The BEST blondie recipe lives up to its name! This recipe yields buttery soft cookie bars with vanilla-caramel undertones. It come together quickly, no mixer needed. Include your favorite add-ins (white chocolate, dark chocolate, nuts) or enjoy plain! This carefully tested recipe has been a fan favorite for years and has garnered hundreds of five-star reviews! ⭐️
Actually *Perfect* Blondies
Buttery, soft, chewy, loaded with your favorite add-ins, my blondie recipe is perfectly decadent. With hints of butterscotch, vanilla, and caramel, you won’t miss the chocolate. Serve slightly warm, topped with vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce for a truly indulgent experience.
I spent a great deal of time developing this blondie recipe (you can’t imagine how many batches of not-quite-perfect blondies I had to eat, it’s a tough life 😉) and I finally have the perfect version to share. My recipe includes lots of tips and tricks so you’ll get perfectly soft, chewy and buttery results every time. No dry or cakey blondies here! Let’s get right to it.
Blondie Ingredients
We don’t need to cover everything, but let’s chat a moment about some of our key players:
- Butter. Melted butter is the key to a softer, chewier blondie recipe that stays soft and chewy (it’s also a key ingredient in my best chocolate chip cookie recipe, if you’ve tried that you already know what a game changer it is).
- Sugar. A blend of brown and granulated sugar works best here. The higher ratio of brown sugar works well to impart a deep, rich, and subtly caramel-y flavor that makes these irresistible.
- Eggs. An extra egg yolk contributes to the tender, dense texture of the bar.
- Baking powder. Blondies ought to be dense and leaning toward fudgy territory, but just a pinch of baking powder adds a bit of lightness to the bar so it’s not too dense or difficult to chew. Note that the omission of baking soda is intentional, baking soda would create a lighter airier, and more cakey texture that we’re actively trying to avoid.
- Cornstarch helps make the bars tender and chewy.
- Add-ins (use your favorites!). Truth be told, you can add nothing, no nuts, no chocolate, and you’ll still have a darn good cookie bar. But I prefer to dress things up a bit. White chocolate chips and chopped walnuts are my favorite, but swap out the white chocolate for semisweet or a chopped baking bar, swap out the nuts for a different kind of nut or more chocolate, or if you want to toast your nuts before adding them, that works just fine, too!
For the full recipe and the full measurements, scroll down to the recipe card.
How to Make Blondies
The blondie batter comes together quickly and easily. No mixer needed, no fancy equipment.
Start by melting your butter. It doesn’t need to cool completely, but if it’s still quite hot when you add the butter you can expect your blondies to be a bit greasier on the bottom after baking and to take longer to bake.
Add the sugars, eggs, yolk, and vanilla. Stir it well, but don’t go crazy. Mixing well can help create shiny/crackly tops, but over-doing it could make the blondies a bit cakier than I personally care for them to be. I never use a mixer for this step.
Add the dry ingredients. Always whisk them together separately (to make sure the baking powder and salt are well-distributed through the batter), then stir them into the batter. Once again, don’t go overboard with the mixing. Any add-ins you’re using get stirred in last.
Bake & enjoy. The very edges will turn lightly golden brown and a toothpick should come out clean. A sprinkling of flaky sea salt while they’re still warm is optional, but strongly encouraged 😉. Let the blondies cool completely before you cut into them, otherwise you may panic that you completely underbaked them (you likely didn’t).
Tips & Variations
- When it comes to sugar, a blend is best. For the brown sugar called for in the recipe, you can just use light brown sugar, but I personally prefer a blend of light and dark brown sugar. I don’t care to use all dark brown, though, as I feel it makes things a bit too rich and butterscotch-y.
- Adjust the add-ins. You can add up to 2 cups of your favorite add-ins to this blondie recipe. I listed a mix of chopped walnuts and white chocolate chips in the recipe. I found that this combination provided a nice balance of sweetness and crunch. Feel free to use all walnuts, all chocolate (completely fine to make this recipe nut-free), or swap out some or either of these. A chopped semisweet chocolate bar is quite delicious, in my opinion.
- Pay attention to your pan. A metal pan is best for this recipe and will ensure the quickest and most even baking. If you opt for a glass or ceramic pan, your blondies will almost certainly take longer to bake, and exactly how long will vary. I haven’t tried this blondie recipe in a silicone pan, but am not sure I’d recommend it.
- Brown your butter for a gourmet flavor. Brown 1 cup of butter (you do not need to brown extra to accommodate the lost liquid from browning). You will want to make sure it’s cooled a bit before adding the eggs, so the eggs don’t cook prematurely.
Frequently Asked Questions
Blondies are occasionally referred to as “blonde brownies”. They are made without cocoa powder and without melted chocolate and aspire to a rich, buttery brown-sugar-vanilla flavor rather than a deep chocolate one (so you can expect a higher ratio of brown sugar to granulated here).
White chocolate brownies are closer in nature to brownies than blondies are, while blondies are more similar to chocolate chip cookie bars.
Most often this is due to over-baking. Baking for too long or on too high of a temperature will quickly change the texture from fudgy/borderline gooey to crumbly and dry instead.
Other culprits include accidentally mis-measuring an ingredient, using the wrong kind of flour (you need all-purpose, and please do not use self-rising!), accidentally using baking soda instead of powder, or over-measuring your flour.
First, check your pan. If you used a glass, ceramic, or silicone pan the blondies will take longer to bake, and exactly how much longer can vary greatly depending on the particular material of your pan (some people have needed over 45 minutes to bake!). If you use a smaller pan, even if it’s metal, the blondies will also take longer to bake.
If you substituted or accidentally mis-measured any ingredients, this could also cause this issue.
Wait for the blondies to cool at least mostly before cutting into them, if cut into while warm they’ll look quite underbaked.
If a visual is helpful, see the video in the recipe card for exactly how this blondie recipe look in my kitchen every step of the way.
I’ve been in love with this recipe for years and am so excited for you to try it yourself. If you do, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!
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Best Blondie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter melted
- 1 ¼ cup (250 g) brown sugar firmly packed (see note)
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs + 1 egg yolk room temperature preferred
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cups (285 g) all-purpose flour (note that in the video I accidentally said 2 ½ cups flour, that is incorrect, you only need 2 ¼ cups as written here)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup (115 g) white chocolate chips (see note)
- 1 cup (130 g) chopped walnuts (may omit, see note)
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line a 13×9 metal baking pan with parchment paper (or lightly grease and flour the pan).
- Combine melted butter and sugar in a large bowl and stir well.1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, 1 ¼ cup (250 g) brown sugar, ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- Add eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and stir until completely combined. Set aside.2 large eggs + 1 egg yolk, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt.2 ¼ cups (285 g) all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons cornstarch, ½ teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt
- Gradually stir the dry ingredients into wet until just combined.
- Fold in white chocolate chips and nuts, if using.⅔ cup (115 g) white chocolate chips, 1 cup (130 g) chopped walnuts
- Spread blondie batter into prepared pan and transfer to oven.
- Bake on 350F (175C) for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few fudgy crumbs.
- Allow to cool before cutting and enjoying
Notes
Brown sugar
I like to use half dark and half light brown sugar in this recipe for a perfectly balanced flavor with butterscotch undertones. If you don’t have both, you can use just light brown sugar.Add-ins (nuts & chocolate), and making this recipe nut-free
You can use up to 2 cups of your favorite add-ins, feel free to swap out the white chocolate chips and nuts for your favorite additions (semisweet chocolate chips, pecans, a chopped baking bar, etc.). This recipe can certainly be made nut-free, just swap the nuts for an equal amount of white chocolate chips or your preferred add-in.Pan note
A metal baking pan is recommended. Using a glass, ceramic, silicone, or other material will increase the time needed to bake, sometimes significantly. Please also note that if you opt to use a smaller pan the baking time can be expected to be longer.Storing
Cover tightly (or cut and transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature for up to 4 days. These blondies may also be sliced, tightly wrapped and frozen for several months.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
More Cookie Bars to Try:
Brianna
Delicious recipe. It tastes very buttery and a lot like caramel. It’s very chewy. I can’t wait to try the brownie recipes from this site, I would love a brownie recipe that has the same texture as these blondies.
Sam
So thrilled you enjoyed, Brianna! Have you tried my favorite brownie recipe yet?
Hayley
Hey so mine refused to cook. After 40 mins they were still raw inside. However I’m convinced it’s my fault and so I gave this a 4* cause you shouldn’t suffer for my own stupidity.
I melted the butter and sugar together….was this wrong? 🤔 I struggle to follow recipes for some weird reason.
💛
Sam
Hi Hayley! If you melted the butter and sugar together that would be the problem. The sugar would have also melted, which would change the consistency of the batter and can keep it from baking up properly (much as you described). I would melt the butter first and if it’s very hot even let it cool for several minutes before adding the sugar. I really hope that helps! I do have a video in the recipe that might be helpful to you as well! 🙂
Bernadette
Hi! I made this today gluten free and with cinnamon chips and pecans. I also substituted half the butter for shortening. Smells and tastes so good! Thank you.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Bernadette! 🙂
Genevieve
Hi! I made these today gluten-free with cinnamon chips and pecans. They smell so good. Love your recipes!
Sam
Thank you so much Genevieve! I’m so glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
Jaynee
Such a great recipe! Thank you!!! I used salted butter and kept the salt as the original measurement. We all loved it!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them, Jaynee! 🙂
Suzanne Graham
I only have salted butter. How much should I cut back on the salt?
Sam
Hi Suzanne! In this recipe you will need to cut it by 1/2 teaspoon. If you ever need to know in the future, I have a recipe on substituting salted for unsalted butter. 🙂
Sophie
I made half the recipe, put it in an 8 x 8 metal pan, and it came out perfect! I had a really good recipe many years ago, and lost it, and have tried several since. This worked the best. :-). I am looking forward to trying your other recipes. I’m baking at 7000 ft now, so all my recipes I used at sea level are not working, so it’s like starting all over.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Sophie! 🙂
Jenny
Delicious… I used M&Ms as did not have white chips.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Jenny! 🙂
Sophie
Good idea for when I bake for the grandkids! Thanks!
Jessica
Just made tonight with my daughter. I substituted maple extract and did half semi sweet and half white choc. Everything else remained the same. I wish I had stuck with all white chocolate or even done butterscotch! I did the 2 1/4 cup flour and I feel it ended up too cakey unfortunately. It may be different if I use dark brown sugar vs regular brown sugar. It had great flavor, so I’m going to play around with the measurements. I was looking for more dense buttery bar vs cake.
Sam
I’m glad you enjoyed the flavor, Jessica! I’m sorry to hear it turned out cakey. The most likely cause of this is too much, flour. Make sure to check out my post on how to measure flour so this doesn’t happen again. 🙂
Allie
Hi I don’t have an white chocolate chips would regular chocolate chips not work?
Sam
Hi Allie! Regular chocolate chips will work just fine. 🙂
JoAnn
Hi Sam can I use a 9 x 9 pan for these?
Sam
Hi Joann! You could, but the blondies will be much thicker. Alternatively you could just discard any excess batter so they aren’t too thick. Your baking time will definitely change here too. 🙂
Sophie
How long do these keep for, in the fridge/room temp?
Sam
Hi Sophie! They should last about a week in an air tight container at room temperature. That’s if you don’t eat them all too fast! 😉
Siya
Hi, I have a question. I have an 8×8 tray – do I need to modify the recipe in any way? I’m very new to baking, would appreciate any and all guidance! 🙈
Sam
Hi Siya! An 8 x 8 holds about 40% less batter than the 9 x 13 does. You can reduce the recipe, or just discard any excess batter you may have. Your baking time will definitely be slightly different depending on how thick you make your blondies. Be sure to keep an eye on it while baking so it doesn’t get over-done. 🙂
Sophie
I used an 8 x 8 pan, and made half the recipe, and it came out perfect. 🙂
Priscilla
I loved your blondie recipe! Thank you so much for sharing! If I were to cut down some sugar would that effect the recipe?
It’s a bit sweet for me.
To 3/4 C of brown sugar and 1/4 of granulated sugar. Would these work? 🙂
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Priscilla! I haven’t tried cutting the sugar that much, but I think they’ll still turn out. Let me know how it goes if you try it. 🙂
Sophie
Yes, that will work. 🙂
Sally
They are in the oven now. I didn’t have any walnuts, so used pecans, pistachios and macadamias (used up all the bits and pieces). Can’t wait to try them later!
Sugar Spun Run
I am excited to hear how they turned out! I hope that you enjoy them, Sally! 🙂