White Chocolate Blondies
How to make the BEST Browned Butter White Chocolate Blondie Bars
Blondies Recipe
I have a serious love affair with browned butter.
It started in 2003 when I was experimenting with using hot and cold butter in my cookies, instead of the typical room temperature butter. I fell in love with the depth of flavor that it gave baked goods. Let us not forget about the caramel notes it gives cookies as well. Huge browned butter fan here! Who is with me?
These Browned Butter White Chocolate Blondies are the bomb. I don't even know why that is coming out of my mouth but they are that good.
What is a blondie? It's basically the first cousin to both brownies and chocolate chip cookies. That is the relative jackpot, if you ask me!
The beauty of White Chocolate Blondie Bars are they are similar to cookies but easier. We love easy! The dough is poured into a pan, baked and then cut into squares.
I played around with this Blondies recipe I found in America's Test Kitchen Cookbook. It is the cookbook I reach for the most because of the amount of time they spend researching and experimenting with their recipes. I have mad respect for their methods! I would like to be like them, with their professional kitchens and paid dishwashers. I would LOVE someone to wash my dishes! Can you even imagine? Pure heaven. I digress.
How to make the BEST Blondies Recipe:
- Brown the Butter. There is a technique to this method. You want to give the butter time to deepen but not so long that the water evaporates out of the butter. I found that constantly swirling the pan helps the butter to brown nicely. It is not something you want to walk away from. It's serious business and needs to be watched closely. It will only take 3-4 minutes on medium heat.
- After you remove the butter from the heat, immediately add the brown sugar. You want it to be nice and hot so that when you add the brown sugar it dissolves nicely and becomes glossy. I usually stir it for 1-2 minutes to ensure that the sugar is dissolved.
- Chill it, baby. Don't think you can skip this step! You will end up with scrambled eggs and melted white chocolate. No bueno. Let it chill in the fridge and while you are waiting, like your friend's photos on Instagram. Tell them how amazing they are. People like that.
- When you know without a shadow of a doubt that your butter-sugar mixture is chilled enough, add those eggs and vanilla.
- You can add white chocolate, pecans, chocolate chips, walnuts, M & M's, or whatever your heart desires.
- Bake until edges are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. These tend to be slightly gooey in the center with crispy edges. You don't want to overbake them so the edges are too hard.
- Let the blondies cool to room temperature before cutting. Place in the freezer if you are in a hurry. These blondies are so much easier to cut when they aren't hot. Let them cool.
Browned Butter White Chocolate Blondies
Ingredients
- 12 Tablespoons Butter 1 ½ sticks, melted and cooled
- 1 ½ cups Brown Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- 1 ½ cups Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ⅔ cup White Chocolate Chips
- ⅔ cup Pecans optional
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. As it starts to heat up, swirl the pan around often. Once it starts to bubble, let it deepen for 3-4 minutes.
- Remove from heat and add brown sugar. Stir it for 1-2 minutes until the mixture is nice and glossy and all of the brown sugar is dissolved into the butter.
- Let cool. It can be cooled at room temperature or can be put into the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes. It needs to be cooled to room temperature before adding the eggs. You don't want scrambled eggs!
- Add eggs and vanilla and stir well.
- Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Before adding white chocolate chips, ensure the dough is chilled enough. You may want to put it in the refrigerator for a few minutes before adding white chocolate.
- Stir in white chocolate chips and optional pecans.
- Optional: Line a 8 x 8, 9 x 9, or 9 x 13 pan with foil or parchment paper.
- Pour batter into pan of choice, smoothing top with a spatula.
- Bake until top is shiny and slightly cracked approximately 20-24 minutes.
- Let cool and cut into bars.
I am predicting that you will without a doubt LOVE these Browned Butter White Chocolate Blondies. Share the love with your friends and fam on Pinterest because people love themselves some baked goods.
Happy Baking! xo
Becky
The butter didn't fully dissolve the brown sugar... what did I do wrong??
brandy
im having the same problem and it looks like most of the comments above are too.. i add a splash of water back into it when its grainy to get it to melt... im thinking that my butter was cooked too long or too high and too much of the water in the butter evaporated.
brandy
these are great ! my only problem is for some reason when i melt the butter and add the brown sugar my mixture is always grainy and never properly melts... i always have to add a splash of water to get it to do so...any pointers??
SHARON
This is amazing! It is so good - and I made it all in the saucepan used to brown the butter, with ingredients I had on hand!
Lindsey
These are AMAZING!!! I never leave reviews but I had to on these. I have made these several times and have never been disappointed. We are not a dessert kinda family, but when we are craving something sweet, this is what I make. It's also my go-to recipe when I need to take a dessert somewhere. Everyone always loved them and asks for the recipe! Absolutely delicious!!!
Lola
I"m confused.. is it 1 and a 1/2 sticks or 12 tablespoons??
Mike
Either one.
Isabel
I have made this recipe three times and it’s keeps coming out like soup. 🙁 The first two time I baked them in 8x8 pan and the third time it was in a 9x13 pan. I have even added them in for extra time and it’s still runny. Does this recipe call for a non-stick pan only?
Brooklin
Could you make these into cookies using the same recipe??
Dan
Love the taste of this recipe!! I’ve made it twice so far. But I thought I had done something wrong the first time as I needed approximately 15 extra minutes of bake time (on top of the 24 minutes) and the blondies were still pretty gooey. I remade them tonight and only added 6 minutes, and they’re reallllllly soupy. Followed the recipe exactly. Any ideas what I’m doing wrong?
kim
Light or dark brown sugar?
Charli
These are perfection in a bite! Ready in no time too. A true crowd pleaser!
Erin
These were amazing! I only put pecans in a small portion of these but next time, I will be adding them to the entire pan. I used unsalted butter. Initially I thought maybe there was too much brown sugar as it did not dissolve - it was more a consistency of really wet sand after I mixed the brown sugar with the browned butter. Once that mixture cooled and I added the eggs, it looked like I would expect any brownie/cookie dough to look. This, like every other recipe I have tried from Modern Honey, is a must try! This is the only site where each recipe I have made is delicious and a hit with my family. Thanks for another winner!!
Judy Chesney
I add both walnuts and pecans on top before baking.
Serve bars warm, spread a whisky sauce on top then drizzle some Carmel and add a scoops of vanilla bean ice cream.
Sheila
When I refrigerated my butter sugar mixture the sugar hardened like a brick
Moriah
So good! Read through the reviews first and adding just two(ish) tablespoons to the cooled brown-butter mixture worked. I also baked for 30 minutes and still got beautifully gooey, buttery and decadent blondies. These are a must!