WHITE BEAN PECAN PUMPKIN BLONDIES

Some people can add to other people’s life like that, and bring gifts of photos of tiny kittens and rules of thirds and cool cameras (and, fix broken ones), or secret phone numbers and nuts for dinner and Egyptian bracelets and painful fashion advice, or puns and phone calls and carefully selected vegan ham-flavoured crisps, or the biggest smiles and fobs and doughnuts, or loud laughs, badly edited pictures of honey badgers, fancy iPhones and second-hand flirting, German experimental music playlists, Belle and Sebastian, instant email responses, birthday cards, tailored guidance on London boroughs (as night follows day wPeckhamwsavesw), haircuts worth four hundred bus rides, take-care's, espressos, inexplicable exceptions to the rule of never being touched, books that were meant for someone else, unrealistic tales of North-American wildlife, bags-for-life, thermals, sleeping pills, good-night’s; or (but you’ve got to be lucky like I am), even all of the above.

Now whether all these riches are deserved or not, or if I’d rather give things away than lose them, or again if I myself only am the bearer of utter annihilation (fine, of stuffed killer whales also; but only if you’re David Wilson), however consciously hidden behind a mask of cuteness, quirkiness and puppy eyes, it’s an entire different story; because today, on Matt’s birthday, cake is the only thing that I choose to bring along.

Adding fudgy pecan pumpkin blondies to someone’s life really can’t be a bad thing; plus when you and your cake tin are almost squeezed to death on your crammed bus to work, there’s just no room for all the bullshit.
Aaaand many more.

WHITE BEAN PECAN PUMPKIN BLONDIES

240g (8.5oz) cooked cannellini beans, rinsed and patted dry

110g (1/2 cup) pureed pumpkin

60ml (1/4 cup) maple syrup

65g (1/4 cup) pecan butter or other nut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons soft dark brown sugar

70g (1/2 cup) ground pecans

1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin spice mix

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

80g (2/3 cup) chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F) and lightly grease a 20x20cm (8x8”) square tin. Place beans, pureed pumpkin, maple syrup, pecan butter and vanilla extract in a blender and process until completely smooth. In a small bowl, combine sugar, ground pecans, spices, salt, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Pour in the wet mixture and mix until combined, then fold in the chopped pecans. Spoon the batter into the prepared tin, smooth the top (and top with some more chopped pecans if you like) and bake for 20 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Let cool on a rack to firm up. Cut into squares and get ready for a slightly uncomfortable morning commute (it’s worth it).