Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Sweet with butterscotch notes and lots of chocolate deliciousness mixed in.
Texture: Thick, chewy, gooey, and rich.
Ease: Super easy! One bowl recipe with no mixer required and ready to enjoy in just 45 minutes.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe: That crinkly crust studded with chocolate chips and a sprinkling of flaky salt is simply irresistible.
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This is one of my husband’s FAVORITE recipes. He requests it constantly.
I designed this recipe to be a little more thick and chewy than your average blondie, with just a touch of gooey-ness right at the center.
You’re an hour away from enjoying the butterscotch flavor of brown sugar + butter with the chewy texture of a brownie. You may already have all the ingredients on hand.
What Makes Cookies Chewy, Crisp, or Cakey?
My free guide reveals the ingredients and tweaks that matter.
Feeling creative? You can easily omit the chocolate chips or replace them with candy, nuts, butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips, or anything else your heart desires.
I have several other scrumptious Blondie Recipes on my site – like my Easter Blondies made with Cadbury mini eggs, my Caramel Pecan Blondies loaded with gooeyness, or my Peanut Butter S’mores Blondies that are pure PB heaven.
But you’ll want to come back to this classic blondie recipe again and again. To the point where you may even have it memorized one day!
My tip? they’re even better with a glass of milk or a scoop of ice cream on top.
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make Blondies
What Is A Blondie? What is the Difference Between Blondies and Brownies?
Blondies are basically “blonde brownies.” There is no cocoa or melted chocolate in the batter of a Blondie. Instead, Blondies are made with brown sugar for a rich butterscotch flavor and plenty of vanilla extract for a wonderful vanilla flavor.
In my book, a good Blondie is gooey, chewy, and a little fudgy.
Do I Have to Use Brown Sugar?
Brown sugar is essential to a traditional blondie. You can also use dark brown sugar if you want a bolder butterscotch flavor and a bit of extra chewiness.
Here’s what to do if you’re out of brown sugar:
- Make your own DIY Brown Sugar. If you’ve got white sugar and molasses on hand, simply make your own brown sugar. You will need 1 ½ cups (300 grams) white granulated sugar + 2 tablespoons molasses.
If you want to experiment with reducing the sugar, start with only a fifteen percent reduction to avoid making the blondies dry and cakey. Read more about the role of sugar in baking here.
The Key to Perfectly Baked Blondies: A Metal Baking Pan!
This recipe yields thick, rich blondies, so it’s important to use a pan that conducts heat effectively, like my favorite from USA Pan.
Avoid glass or ceramic pans because they will take far longer to bake. This often leads to the center being undercooked, gummy, and slightly sunken by the time the edges start to dry out.
Check out comparison below, where I baked this recipe at the same temperature for the same time in the same oven.
Though the differences weren’t quite as dramatic as with our brownie testing, you can see the glass pan blondies are more gooey and underdone in the center.
What if I Don’t Have a Metal Pan?
If you must use glass or ceramic, drop the baking temperature by about 15°F and increase the baking time by 5-10 minutes.
How to Customize Blondies
You can use any type of chocolate chip or any other mix-in that’s similar in size and shape to customize this Blondie Recipe.
Just keep the volume or weight about the same as written in the recipe. I don’t recommend adding anything wet, like fresh fruits – but here are some other ideas to customize this recipe to your personal taste:
- Milk, dark or white chocolate chips (or a mix of all three!)
- Homemade toffee bits
- Butterscotch chips
- Peanut butter chips
- Chopped, lightly toasted nuts (pecans or walnuts are my favorite!)
- Any baking chocolate or candy bar, chopped into small chunks
- M&Ms
- Dried fruit, like chopped cherries or raisins, or even dehydrated berries
How Do You Know When Blondies Are Done Baking?
I worked with recipe testers to test this recipe in four different ovens across the country. What I learned? Baking time will depend entirely on your oven AND your preferred level of doneness.
Here are a few tips for achieving your version of perfect Blondies:
- Baking time: 25 – 28 minutes was perfect for a more soft and gooey center, while 30 to 35 minutes resulted in a more firm center and more golden edges.
- Visual cues: Blondies are done baking when the middle is just slightly jiggly and shiny on top, but the edges look solidified. Be careful not to overbake or they will become dry and crumbly.
- Remember: residual heat will continue to cook the Blondies. Even if they seem just slightly underdone in the center, remove the Blondies from the oven. They’ll solidify more as they cool. Please note that it is normal if the center dips slightly after cooling, which is more likely to happen with a glass pan.
- Too gooey? Rest overnight. If your Blondies are still a little gooey for your liking after they’ve cooled, let them sit on a cooling rack overnight, lightly covered with plastic wrap. This period of time will help them solidify even more.
- Oven temperature: Also, be sure your oven is actually at the temperature it says it is. Learn more about that in my Oven 101 article, and if you don’t have an oven thermometer, now’s the time!
Blondie Baking FAQs
Why use an egg + egg yolk?
The extra yolk provides richness for a chewier texture – so don’t skip it! Be sure your eggs are at room temperature, and use large eggs (not medium or extra-large – your large eggs should be about 56 grams in shell).
Why Are My Blondies Hard? Why Are My Blondies Dry? Why Are My Blondies Cakey?
The answer to all of these questions is likely the same simple mistake: incorrect measuring of ingredients.
If you are not measuring your ingredients with a digital kitchen scale, you could accidentally be adding too much flour, causing hard, dry, or cake-like Blondies. Learn more about how to measure ingredients correctly here!
The other reason your blondies could be turning out too dry or hard is likely that they’re overbaked. Learn how to tell when your blondies are done baking below.
Should Blondies be Gooey?
A little bit, yes! Overbaked Blondies are basically a dry, hard cookie bar.
Can I Double This Blondie Recipe?
Yes! Just double all ingredients and bake it in a 9×13-inch metal baking pan and add a few minutes to the baking time.
Storage: How Long Are Blondies Good For?
You can store the Blondies for up to 3 days at room temperature or up to a week in the fridge. If storing for more than a day, wait to slice into bars until you’re ready to serve to prevent stale edges.
You can also freeze Blondies (as a whole slab or sliced) for up to 3 months. Store wrapped in plastic wrap and inside an airtight container. Thaw overnight at room temperature. You can then refresh in a 325°F oven for about 5 to 10 minutes, if desired.
Blondies Recipe
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Ingredients
- 1 1/2 sticks (170 grams) unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 cups (300 grams) light brown sugar
- 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups (191 grams) all-purpose flour,
measured correctly - 1 3/4 cups (281 grams) mix-ins of your choice, such as chocolate chips or nuts, divided
- Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8 by 8-inch metal pan* with foil or parchment paper. Spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, heat the butter in 30-second increments until melted. Add the sugar to the hot butter and whisk to combine. Let cool until just warm.
- Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and whisk vigorously until smooth. Stir in the salt, baking powder, and flour with a rubber spatula. Gently stir in 1 1/2 cups (255 grams) of the mix-ins.
- Evenly spread the batter into the prepared pan. Top with remaining mix-ins.
- For an ooey-gooey center, bake until the edges are lightly golden but the center still jiggles slightly, about 25 minutes. For a firmer center, bake until the edges are golden brown and the center is lightly golden and set, 30-35 minutes. Set pan on wire rack and allow to cool before cutting. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt before serving.
- Store for up to 3 days at room temperature or up to a week in the fridge. If storing for more than a day, wait to slice into bars until you’re ready to serve to prevent stale edges.
Recipe Notes
The Ultimate Cookie Handbook
Learn the sweet SCIENCE of cookie baking in a fun, visual way to customize your own recipes frustration-free. Plus, my best 50+ homemade cookies!
This recipe was originally published in 2010 and updated in 2023 with new photos and recipe improvements. Photos by Joanie Simon.
Everything was going very well until I added the chocolate chips in. Before, the batter looked pristine and perfect……! The chocolate chips started to melt and make the batter a darker color. The consistency also changed, no longer being thick and smooth but plain weird. It looked oily and almost as if it were separating. There should be a note to let the batter cool fully before putting the add ins. I’m really disappointed.
A good trick to avoid chocolate chips melting into warm batter is to measure out and put the chips in the freezer before you start. Then take them out only when required to mix in. This was they stay firm and whole, even when cooking.
Oh no, you must have missed reading the last sentence in step #2! After you melt the butter and mix in the sugar, you let the mixture cool until just warm. Using hot butter would definitely alter the results. I hope you give this recipe another try, let us know how it goes!
I’m curious. What difference does melting the butter make? I usually cream room temperature butter with the sugar and vanilla until it gets pale and fluffy🙂
Hi Patty, for blondies we typically want a denser, richer texture. Melting the butter allows us to achieve this quickly and easily! If you were to cream the butter and sugar in this recipe, the texture would be more cakey instead.
Taste is good, but after baking for 30 minutes, the center was still doughy and undercooked… I had to put it back in the oven. I used a glass pan because I had no metal ones so I think thats why 🙁
You’re absolutely right, Damien. Glass pans take longer to heat up and cook, which is why the center of your blondies wasn’t fully baked. If you use a glass pan, you’ll need to make adjustments in order to achieve similar results of a metal pan. With glass pans, drop the temperature by about 15°F and increase the baking time by 5-10 minutes. That will allow the center of the blondies to bake more evenly and not be underdone. I’m happy the taste was still good! Try those adjustments next time to see if it helps and let us know. Good luck!
This is hands down the best Blondies recipe I’ve ever tried, and I’ve made several. This one was so popular, I keep having to make more, so I decided to make a double batch. I didn’t use salt because of low salt diets and they were still excellent.
Sooo good! I can’t have chocolate right now (sensitive breastfed baby) so I used walnuts and diced apples instead. 1 cup apples and 3/4 cup walnuts. Needed a bit more baking time but they’re perfect!
Ps. If I used chocolate I would probably need to take the sugar down a notch, because the batter is pretty sweet. But the nuts balanced it perfectly.
Made these and they smell amazing but taste too sugary for me, feel like I taste all the sugar in the recipe. It has made them really chewy though
Feel like I missed something out the recipe but I didn’t, what else could I have done wrong?
Hi Leanne! I’m sorry to hear that these Blondies didn’t turn out as they should! Without having baked alongside you, it’s difficult to say exactly what went wrong here – but here are a few of the possible culprits:
– How do you measure your ingredients? By volume (using cups), or by weight (using a digital kitchen scale)? When measuring by volume, it’s so easy to mismeasure ingredients and throw off the entire chemistry of a recipe. Check out Tessa’s article here, where she talks about how to measure ingredients correctly to ensure accuracy every time.
– Another option is to incorporate darker chocolate chips or a chopped chocolate bar (i.e bittersweet or even unsweetened) into the blondie batter. The bitterness of dark chocolate can effectively balance out the sweetness in some recipes, without ruining the delicious texture!
– I also recommend enjoying these Blondies chilled. I love the fudgy texture this creates, but I also feel like it somehow balances the sweetness and allows the flavors to fully incorporate and balance better.
Hopefully something here helps, and I hope you’ll give these Blondies another try – they really are delicious! Happy Baking 🙂
Super easy recipe to double. Added chocolate chips and pecans. Served hot with Dutch honey and a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. So good!!
Absolutely Delicious! I made them with 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate bits and 3/4 cup chopped walnuts. I couldn’t wait and cut them when they were slightly warm. I took a bite and gave my husband the rest of the piece. He looked at me and said, “OMG…these are unbelievable”. Plus, it’s a very easy recipe to throw together. One bowl, no mixer!
I made this with gluten free flour(i used mocaf :modified cassava flour, GF that i had in my kitchen) but i cut it to 170gr cause mocaf absorbed more liquid than AP Flour.. and I also use coconut sugar and cut it to 220gr because i prefer less sweet and it turn out great.. thank you😍
I make these every week and they’re by far the best Blondie recipe I ever tried. Absolutely foolproof and totally delicious. I make a double recipe and extend the bake time to 42 minutes. Superb!
Best blondie recipe I’ve tried, and best I’ve ever eaten! I even sent a piece to someone in Sri Lanka, even after 9 weeks traveling it was still good!
Would this recipe be good with marshmallows?💓
Hi Sophia! We haven’t tested this recipe with marshmallows, but it should work just fine with any mix-ins you like. Just be sure to keep the volume or weight about the same as the blondie recipe as written. Hope this helps, and let us know how it goes!