This brown butter blondies recipe is the best ever! With a gooey, nutty center, crackly crust, and chocolate slightly melted and swirled into the batter, you won't find a better potluck dessert recipe! These easy blondies are super rich making them the perfect small dessert. The recipe is from food52 and we can't get enough!
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I have great news for introverts.
This is a stressful time of year for introverts, I get it. Back to school! Parties! Fundraisers! Prepping for the holidays! It can feel overwhelming, but not this year.
Because, even if we're going to school, around here the other stuff is cancelled. Smaller everything. No carnival. Virtual PTA. It's thrilling, frankly. Feels like a little bit of fat is being trimmed, just the tough stuff around the edges that doesn't add any flavor to life, metaphorically speaking.
What I'm saying is: this is a really really good recipe for blondies, one that you should absolutely make and memorize, but that you don't have to share them with anyone.
Also: last year I made this very same recipe with pumpkin, which means HEALTHY blondies. Brown Butter Pumpkin Blondies are here for you too!
Now that we're into the months that end in brrrrr, it's high time we get in gear with a new baking recipe. Specifically: a brown butter blondies recipe that is so easy, so nutty, so delicious, it might be better than my favorite one-bowl brownies, the literal most popular recipe on this site last year. Big might, but still.
What Even Are Blondies Tho
This...is something that I feel should be common knowledge, but just in case. Some people call these blonde brownies or blondies brownies which HONESTLY what a mouthful, but I'm not here to judge. Blondies are ... brownies without cocoa powder, basically. They feel like a cross between a cookie cake and a brownie, with that crackly crust + gooey center found in a brownie and the brown sugar + chocolate chip cookie elements we all adore.
THESE blondies in particular start with browned butter, and lots of it. I use salted butter, always, for extra flavor, but do whatever you feel is right in the world of butter.
To brown butter, we stick it in a skillet and keep an eye on it until it...browns. Clearly. I do this: butter in cold pan over medium heat. Keeping an eye on things, stirring every few minutes. The butter will melt, then foam, THEN start to brown. I like to REALLY brown butter for these brown butter blondies because the toasty milk solids are what gives these blondies an almost caramel flavor.
In short: there is a line between brown butter and burned butter. We want to be flirting with the line so hard but not quiiiiite making the leap, make sense? Keep an eye on it, and when the butter is nutty and dark brown, pour it into a big mixing bowl to stop any more cooking from happening.
At this point, the butter needs to cool for a sec. There are options here! I let the butter cool for 10 minutes until it's warm. This way the chocolate chips (chunks in this case, it's what I had) melt about halfway and swirl into the batter. You can also let the butter cool all the way for more of a chocolate chip cookie effect - both are delicious.
When the butter has cooled to your preference, onward with this easy recipe for blondies!
Preheat the oven to 350F and prepare a square cake pan (whatever you'd use for brownies) with cooking spray or parchment paper. Then, to the big bowl with the melted butter, add brown sugar, vanilla, and eggs. Stir this together until it's super smooth. Look at that caramel color - alllll from the browned butter.
Next, add the flour and salt and keep stirring until the mixture is very smooth.
Last, stir in the chocolate chips until they're just mixed in - see how they're melting a bit in places?
Batter goes in the ban, brown butter blondies bake for 25 minutes. MAYBE a little bit longer, but we're erring on the side of "are they cooked at all even?" territory. The top will be crackly and the edges will pull away from the sides of the pan, but the blondies should be nice and soft in the center, just like a gooey brownie.
Now we have the sadness of waiting until the blondies are cool, but I promise it's worth it. I let these cool all the way in the pan on the counter (so a great thing to make first thing in the morning for dessert that night, for example), but you can lift the blondies out of the pan onto a rack to cool if you like doing extra dishes.
Cut into squares. Admire the interior goo (this does not sound good, it is). Devour.
Friends, I promise these are so, so amazing. It's allll the brown butter, so take your time with that step, labor of love kind of thing. It's not hard at all, but does take an extra few minutes to get the butter super duper browned and nutty. Also, brown butter should be a candle fragrance but that's just me.
These store great in the fridge, freezer, in tupperware on the counter for a few days, all the ways. They're so rich that a little square is enough (most of the time) for a serving, which means you COULD deliver half to a friend just because if you felt like it.
Because at least you aren't at a PTA meeting, right? I hope you're not, at least.
Enjoy these! They're seriously the best ever.
Recipe
Brown Butter Blondies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter 2 sticks
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar
- 4 teaspoons vanilla not a typo
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ cups chocolate chips or chunks
Instructions
- Brown the butter. Place the butter in a skillet over medium heat. The butter will melt, then foam, then start to brown on the bottom. This process will take about 10 minutes. Once the butter foams, stir nearly continuously to allow the butter to brown but not burn. When most of the foam is gone and the milk solids are very brown on the bottom of the skillet, turn the heat off, transfer the browned butter to a large bowl, and let cool for 10-15 minutes until warm but not hot.
- When ready to proceed, preheat the oven the 350F and line a square baking pan (8x8 or 9x9) with parchment paper or cooking spray.
- Returning to the cooled brown butter, add the brown sugar, vanilla, and eggs to the bowl. Stir well to incorporate the sugar and eggs with the butter.
- Add the flour and salt and stir until very smooth. The batter will be caramel colored and should be glossy. Stir in the chocolate chips and transfer to the baking dish.
- Bake the blondies for 25-30 minutes until the edges start to pull away from the edges and the center is barely set. We are going for GOOEY, here.
- Remove from the oven and let the blondies cool completely in the pan. Cut into small squares, serve, congratulate yourself, decide whether or not you feel like sharing. Enjoy!
I am OBSESSED with brown butter but sadly had only used it in savory dishes prior to trying this recipe. I was really missing out. The brown butter took these blondies to the next level. The texture was perfect and they are just so wholesome. I can't wait to try your recipe for brown butter pumpkin blondies this fall.
I'm so glad you loved them!
So easy and absolutely addictive! Thanks for another great recipe.
Made these with the kids, they enjoyed it and so did I. Fun to make and eat, thank you.
My daughter makes brownies all the time, and this would be a fun recipe to switch things up. These look delicious and when I was a kid I used to have blondie sundaes all the time. So good with some vanilla ice cream!