Blondies Recipe

Blondies recipe featuring a hearty dose of brown sugar, made entirely in one bowl—no mixer required! You can find a recipe for a small batch or a big batch of blondies below. Everyone loves these chewy blondies with a wafer-thin crispy sugar crust on top!

I am late to the blondie game, spending too much time obsessing over my brownies for two. I worship brownies in any form—oreo brownies, raspberry brownies, peppermint brownies, blackberry cheesecake brownies, and vegan brownies. You get me—rich, dark chocolatey fudge brownies are my love language.

But what happens when you make them without cocoa powder? You get a blonde brownie with rich vanilla flavors!

What’s the difference between blondies and brownies?

Brownies contain cocoa powder and chocolate, while blondies do not. Blondies have the same richness and chew as a brownie, but the flavors are vanilla and brown sugar instead of chocolate. The ingredient list is very similar, minus the chocolate components. You can absolutely add chocolate chips, butterscotch chips or white chocolate chips to these chewy blondies. 

What does a blondie taste like?

A blondie tastes like a dense vanilla, caramel chewy treat. The brown sugar provides the majority of the flavor, so be sure to use dark brown sugar. You can substitute light brown sugar, however, and they will still be delicious.

The incredible part about my blondie recipe is that it develops a wafer-thin crisp sugar crust on top, just like brownies do! Try them once, you'll be hooked!

Are blondies supposed to be gooey?

It’s a bit of personal preference here—I like to under-bake my blondies so they stay gooey on the inside. You can even take it a step further and add a third egg yolk to make them super gooey. 

For the perfect amount of gooey blondie, test the center with a toothpick at 23 minutes—if it has moist crumbs clinging to it and a small amount of wet batter at the bottom, it's perfect. You're still going to let the blondies cool in the pan to continue cooking.

Why are my blondies cakey?

Cakey blondies can be a result of  too much liquid in the batter, over-baking, or under-stirring.

First and foremost, follow the recipe instructions and only add 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk. That means you'll have an extra egg white leftover when making this recipe. Resist the urge to just dump it in—you'll get cakey blondies.

If you need a way to use it, I have recipes that use leftover egg whites.

Over-baking the blondies can make them cakey, unfortunately. To prevent over-baking, insert a toothpick in the very center of the blondies. If it comes out with moist crumbs clinging to it, remove the blondies from the oven. If no crumbs cling to the toothpick, your blondies have been baked too long.

One of the reasons this blondies recipe is special is because it calls  for you to stir the batter for 50 strokes to combine the flour. This extensive stirring activates the gluten in the flour and makes the blondies super chewy! This is the opposite of making cakes--you want to stir cakes as little as possible so they are light and fluffy (and well, cakey!) Cakes and cookie bars are quite opposites, aren't they?

Why are they called blondies?

They’re called blondies because they lack the brown cocoa powder of brownies. They’re blonde with vanilla and brown sugar, not brown.

Are blondies meant to be gooey in the middle?

This could be personal preference, but I say YES! A good blondie should be chewy, gooey in the middle and firm around the edges.

If you want to add an additional egg yolk to this recipe to make the blondies super gooey, you can! Just to clarify, that would be 1 whole egg plus 2 egg yolks. Try it if you like gooey blondies!

Tips for making homemade blondies:

I wanted to share a step by step method for this recipe, because I wanted to show how easy it is! Plus, you can make everything in one bowl!

First, decide if you're making a big batch in an 8" brownie pan or a small batch in a 9" bread loaf pan. Then, follow the recipe below for the batch size that you choose. I'm going to show steps for the big batch below.

I love that this blondie recipe starts with melted butter, because it means I don't have to plan in advance and let butter soften! Melt butter in the microwave, and then add the brown sugar, salt and vanilla. Give it a good stir to dissolve everything.

Next, add the eggs. I'm choosing to add an extra egg yolk to make these blondies super gooey, but if you want regular blondies, use one whole egg plus one egg yolk. For super gooey blondies, add one whole egg plus two egg yolks. Save the egg whites for another recipe!

Finally, add the flour and baking powder. At this point, you can add butterscotch chips, white chocolate chips, regular chocolate chips, or any nuts you like. I frequently add toasted pecans to these blondies.

After baking, let the bars cool in the pan. Then, slice and serve. If you made them in the 8" pan, you get 9 big squares; if you used the bread loaf pan, you get 4--perfect for portion control, right?

They're delicious, either way!

More cookie bars you might like:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

M&Ms Cookie Bars

Twix Cookie Bars

Sugar Cookie Bars