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Brown Butter Blondies are soft and chewy and packed with toasted pecans. The Brown Butter is an extra step but adds a rich, caramel-like flavor and adds so much depth to a classic blondie. I am obsessed with brown butter and spending the extra few minutes to make it will take any recipe to the next level, especially my favorite blondie recipe.
Blondies are one of my favorite recipes to play around with! I have tons of different kinds on this site, from the OG Toffee Blondies to lemon blondies and even peanut butter blondies! Once I realized that brown butter chocolate chip cookies were a huge hit, I started adding it (what I call liquid gold) to all my recipes, like brownies and these blondies. Browning the butter creates a nutty, deep flavor that leaves people wondering what the secret ingredient is.
Brown Butter Blondies Recipe Ingredients
- Unsalted Butter is a must whenever you’re making brown butter: browning concentrates the flavor of the butter by cooking it down, low and slow, until it turns a rich amber color. You want to use unsalted butter for this or you’ll end up concentrating the salty flavor of salted butter.
- Light Brown Sugar is the only one I use in my blondie recipes! It keeps them extra soft for days.
- Where brownies don’t use leavening and cookies use baking soda, these use baking powder to help them rice. They’re not cakey; but the powder helps them to stay soft.
- Besides that, you have all the normal cookie bar ingredients: eggs, vanilla extract, and all-purpose flour.
- Toasting the pecans makes a huge difference too: it brings out their flavor and keeps them from getting lost in the rich, chewy bars.
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Dorothy’s Expert Blondie Tips
- Always make browned butter over medium heat (or medium-low heat). Stir often, and watch it carefully: it’ll foam up and then little brown flecks will start to form in the bottom of the pan. Once that happens it can burn really fast, so pay attention.
- These are also great nut-free, made plain, or with butterscotch chips, chocolate chips, or turn them into white chocolate blondies.
- Always bake cookie bars like this in a metal pan for best results.
- Learn how to toast nuts to use in the recipe.
- Blondies need to be slightly underbaked because they set as they cool. Take these out of the oven as soon as they’re golden brown on top and no longer glossy.
Brown Butter Blondies Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 ½ cups (300g) packed brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 cups (248g) all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups (150g) chopped toasted pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9×13-inch metal pan with foil and spray well with cooking spray.
- Slice butter into tablespoons and place in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Melt and stir occasionally until the butter turns a dark amber/brown color. It will bubble and then foam and then brown (it goes fast, so don’t walk away from the stove).
- Pour butter into a large bowl. Stir butter and brown sugar until crumbly. Mix in eggs and vanilla until smooth. Mix in salt, baking powder, then flour. Stir in pecans.
- Spread in prepared pan. The mixture is wet so it’s best to spray your hands with cooking spray and then smooth the dough with your hands to get an even layer.
- Bake for about 22-25 minutes until they start to turn golden. Err on the side of under baked with these – they’ll finish baking as they cool and you don’t want them over baked.
Notes
- Bake blondie bars in a metal pan for best results.
- To toast your nuts: place in a saucepan over low heat and stir constantly, shaking the pan occasionally, until you just start to smell the nuts. Remove from heat and pan immediately to cool.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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How to make Brown Butter Blondies
- Transfer the browned butter to a large mixing bowl before adding all the ingredients. Once you add the sugar the mixture will be very crumbly.
- Once all mixed together the dough will be slightly thicker than brownie batter, but thinner than cookie dough. It’ll be slightly sticky, so spray your hands with cooking spray to press them into the prepared 9×13-inch metal pan.
