This is the best chewy blondie recipe! Buttery, soft, and simple to make (no mixer required!) I think you’re going to really love these!
This recipe is very similar to my well-loved chocolate chip cookie bars and is every bit as good! My Blondies recipe includes options for mixing in chopped nuts or white chocolate chips, but these cookie bars taste just as good without any add-ins at all. Be sure to check out my how-to video at the bottom of the recipe!
Thank goodness I had this easy blondie recipe planned to share today!
If you’ve been following my Instagram stories you already know that Zach and I are fostering three 7-week old puppies. They are the cutest, goofiest, fluffballs I’ve ever seen, but they’re also exhausting, so excuse me if a few of my sentences are a little incoherent today. Bonus puppy pics at the bottom of the post!
But back to the blondies.
Buttery, soft, chewy, loaded with your favorite add-ins, these cookie bars are packed with flavor and they are the perfect easy snack when you need a dessert in a pinch. Fortunately today’s recipe is super simple because I don’t know that I’d have the brainpower to focus on anything even mildly complex right now, but I do have a few tips and other info I want to share with you.
What is the Difference Between a Blondie and a Brownie?
The main difference between a blondie and a brownie is the chocolate.
Blondies are occasionally referred to as “blonde brownies”. They are made without cocoa powder and aspire to a rich vanilla flavor rather than a deep chocolate one. Blondies are also often made with brown sugar, and while I do use brown sugar in my brownies, the flavor has a more noticeable affect in the blondies (more on that below).
Here’s my favorite brownie recipe if you’re in the mood for something chocolatey!
Tips for Making Blondies
- You can use all light brown sugar, all dark brown sugar, or a combination of the two for this blondie recipe. I like to use half light and half dark. Keep in mind that if you use all dark brown sugar your blondies will have a richer, sweeter taste and a more moist texture.
- Melting the butter for this recipe gives the blondies a buttery taste and a soft, chewy texture. I much prefer melting the butter to creaming my butter and sugar when making blondies and cookies for this very reason (I do the same thing with my chocolate chip cookies).
- The extra egg yolk and the cornstarch are also key ingredients for making these blondies soft and chewy. I talked a lot about why I use cornstarch in my recent pumpkin bar recipe, if you want more information on that!
- 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. Of course, you can also leave the add-ins out completely!
Alright, well I have two puppies pulling on my shoelaces right now and another that’s determined to devour my couch, so I’m off to take care of that. Enjoy!
More Cookie Bars You Might Like
How to Make Homemade Blondies
Be sure to check out my Blondie Recipe VIDEO just below the recipe! If you enjoy these videos, please consider subscribing to my YouTube Channel so you can be the first to see all of my cooking videos <3
Best Blondie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter melted
- 1 ¼ cup (250 g) brown sugar* tightly packed
- ½ cup (100 g) 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
- 1 cup (130 g) chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line a 13x9 pan with parchment paper**
- 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) 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 dry ingredients into wet until completely 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
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.
Foster Puppy Bonus Pics!
Piper, Paula, and Paul (we didn’t name them!) are available for adoption through the rescue that Zach and I volunteer for: For the Love of Dogs Rescue.
Chelsea
I absolutely love your recipe I’ve made it several times. I was thinking…. I made some homemade caramel. Could I swirl it into the batter or drizzle on top before baking? Would it mess it up..
Sam
Hi Chelsea! I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed it so much! Without having tried the caramel myself, I can’t say for sure how it would turn out. If you do try it I would love to know how it goes. 🙂
Kendra
Do you by chance have a butter substitute that you would recommend to make this dairy free?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Kendra! We don’t have experience with dairy-free baking, but we have had a reader successfully make this recipe with Earth Balance soy-free spread. Hope that helps!
Mercy
The blondies were delish 😋. I’ve been wanting an alternative to fudgy brownies and a little something to satisfy my sweetooth. I also want to say that if you don’t want an arm workout you can use the paddle setting on the mixer. I don’t know if it was just me put my blondies looker a bit raw but it tasted fine, this is all I want to say. THEY WERE DELISH!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed them, Mercy! 🩷
Diane Schmidtke
Could the mix work for 2 8×8 inch pans?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
That should work fine! Enjoy, Diane 😊
Megan
Yum! I used butterscotch chips. Easy peasy, and I was asked for the recipe multiple times.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yum! We are so happy they were a hit, Megan 🥰
Tim
I want to use this recipe as part of a multi-layer brookie bar and I will be using an 3″ deep 8″ X 8″ pan. What would you suggest as a possible baking time given this pan size and depth? Thank you
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Tim! If you halve the recipe, it should fit in your pan. Unfortunately, we haven’t baked this recipe in that size pan, so we can’t advise on a bake time 🙁
Tim
Thank you!
Heather
“Best Blondies Ever!” The words spoken by my husband who is a blondie snob – lol, they are his favorite. So many possibilities of add-ins or leave them plain; I used white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts, baked for 30 minutes in an 11×7 pan for extra think blondies. Thanks for sharing your recipe, it’s a keeper!!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy our recipe was a winner, Heather! We appreciate you coming back to leave a review ❤️
Jennifer S.
Would these be good with butterscotch chips instead of white chocolate chips?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We think that sounds tasty! 😋
Saisha
Awesome recipe! They came out perfect, first try! This is my family’s new favorite homemade treat!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Wonderful! Thanks for trying our recipe, Saisha! ❤️
hannah
so good
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re happy you enjoyed them Hannah 🥰
Sonya
Brown the butter, use toasted hazelnuts and dark chocolate chunks. Sublime!
Kelsey
Hi, Megan! Love all of your recipes, first time poster. I am wanting to make a lemon blackberry Blondie going off your incredible base. I am going to make sure the liquids don’t change much, since I am sort of mashing two recipes together and hoping for the best. I am concerned about too much sugar once I add in the blackberries. Do you have any suggestions adding fruit to your blondies? Thank you so much!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Kelsey! Unfortunately we haven’t tried adding fruit to this recipe, so we can’t say what alterations would be needed 🙁
Sally A Russell
So delicious and pretty easy to make, I love how the ingredients are under the directions so you don’t have to constantly scroll back up, it’s so thoughtful! Love the recipe!
Beatrix
I swapped the white chocolate for caramel chips, nixed the nuts, and added a bunch of rainbow sprinkles, and I will fully admit I caved to my evil side and ate the “ugly” one that fell apart when cutting. So so sooooo good. Such a good deep brown-sugar-vanilla flavor in the batter. I’d love to eat some more, but I GUESS I’ll save them for my friends at the party tomorrow…
Thank you for the recipe. Definitely will save it and try more mix-ins and maybe experiment with other flavors besides vanilla.
Sam
can you double this and bake it on a cookie sheet?
Sam
Hi Sam! I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure how it would turn out. I would make sure to not overfill your pan and just keep an eye on it as it bakes. 🙂
Angie
just tried this – used peanut butter chips instead of white chocolate. gives it that salty sweetness. my husband prefers this to a chocolate brownie. will be saving recipe to cook again!!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yum! Thanks for sharing, Angie 😋
KikiNSeattle
Great recipe! As usual, I like to put my own twist on things so here are the substitutions I made:
1 T. Summer Blonde Whiskey instead of vanilla
Pecans instead of walnuts
Butterscotch chips in addition to white chocolate chips.
They turned out fantastic!
Hannah
I’ve made these blondies twice, and they’re absolutely delicious! I love adding strawberries as well!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Love that idea! Thanks for sharing, Hannah 😊
Kaia Readhead
Amazing and so easy to make
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so glad you enjoyed the blondies, Kaia! Thanks for the review ❤️
Alli M
This is the best blonde recipe of all times!! I was able to make them with no trouble following the recipe!! I used all dark brown sugar bcuz that’s all I had in hand, and I waited for like 4 hours for the eggs to get room temp (I didn’t check them in between those 4 hours, maybe the wait time could be in the recipe for beginners like me?!) and my hubby likes them (he don’t have a sweet tooth like me) and I love them so much I’m about to make some more!! Thanks Sam for your very yummy and easy to follow recipes!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Alli! We’re so happy you enjoyed them. Next time, follow our trick to quickly bring eggs to room temperature–it will save you a lot of time 🥰
Lorraine C Liggera
For bringing eggs to room temperature, just take them out of the refrigerator, put them into a bowl and cover with warm water. It should only take about 10 minutes.
Ruth Halsall
Did you use granulated as well as the mixed of light and dark brown sugar?
Carol
Hi, was making this again and saw your review. I put my cold eggs first thing in a bowl of really warm water and they are room temp by the time I need them. Maybe you could try this, it works for me.