over the loss of physical health and the ability to look after herself, or anxiety over future falls, or conflict between family members caused by this hospitalisation. Or the difficult patient who causes conflict between staff members, or the woman presenting with chronic pain, or the man who goes into delirium tremens due to alcohol withdrawal after a few days on the ward. Some level of awareness and understanding of psychiatry, however small, is worthwhile.
However, this knowledge of the symptoms of mental illness or empathy towards it in others does not seem to be protective in doctors themselves. Another issue publicised recently is the spate of suicides and high rates of depression and anxiety in medical students and junior doctors, much better spoken about here in the Guardian. It’s a complex minefield, mental illness, and I feel like I’ve only glimpsed a fraction of it. The only way forward, like for anything holding stigma and causing isolation, seems to be in that combination of public education, awareness & activism, policy and simply talking. It can’t be a behind-closed-doors issue.
Anyway. To the recipe.
You may have noticed these brown butter, miso & walnut dark chocolate blondies pop up on my instagram story way back in January. I hadn’t forgotten – I’ve just been preoccupied by capitalising on the cheap plums, peaches and berries flooding our shelves (my favourite time of year to bake). Stone fruit is now disappearing and the humid fog starting to lift, revealing crisp autumn mornings and golden leaves – the kind of days that justify turning the oven on and filling the house with the scent of browned butter and toasted walnuts. For those who don’t know, blondies are essentially a cookie in brownie form. You do lose the crisp cookie edges, but gain the maximum amount of thick, gooey, slightly chewy centre – plus there’s no need to roll out cookies or refrigerate a fussy dough.
Don’t be scared off by the white miso – it is the mildest form of miso (as compared to red miso, for example) and adds a slight salty, unami note to the blondie. (If you’re a miso-in-baking lover like me, you might also want to check out these miso caramel apple tarts.) The browned butter and sugar give an almost caramel decadence, with pockets of gooey dark chocolate throughout. And it’s a stir and bake deal – no mixer required. Just make sure you cool the brown butter enough that you don’t accidentally melt your chocolate. Enjoy!
- 170 g butter
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar (280g)
- 3 tablespoons white miso paste
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla paste
- 1 1/2 cups flour (200g)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup dark chocolate (180g) , roughly chopped
- 1 cup walnuts , toasted and roughly chopped
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Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 20cm square tin .
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Toast the walnuts by spreading out in a single layer on a baking tray and toasting for 5-8 minutes or until fragrant and starting to brown. Set aside to cool, then roughly chop.
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To brown the butter, melt the butter in a small pot - ideally in a pot with a light coloured bottom so you can see the colour of the butter. Swirl the pan occasionally to keep ti cooking evenly. The butter will start to foam and change colour from yellow to a toasty brown - the milk solids will cook faster and start to settle to the bottom. Once it is starting to brown and smell nutty, transfer the brown butter to a bowl to cool (you can pop it in the fridge or freezer to do this faster).
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Once cool, whisk in the brown sugar, then the miso, eggs and vanilla essence.
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Fold in the flour and baking powder until only a few bits of white streaks remain, then gently fold in the dark chocolate and walnuts.
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Bake at 180° until golden, 30-35 minutes. The skewer test won’t work as it always comes out clean unless you hit chocolate, so look for a just crisp top that is starting to crack. It may still seem quite gooey in the middle, but it will firm up lots more as it cools - otherwise you risk it drying out. I find it is ideally made the night before serving to allow it to set overnight.
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Leave to cool, then cut into squares. It also freezes well.
I agree about raising awareness and generally talking about it, I’ve witnessed mental illness first hand with family and it takes lots of patience and understanding. These blondies are just what I’ve been craving..so yummy! xo
i feel like there’s a lot of resources available for mental health wellness at my school, from the counselors at the ready to an annual mental health symposium. and even though it looks welcoming from my point of view, i wonder if those who need help are actually using these services, and i wouldn’t know how to even start to improve that. anyways, these sound delicious and like the perfect fall dessert!
That’s so true- resources and information is more and more available, but it first needs to be more socially acceptable to use it – the stigma associated I think still prevents people from taking that first step. thanks Heather!! I never know whether to cook in season or out – so many of you are in the Northern hemisphere so my recipes are completely out of whack haha!
I find it so interesting to read your posts about psychiatry. I was minutes away from starting a psych degree (for childhood psychiatry) and then landed in teaching instead. I felt like it was the next best way for me to connect with little people on some level. Anyway….I love this recipe and cannot wait to make it. I have a love affair going with miso lately…:-)
Thanks Lindsay – isn’t miso amazing? loving it in both sweet and savoury recipes too.
I guess the tricky aspect of child psychiatry (and child medicine, really!) is how it kind of ends up being family psychiatry, since it is so much to do with parents. Do you get that with teaching too?
The Psych stuff is so, so interesting!
I just got back from spin and haven’t had breakfast yet – i’m going to need to eat something soon. These aren’t helping hahhaha. Totes going to give them a go – we made your miso caramel recently and I loved it so much!
xx
ha I’m so hangry after morning exercise pre-breakfast!! I can’t say I’m a huge fan of spin either..
and so glad you liked the miso caramel! would love to know what you think of these blondies too xx
I have yet to fully explore baking with miso so I can’t wait to try this blondie recipe. I love playing around with different ingredients – so thank you for sharing! And good luck with your studies!
ooh do give it a go, it’s like an amazing twist on the regular salted caramel taste! thanks Cindy!
interesting to hear about psychiatry from the point of view of a med student! i don’t have too much experience with the field, but i do know (from personal and familial experience) that mental health has been such a taboo subject for so long — i’m happy that people are starting to become more forthcoming about it.
these blondies look AMAZING btw.
thanks Michelle! I guess as a med student too we see the inpatient psychiatry words, which tend to be people at the toughest points of their illnesses like bipolar and schizophrenia, which is pretty full on – especially when paired with drug use.
You bring up so many important points here. Heavy stuff, indeed.
It’s recipes like these that really motivate me as a baker – so creative and inspiring. Thanks, as always!!
Thanks Todd, that is so lovely to hear!!
This blondie is full of complex flavors and sounds divine. Oh yeah,,beautiful photography!
Couldn’t agree more that there needs to be more awareness for it all. Wow, that article on doctors and mental illness is shocking to me! And in a much more than miso in these brownies way which was a surprise to me at first as well!
It’s scary isn’t it?! And I think many people don’t realise the extent of it. Definitely give miso in baking a chance – it’s amazing!
What a fascinating field of study. I like hearing your perspective, thank you for sharing. These blondies sound incredible. Brown butter always adds something special, and the miso is such a great touch!
thanks Jennifer! xx
Brown butter and Miso are two ingredients I am obsessing over these days so this one is hitting all right notes for me!!! Can’t wait to try
they’re my favourites! that, and tahini! can’t get enough at the moment
Hey Claudia!
Just a quick comment to let you know your blog is, in my opinion, the best food blog, ever. You write so well and are always entertaining, even when its about random stuff like your hospital shifts.
I read every word of every post, your recipes are always either basic but perfect, or just incredibly OTT and incredible. I make your banana bread every week and the caponata very regularly!
Finally, your photos are so stunning, all the time. Please don’t ever stop blogging! xx
Amy! Thank you so so much for your way too kind words – that really means and lot, and put a massive smile on my face! So glad you like the banana bread and caponata! It’s so awesome to hear there are actually real people out there reading and making what I put out into that void of the internet.
Thank you again for reaching out, I so appreciate it!
Claudia xx
I just made these… I went back and forth trying to decide if I should really add the miso or if the blondies would taste like soup (lol).
Let me tell you guys: add. the. miso. insane amount of depth and flavor when its teamed up with the brown butter.
In fact, I mixed the miso in with the warm-ish brown butter before adding the sugar, so it would melt and not clump up, and the smell from that *alone* was amazing.
thank you for this awesome recipe!!!
Just made these!! So goooood ❤❤❤ am about to gift them to a friend who helped me w an essay but I just wanna eat em allllll myself 😍 Thank you so much for such a beaut recipe!
I’m here for your instagram post that left me with mouth water, I’m anxious to test the recipe. Can I do without the miso ?! (sorry for possible writing errors, I do not speak English and I’m using the translator. hahaha)
Yes you can make it without the miso!
I just made these today and while they taste really good, I can’t help but be sad that the saltiness of the miso isn’t more present. I might try to increase the miso or reduce the sugar to 1 cup next time I make this recipe again, but overall, it turned out great 🙂
I also followed Norange’s advice and added my miso to the butter while it was still warm and I agree: it smelled AMAZING.
Thank you, that’s great to hear. Hm yes it does depend on the brand of miso etc as well as to the strength, and it’s all personal preference, so that’s a good idea for next time! And YES how good does it smell! Totally agree.
I actually meant to update my comment to let you know the miso flavor was definitely more present the next day, which was really nice. The blondies were devoured within two days 😊 This recipe is definitely going in my book of recipes!
I tried this and it went horribly. Great flavors, but I couldn’t get the blondies to cook no matter how long I left them in. I could’ve left them in for a month and the middle was still raw. Any suggestions?
Currently, I have them cut up (as best as I could) and put in the freezer. I’m going to try to bake them again as cookies just so they can cook through hopefully!
Hi Molly! I’m so sorry you experienced that. Did you use scales for the ingredients and the same size baking tin? That is the main thing I’d be thinking of- I’ve never had that issue though so I’m really not sure why. The other thing is to make sure that the butter is fully browned, as it reduces in volume as it browns (as the water component starts to evaporate off) – so if it wasn’t browned then it might be more liquidly/oily. Let me know if any of that helps at all x
Hi! I was excited to try these as well. Same problem with not cooking up. Yes, the pan is 9″ or 20 cm, the oven was 350 degrees (180C) for 35 min. I used a scale to measure everything out. And… it was raw.
Maybe there are some differences in eggs too large? American ingredients? Could sugar, butter, or vanilla paste be more liquidy? Misp paste different? Going to add more flour next time to see if that helps.
Hi Christi, so sorry I missed this message. I’m not exactly sure what might have made the difference. I certainly find it is better to leave it overnight to set as it does continue cooking somewhat when out of the oven. I use large eggs myself, and I can’t image the sugar or butter being very different. It is most likely different ovens I think – I’ve moved house a few times recently and have found I have needed to adjust oven temperatures significantly and have invested in an oven thermometer to improve consistency! Even with the thermometer though, some ovens seem to cook things on top more quickly than others, even at the same temperature.
You could definitely try with slightly more flour, and maybe just slightly longer in the oven – you might find it just needs another 5-10 minutes.
I just mixed 1 teaspoon of Tahini with 1/2 teaspoon of Miso(white), 1/2 teaspoon of Coconut Aminos, and 1/2 teaspoon of maple syrup. I mixed it together and poured it on my sweet potatoes for dinner–WOW! I am know obsessed with Miso flavoring and Tahini. These blondies look just like what I need of the end of Christmas Holiday preparation! Thank you for sharing your creative recipes! Most importantly, I applaud you for speaking out about how essential the acceptance of Mental Health and approach compassionately. Individuals with these conditions are so vulnerable because of CNS and PNS are not firing or reading messages properly. By very nature, these are neurologic. They mistake for having the chills for the possibility of a fever, fatigue and lack of energy for Endocrine disorders instead of Depression, pain in their body and even incontinence issues that really are all neurologic in nature. The brain is part of the Central Nervous System and we consider a stroke, tumor or traumatic brain injury as an Intensive Care Need. What if we relabeled Mental Health as an “Acute Nervous System Imbalance” which places the emphasis on the Neurogenic-GI connection at hand impacting every sensory system in a human being? I truly believe reclassification of these conditions will be essential towards moving forward in the acceptance of treatment, seeking help, and reducing stigma. Bravo for the brave work you do! Most compassionate profession. I am so grateful you are strong enough to do this work. My nervous system would not fare as well. Merry Christmas!