Recently, my relationship with sadness has been changing. When it first came to me it was all about me and the circumstances of my life, my disappointments, my personal heartaches. My shift relates to the endless horrors and tragedies in the world that brings a whole different level of sad. My heart aches for other people all around the world and all their suffering that I hear about seemingly every single day.
Rumi said “Come out here where the roses have opened. Let soul and world meet.”
This so speaks the power in roses. Heart and soul and help for us all.
Roses lend themselves to baking magically because they add interest, fragrance, and mix well with many other baking ingredients like chocolate, honey, lemon, cream, and berries. An especially easy way to incorporate dried rose petals is by first preparing them as honey.
Honey is a beautiful sweetener for herbal syrups because it is in itself medicinal. Natural honey, not ultra-filtered, has anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory benefits. I gravitate to using less honey: most syrup recipes call for a 1:1 ratio of sweetener and concentrated liquid, so that would mean adding 2 cups honey to 2 cups of concentrated rose tea. I don’t think that is necessary and that you create a perfect tasting syrup that’s just a little less sweet, it doesn’t change the medicinal aspect of the syrup at all.
Rose honey keeps well and having it around facilitates adding a bit of warming brightness anywhere you would use honey. My two favorites are either add a bit to some cold sparkling water with a squirt of lemon or lime
and second dollop a spoonful into plain whole milk, grass-fed yogurt. I love this kind of yogurt so much, its creaminess feels comforting alone but the addition of rose honey elevates it even further. I would rather have this than almost any dessert except maybe for chocolate cake with chocolate icing. And on that note, its a given that roses and chocolate go together, which is why turning it into a gooey chocolate fudge sauce for these blondies is so perfect.
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 24bars | 45minutes |
| Cook Time |
| 35minutes |
|
|
- For rose honey
- 1/2 cup dried rose petals
- 12 ounces water
- 1/4 cup (50g) organic sugar
- 1/4 cup (3oz) unfiltered honey
- For rose honey chocolate sauce
- 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate
- 1 ounce semisweet chocolate
- 1/4 cup rose honey
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons brandy
- For blondies
- 4 ounces (1 stick) organic unsalted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons rose honey see recipe above
- 1 1/4 cup (225g), packed organic dark brown sugar
- 2 organic eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup (125g) organic whole-wheat flour, sifted
- 3/4 cup (2 1/2 oz) walnuts, coarsely chopped or broken
- 2/3 cup rose honey chocolate sauce see recipe above
- Combine the dried rose petals and water in a medium saucepan. Its best to first add rose petals, then pour water over them. Stir gently to make sure all the rose petals are immersed in the water. Bring to gentle simmer over low heat, cover and reduce to lowest setting to simmer for a few minutes.
- Set a timer for 30 minutes. After a few minutes., turn off the heat and let the rose tea steep covered for the remainder of the thirty minutes.
- Prepare a fine mesh hand strainer by setting it over a bowl or 16 ounce glass measuring cup and lining it with a piece of cheese cloth large enough to hang over the edges of the strainer.
- After 30 minutes, strain the rose petals from the liquid. Pour this tea back into the saucepan. Turn on heat to medium low and bring to a gentle simmer.
- Add sugar and stir a minute or two with chopstick until completely dissolved. Cover with lid but leave slightly ajar this time and continue to gentle simmer for about 15 minutes. The liquid will reduce and thicken a bit to form a thin syrup. Remove from heat and take off lid.
- Let syrup cool a bit until the steam subsides. Stir in the brandy to cool it down a bit. Then add the honey to warm mixture. Stir until the honey is completely mixed in.
- Pour into a clean 12 or 16 ounce mason jar and let it cool completely before storing in refrigerator.
- In a small saucepan combine unsweetened and semisweet chocolates with honey and heavy cream. Bring to gentle boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally with a small wire whisk.
- Reduce heat to lowest setting and simmer for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Remove from heat. Stir in brandy and set aside to cool completely. Sauce will thicken slightly as it cools.
- Sauce may be made ahead and refrigerated or frozen. Once added to blondies you will have additional sauce left over, which can be used as any other chocolate sauce and served cold or slightly warmed.
- Adjust oven rack to one third up from bottom. Preheat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare a 9 inch square baking pan by lining with aluminum foil. Turn baking pan upside down. Press aluminum foil over top of pan to form shape. Turn pan right-side up and gently press shaped aluminum foil into pan. Gently grease foil with softened butter using a crumbled piece of wax paper.
- Using electric mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter until softened. Beat in vanilla and honey on medium speed, scraping up from bottom as needed.
- Add brown sugar and beat well for about 5 minutes until completely incorporated. Scrape around sides and bottom with rubber spatula as needed.
- Add eggs, one at at time, beating on medium speed after each addition. Scrape sides as needed and when incorporated, continue to beat for 2 minutes until very smooth and light in color.
- Decrease to lowest speed, add flour and beat only until combined thoroughly. Scrape sides with spatula as needed. Remove from mixer and stir in 1/2 cup nuts by hand, reserving 1/4 cup. (Blondies can be done totally be hand if desired)
- Spoon 2/3rds of batter into prepared pan, smooth the top and push batter to edges. Add chocolate sauce by the spoonful, alternating with the rest of batter to cover.
- Smooth top with rubber spatula. Sprinkle on remaining walnuts. Bake for 32-35 minutes until golden and top is firm to touch. A tester will not come out clean.
- Cool completely in pan. When cool, cover pan with a wire rack and invert. Remove baking pan and aluminum foil, then invert again onto a cutting board. Cut into quarters, then each quarter in half, then each into 3 small bars.
*Using organic ingredients whenever possible will make your baked goods all the more nourishing. For these blondies use organic butter, honey, chocolate, sugar, eggs and flour if available.
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