American blondies made with brown butter, dark brown sugar and vanilla, dense and fudgy, with dark chocolate chips scattered over the top.
The pan has been cooling on the rack since lunch, and the whole kitchen still smells of brown butter and vanilla. The edges are amber and a little crisp, while the center stays dense and fudgy beneath the chocolate chips.
The first bite tastes of buttery caramel, with a toasty note that keeps you coming back. You cut one square to taste, then a second just to be sure.
What Is a Blondie?
A blondie is an American bar baked in a pan and cut into squares. Itโs known as the blond cousin of the chocolate brownie: the same dense, fudgy texture, but with no cocoa or melted chocolate in the batter.
Its flavor comes from butter, molasses-rich brown sugar and vanilla, which give it a butterscotch taste, the American take on butter caramel. In this recipe, the butter is first turned into brown butter, and the dark chocolate chips are scattered over the top before baking.
The name simply comes from its golden color. In the mid-20th century, people spoke of โblonde browniesโ or โbutterscotch brownies,โ and then the shorter word โblondiesโ caught on in the 1970s.
The First Brownie Was Blond
The first recipe printed under the name โbrownieโ appeared in 1896 in Fannie Farmerโs cookbook, in Boston. It contained no chocolate: it was a small sweet molasses cake baked in individual molds. Chocolate was expensive for American households at the time, molasses far less so, and that first brownie was much closer to a blondie than to todayโs cocoa square.
In the early 20th century, chocolate became cheap and the chocolate brownie took over completely. The squares made with brown sugar and vanilla were then renamed to set them apart. Today the blondie is part of everyday American cooking, like cinnamon rolls, donuts and pancakes.
The Main Ingredients in Blondies
Unsalted butter is cooked until its milk solids turn golden in the bottom of the saucepan: this brown butter gives blondies their toasty flavor.
American dark brown sugar is soft, moist and loaded with molasses. In France, the closest match is soft dark brown beet sugar, while raw cane sugar, which is drier, makes drier blondies. A little granulated sugar rounds out the sweetness.
The eggs and the extra yolk go into the batter cold, straight from the fridge: they bring down the temperature of the still-warm butter, and the yolk makes the squares softer. Vanilla and sea salt reinforce the caramel flavor. T55 flour, the standard French equivalent of American all-purpose flour, and a little baking powder give just enough structure.
The dark chocolate chips stay on top of the batter. European chocolate often contains fewer stabilizers than American chocolate chips and melts more during baking. A pinch of fleur de sel as they come out of the oven is optional.
Technique Tips for Fudgy Blondies
The brown butter should cool until itโs barely warm before it goes in with the eggs. At first, the mixture resists and tends to separate: keep whisking until thereโs no trace of butter left.
Once the flour is in, stir just until it disappears. The batter is thick, similar to the dough for American cookies, and should be worked as little as possible.
When they come out of the oven, the edges are nicely golden and the center still jiggles: thatโs intentional. The blondies firm up as they cool in the pan for 2 to 3 hours and cut cleanly once cold. They keep for several days in an airtight container. Serve them with a glass of cold milk or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Ingredients
Pan
- Unsalted butter, for greasing the pan
Brown Butter
- 226 g unsalted butter (makes about 182 g of brown butter)
Batter
- 330 g dark brown beet sugar, packed, or soft dark brown sugar
- 50 g granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, cold
- 1 large egg yolk, cold
- 1.5 tablespoons vanilla extract
- 1.5 teaspoons sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 288 g all-purpose flour T55
Topping
- 128 g dark chocolate chips
- Fleur de sel, optional
Instructions
Preparing the Oven and Pan
- Place a rack in the center of the oven.
- Preheat the oven to 175ยฐC.
- Butter a 23 cm square pan.Unsalted butter,
- Line the bottom and two sides of the pan with parchment paper.
Brown Butter
- Put the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan.226 g unsalted butter
- Melt the butter over medium heat.
- Once the butter has melted, turn the heat up to medium-high.
- Stir constantly, without taking your eyes off the pan.
- As soon as small golden specks settle on the bottom of the pan and the butter is nicely golden, take the pan off the heat.
- Immediately pour the butter into a medium heatproof bowl, scraping in all the brown bits from the bottom.
- Let the brown butter cool until it is close to room temperature, or slightly warm at most.
Batter
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl with a whisk, combine the brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, egg yolk, vanilla and salt.330 g dark brown beet sugar,, 50 g granulated sugar, 2 large eggs,, 1 large egg yolk,, 1.5 tablespoons vanilla extract, 1.5 teaspoons sea salt
- Beat on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until the mixture is thick, lighter in color and smooth.
- Add the cooled brown butter.
- Whisk until the butter is fully incorporated: at first, the mixture resists and tends to separate, so keep going until there is no trace of butter left.
- On low speed, add the baking powder and mix for 30 seconds.1 teaspoon baking powder
- Add the flour.288 g all-purpose flour
- Mix on low speed just until the flour disappears.
- With a spatula, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl one last time so that no pockets of flour remain.
- Don’t overmix: the batter is thick, like cookie dough.
Baking
- Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.
- Smooth the top with the back of a spoon or an offset spatula, without aiming for perfection.
- Scatter the chocolate chips over the top.128 g dark chocolate chips
- Bake in the center of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes.
- Take the pan out when the edges are golden brown, the top has puffed up slightly and the center still jiggles a little.
- Sprinkle with fleur de sel, if desired.Fleur de sel,
Cooling and Cutting
- Set the pan on a wire rack.
- Let cool completely in the pan, 2 to 3 hours: straight out of the oven, the blondies look underbaked, but they firm up as they cool.
- For even cleaner cuts, then refrigerate the pan for a few hours.
- Cut into 12 squares, or 9, with a very sharp knife.
- Wipe the blade clean and dry it between each cut.
