Blonde Brownies

A rich delicious brown sugar and brown butter base gives these blonde brownies a delicious caramel flavor. Easy to whip up these blonde brownie bars are perfect for a sweet treat and even better topped a la mode for a delicious special dessert. Step-by-step photos teach you how to make this blonde brownie recipe!

this recipe

I have to be honest, I love brownies, so much so that I have over 25 brownie recipes on my website. It took me years to come up with my classic chocolate fudgy brownie recipe, one that I base most of my recipes on today!

I love "blondies" basically a cookie bar, my pretzel blondies are to-die-for. But I wanted this recipe to be more brownie-like, denser than a traditional blondie. This blonde brownie recipe luckily did not take as long but is just as delicious. The deliciousness comes from browning the butter to create deep caramel undertones, as well as delicious brown sugar, and ratios of ingredients to create a denser bar.

These blonde brownies are not overly sweet, they're soft and chewy, they hit you with some sweetness but don't leave an annoyingly sweet after-taste. Simplicity at its finest.

We love these as is or served warm with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients

• Butter. I like to use salted butter but you can use unsalted butter too, if using unsalted I would up the quantity of salt from ¼ teaspoon to ½ teaspoon. We are going to brown the butter so no need to soften it to room temperature. You could use just plain melted butter but trust me once you try baking with brown butter you won't go back! When you brown the butter some of the liquid will evaporate so you'll start with 8oz of butter but will actually use 6.5oz of butter for this recipe.
• Light Brown Sugar. The light brown sugar helps create the beautiful caramel undertones in this brownie recipe. If you love molasses flavor then you could use dark brown sugar.
• Granulated Sugar. Using granulated sugar and letting it melt into the warm brown butter helps create a beautiful top layer to the bars.
• Vanilla Extract. Use the real stuff, no imitation here, please!
• Large Eggs. You will use one whole egg and one additional egg yolk. Both will need to be at room temperature. You can do this quickly by placing the eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5-10 minutes before using.
• All-Purpose Flour. Make sure you measure your flour properly to avoid too much or too little flour which can drastically affect the flavor and texture of the bars. I always prefer weighing my flour on a scale to avoid accidentally overfilling a measuring cup.
• Baking Powder. Just a little helps give these bars some lift.
• Salt. I personally use salted butter but still like to add a little salt to help cut the sweetness.
• Cornstarch. I love using cornstarch in my baking, this helps tenderize the bars!

I enjoy the simplicity of this bar recipe but feel free to add chopped nuts, I think pecans or walnuts would be beautiful here! Maybe even some dark chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, or white chocolate chips.

Instructions

You have to make sure that your oven is properly preheated or the blonde brownies won't bake properly!

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C and line an 8-inch square or 9-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper, if using foil make sure to spray with non-stick spray then set the pan aside. Keep in mind that a batch of brownies in an 8-inch pan will take longer to bake than a batch of brownies in a 9-inch pan.

Now on to the brown butter, the star of the show!

In a light-colored medium-size pot over low-medium heat add the butter and cook to "brown the butter" this process will take anywhere from 5-15 minutes depending on the size of your pot, be careful not to burn it as the butter turns from brown to burnt very quickly. Check out this post for an in-depth look at browning butter.  You will start to smell a nutty aroma and the butter will become a golden brown color. Turn off and pour into a heatproof large bowl to cool for 5 minutes.

Now stir the granulated sugar, butter, and brown sugar until fully combined.

Next, add the egg yolk, egg, and vanilla whisk together for a minute or two you want the color of the batter to lighten.

Add flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt and gently mix until no flour streaks remain. 

Pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 19-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, they should be just golden brown, you do not want to overbake. Let cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes before slicing into bars.

Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

I hope you love these blonde brownies.

How to freeze

Brownies, cookies, and bars are perfect for freezing. Once the bars are baked let them cool completely then wrap them in plastic wrap tightly, twice, then place in a freezer-safe container.

To thaw the brownies place them on the counter for an hour or two, depending on the size you slice them they may thaw quicker.

Can you double

This easy blondie recipe can easily be doubled and baked in a 9-inch by 13-inch pan, since the pan is larger you will not need to adjust the baking time by much, just keep an eye out. You can easily double the quantity of the ingredients by pressing the 2X button on the recipe card.

More Brownie Recipes

If you are looking for a delicious brownie recipe try my peanut butter brownies.

Who knew that combining two desserts in one could be amazing, okay yeah maybe a few people did, but I truly fell in love with this cheesecake brownie recipe.

And for something over the top and delicious try my friend Hayley's Baileys Chocolate Mousse Brownies.

★★★★★ Please let me know if you make this recipe by leaving a star rating and comment below!

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