Best Blondie Recipe (one bowl!) Recipe

Name: Best Blondie Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 55 min
Ingredients: ½ cup unsalted butter, melted ((one stick)); 1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar; 1 large egg, lightly beaten; 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract; 1 cup all-purpose flour; ½ teaspoon baking powder; ¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Simple to make, this scrumptious blondie recipe is sure to be a favorite. Gooey blondies melt in your mouth with buttery caramel flavor. Try them today!

Recipe Overview

Why you’ll love it: These blondies are a classic treat and are so easy to make.

How long it takes: 10 minutes to prep, 25 minutes to bake
Equipment you’ll need: 8-inch square pan, mixing bowl, oven
Servings: 12

Blondies stacked three high with parchment between each.

I’m a blondie fan. No, I’m not talking about Blondie, the popular American rock band. Blondie brownies!

Today’s blondie recipe is a classic. Today I’m bringing you the purist version: straight up blondies. I know you’re going to love them, no frills, perfect just the way they are.

Overhead view of blondies on a white background.

You’ll Love These Blondies!

Blond, but not boring! Have you ever tried a blondie? You may think a brownie without chocolate is missing something essential and would be kind of unexciting. Not true! These gooey treats are pretty much irresistible and not boring at all. Without the chocolate, the caramel flavors of butter, brown sugar, and vanilla shine through.

Super duper easy! This blondie recipe is almost embarrassingly easy to make. I bet you have all the ingredients you need to make this recipe right now. It will take you about 5 minutes to whip them up, all in one bowl, and the blondies bake in less than a half hour. Bar cookies are so easy and delicious!

Customize them. If you take a look at my recipe files, you’ll see that I’m kind of crazy about blondies. One of my most popular and requested recipes is for these chocolate chip blondies. You’ll also love raspberry white chocolate blondies, and snickerdoodle bars (cinnamon sugar blondies). And then there’s the super easy cake mix blondies. You can whip those up in less than five minutes and make them festive with lots of sprinkles. They’re very fun! Sweet/tart lemon brownies are basically blondies with lemon added.

Ingredient Notes

Butter: Normally unsalted butter is what you need for baking and that’s just what you need for this recipe. If you only have salted butter, omit the added salt. Since the butter is melted for this recipe, you don’t have to worry about softening it ahead of time.
Brown Sugar: Use either light or dark brown sugar, it doesn’t matter. Dark brown sugar has a deeper molasses flavor.
Egg: Just one egg is all you need.
Pure Vanilla Extract: Choose a good vanilla, not imitation vanilla. It’s one of the main flavorings in the blondies so you wouldn’t want to skimp.
All-Purpose Flour: Make sure you spoon the flour lightly into a dry measure measuring cup so the flour is accurately measured.
Baking Powder: Baking powder is added for for a bit of leavening so your blondies aren’t too dense.
Salt: Just a pinch of salt keeps the blondies from tasting flat.

Ingredients needed for recipe, each in a separate bowl.

How To Make Blondies

Prep work. Preheat your oven and prepare an 8 inch square baking pan by lining it with parchment paper and spraying it lightly with cooking spray. I usually give the pan a light spray before putting in the parchment paper so the paper stays put. Leave little “wings” of paper on two sides so it’s easy to lift the blondies out of the pan to cut them.

Melt the butter. I usually use my microwave oven. Place the butter in the mixing bowl you’re using and melt it at 50 percent power, thirty seconds at a time, stirring well each time.

Add sugar. Add the brown sugar to the butter and blend them together.

Add egg and vanilla.

Stir in dry ingredients. Top this mixture with the flour, baking powder and salt, and mix it all together until the batter is just combined.

Dry ingredients added to wet ingredients.

Bake. Spread the batter (it will be thick) into a pan, even it out, and pop it in the oven to bake. Just wait for the delicious smells to come wafting out. Wasn’t that easy?

Bet you can hardly wait to try them! Your house will smell like a bakery.

Cut into squares. When the blondies come out of the oven, let them cool a bit before lifting them out of the pan, using the parchment paper handles. I place the blondies right on a cutting board and use a large knife to cut them.

Is It A Blondie Or A Brownie?

What’s the difference? Blondies are blonde brownies, that is, brownies without the dark brown cocoa. Instead of chocolate, blondies get their rich caramel flavor simply from butter, brown sugar, and vanilla.

FAQs

Are blondies supposed to be gooey?

Ideally, blondies should have much the same texture as a brownie, crisp on the outside and chewy in the middle. Don’t overbake them. If you use a larger pan than 8 x 8 inches (we don’t recommend this), they won’t need as much time to bake. Take them out of the oven when they look slightly underdone in the middle. They will continue to cook a bit even after you take them out.

Why are they called blondies?

Apparently they started out as blonde brownies, that is, brownies without cocoa which gives them a dark brown (brunette?) color. That name was soon shortened to blondies.

What’s the difference between a blondie and a cookie?

A blondie is a cookie bar which is usually softer than a cookie and cut into squares. A cookie bar is sort of a halfway mix between cookies and cake. If you like cookie bars, try vanilla bean cookie bars or frosted Oreo cookie bars.

Recipe Variations

Blondies are pretty delicious just the way they are but if you’re looking for ways to make this recipe your own, here are a few ideas.

Stir in ideas: Add butterscotch chips to enhance the caramel flavor of blondies. White chocolate chips are good, too. Try colorful jimmies, M&Ms, Reese’s Pieces, or another candy you like.
Add nuts. Stir in toasted walnuts, pecans, or hazelnuts. Toasting the nuts first greatly enhances their flavor and is easy to do.
Make them whole wheat. Replace half or all of the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour.
Turn blondies into a dessert. Blondies are considered a bar type of cookie but they can be a delicious, easy-to-make dessert too. Put a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of a blondie and drizzle caramel sauce over it all. Try this homemade caramel sauce or bourbon caramel sauce. Sprinkle on spiced pecans or vanilla bean candied walnuts for an extra flavorful dessert.

Blondies stacked by a small jug of milk.

Storage Tips

After the blondies have completely cooled, cut into squares and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days on the counter, a week in the fridge, or 3 months in the freezer.

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