Blondie Sundaes with Fried Walnuts and Candied Fennel
From the kitchen of CarlyNutty buckwheat and almond blondies get the sundae treatment with crispy fried walnuts and aromatic candied fennel on top. Brown butter keeps everything rich while the grains add subtle earthiness to each fudgy bite.
Brown butter blondies with buckwheat and almond flour deliver a nutty, dense crumb that begs for ice cream. The real magic lives in the toppings: walnuts that soak in their own syrup until they turn glossy and chewy, fennel that becomes translucent candy, and a finish of bright tart berries. Layer them into a sundae and you've got texture, sweet, salty, and tang all at once.
- Prep
- n/a
- Cook
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- Total
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- Servings
- 4
- Difficulty
- medium
Ingredients
4 servings
- 1Nonstick vegetable oil spray
- 1 1/3 cupbuckwheat flour
- 1/3 cupalmond flour or meal
- 1 tspkosher salt
- 1 cupunsalted butter
- 3/4 cupsugar
- 5 largeegg yolks
- 1 largeegg
- 1 cupraw walnuts
- 1 cupsugar
- 1 largefennel bulb, fronds reserved, bulb cored, thinly sliced
- 1Zest from 1 lemon, removed in wide strips
- 1vanilla bean, split lengthwise
- 1Vegetable oil
- 2/3 cuppowdered sugar
- 2 pintvanilla gelato or ice cream
- 1 pintground cherries or cape gooseberries, husks removed, rinsed, halved
- 1A deep-fry thermometer
Instructions
Set the oven to 325°F and lightly coat a 13x9-inch baking dish with nonstick spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together the buckwheat flour, almond flour, and salt until combined.
Place a medium saucepan over medium-low heat and add the butter. Stir it often as it foams and then deepens to a nutty brown, 5 to 8 minutes. Pour it into a large bowl and let it cool briefly. Whisk in the sugar until smooth, then add the egg yolks one at a time, whisking constantly and making sure each is fully incorporated before adding the next. Add the whole egg the same way. Fold in the dry ingredients and mix until the batter is smooth. Scrape it into the prepared dish and level the top.
Bake until the blondies are lightly browned and the center feels firm when gently pressed, 15 to 20 minutes. Move the dish to a wire rack and let it cool completely, then cut into 16 bars.
Raise the oven to 350°F. Spread the walnuts on a rimmed baking sheet and toast them, tossing once, until golden brown, 5 to 8 minutes. Let them cool slightly, then transfer to a heatproof jar or airtight container.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir together the sugar and 1 cup water until the sugar dissolves. Let the syrup cool slightly, then pour it over the walnuts. Seal the jar and leave it to sit for at least 12 hours and up to 1 day.
Set a fine-mesh sieve over a clean medium saucepan and pour the walnuts in, tossing them to shake off as much syrup as possible into the pan below. Transfer the walnuts to a medium bowl and keep the sieve nearby.
Into the reserved syrup, add the sliced fennel and lemon zest, then scrape in the vanilla seeds and drop in the pod. Bring everything to a simmer over low heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the fennel turns translucent and tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Fish out and discard the pod, then let the fennel cool in its syrup.
Clip a deep-fry thermometer to another medium saucepan and pour in enough oil to come 2 inches up the sides. Heat over medium-high until the thermometer reads 350°F. While the oil climbs to temperature, add the powdered sugar to the walnuts and toss to coat. Tip them into the reserved sieve and shake off the excess. Lower the walnuts carefully into the hot oil and cook, turning them with a spider or slotted spoon to keep them from clumping, until they are brown and crisp, about 3 minutes. Spread them out on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet to cool, then break apart any clusters.
Scoop the gelato into bowls and arrange the ground cherries, blondies broken into large pieces, fried walnuts, candied fennel, and fennel fronds over the top.
Blondies can be made 2 days ahead. Store them tightly covered at room temperature.
Fried walnuts keep for 2 days ahead as well; let them cool fully before storing airtight at room temperature. For the fennel, candy it up to 2 days in advance, let it cool in its syrup, then transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate.
Fried walnuts keep for 2 days ahead as well; let them cool fully before storing airtight at room temperature. For the fennel, candy it up to 2 days in advance, let it cool in its syrup, then transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate.
Tips from the kitchen
- Brown your butter slowly and listen for the quiet popping sounds, that's when the water is evaporating and the milk solids are caramelizing, this is your flavor foundation.
- After brining the walnuts, don't skip draining them over the saucepan you'll use for the fennel, you're capturing walnut-infused syrup that will coat everything.
- Toast your fennel slices thin and keep the heat low as they cook, overcooked fennel turns mushy and bitter, you want it translucent but still holding its shape.
- A day ahead or two weeks ahead, doesn't matter much, these components get better with time as flavors meld and the fennel and walnuts soak in sweetness.
Variations
- Skip the fennel and double the walnuts if anise isn't your thing, you'll still have that brined walnut depth.
- Use toasted pecans instead of walnuts and omit the lemon zest, swap in fresh thyme in the syrup for an earthier angle.
- Go savory by cutting back sugar in the candied fennel to one-third cup and adding a pinch of cayenne and black pepper, serve the blondies with salted caramel gelato.
- Make a blondie cake instead by tripling the batter and baking it in a round pan for about 25 minutes, layer it with the toppings and whipped cream for a showstopper dessert.
Make ahead and storage
Blondies keep covered at room temperature for three days, candied walnuts and fennel last in a sealed jar in the fridge for two weeks. Assemble sundaes fresh, but all the pieces hold well individually so you can build them anytime.