This rich, buttery blondie recipe is incredibly easy to make, with no mixer required! These blondies are packed with flavor without being overly sweet and have the perfect chewy texture. Using pantry staples, they come together super quick and are the perfect go-to treat when you need a sweet fix!
What’s the Difference Between a Brownie and a Blondie?
A blondie is a type of dessert/cookie bar that is similar to a brownie but has a vanilla and brown sugar base instead of cocoa, giving it a lighter color and a caramel flavor. Its sometimes referred to as a ‘blonde brownie’.
Blondies are rich, chewy, and buttery, and often feature mix-ins like white or semi-sweet chocolate chips and nuts. My favorite add-ins are white chocolate chips and walnuts (which is what I use in this recipe!), but you could use pecans, macadamia nuts, shredded coconut, peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips or even fruits/berries like cranberries, raspberries, cherries, etc.
Blondies are easy to make, require simple ingredients and are super customizable. You can even brown the butter in blondies and make brown butter blondies for a bit of extra flavor!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Not Too Sweet
When developing this recipe, I wanted to make sure the blondies were super flavorful, but not cloyingly sweet. I often find that desserts that have white chocolate in them (like many traditional blondie recipes do) are overly sweet. It may just be a personal preference of mine to prefer less sweet blondies, but I did get many taste testers to try them and they agreed that the less sweet version tasted better! 🙂
To ensure the blondies weren’t too sweet, I reduced the amount of sugar, but added in more butter to make up for the lack of moisture in the batter. I also added in more vanilla (this recipe uses a full 3 teaspoons – but trust me it’s totally worth it!) to make sure the lack of sweetness didn’t result in a lack of flavor.
Soft and Chewy
A classic blondie should be soft and chewy, and this blondie recipe does not disappoint!
If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you know just how much I love cornstarch. Cornstarch is my secret ingredient whenever I want something to be super soft (check out this blog post to read more about the science behind it). Many blondie recipes do use a bit of cornstarch, however I wanted to amp up the softness and opted to substitute a larger amount of the all purpose flour with cornstarch (not just a tablespoon or so, but a full 1/4 cup!). Did this work? ABSOLUTELY! The blondies are super soft, yet still have great structure.
I also played around with the cooking time to ensure I got the perfect texture. I found that when I let the blondies cook until a ‘toothpick came out clean’, they were often a little too cakey for my liking. To get that perfect chewy/fudgy texture, I found that cooking the blondies until the top was set and when a toothpick inserted into the centre came out with a little bit of undercooked batter, was just right!
How to Make Blondies
Preheat oven to 180 °C (350°F) and line an 8×8 inch baking pan with parchment paper.
Sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Using a whisk or fork, mix until well combined and set aside.
Roughly chop the white chocolate (if using a block) and walnuts. Set aside.
In a large bowl add in light brown sugar and melted butter. Using a whisk, mix until well combined. Avoid overmixing as we don’t want to incorporate too much air into the batter. If the butter is hot, let it cool slightly before moving on to the next step.
Add in eggs and vanilla extract or essence, and stir until well combined – avoid overmixing. Get any batter off the whisk as the rest of the mixing will be done with a spatula.
Add in the presifted dry ingredients into the wet mixture and using a spatula, fold until just combined. Do not overmix.
Next add in the white chocolate and walnuts and fold until just combined. Do not overmix.
Distribute the batter evenly into the prepared metal pan. Level the top and drop the cake tin lightly on the counter to remove any large air bubbles.
Bake for 28-30 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned and set and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out with a little bit of undercooked batter on the tip. If you use a glass pan to bake the blondies, it may take a little longer to cook.
Allow the blondies to cool in the cake tin for about 45 minutes to set, before lifting them out using the parchment paper. Slice and serve!
Commonly Asked Questions
How do you store blondies?
Once the blondies are completely cool, store in an airtight container for up to 3 days. They can then be placed into the fridge for up to a week.
Can you freeze blondies?
In general, blondies do freeze well. Wrap them well in cling wrap and place into an airtight container before freezing. It’s important to keep in mind what mix-ins you have before freezing to ensure your blondies don’t become soggy when you thaw them.
Can I use dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar?
You can use dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar, but keep in mind that your blondies will be slightly sweeter and will have a more moist and fudgy texture.
Easy Blondies Recipe
Print Pin VideoIMPORTANT: For accuracy, I would recommend using the gram measurements provided, as those are the exact quantities I use. Cup measurements are given as estimates (based on US cup measurements) to make it easier for those who do not have a scale.
Ingredients
- 1¾ cups (210 g) all purpose flour
- ¼ cup (30 g) cornstarch
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp salt - omit if using salted butter
- ¾ cup (130 g) white chocolate - cut into small chunks, or you can use white chocolate chips too (see note 1)
- ¾ cup (75 g) walnuts - roughly chopped. You can substitute with pecans, macadamia nuts or any other mix-in you prefer.
- 1⅓ cups (266 g) light soft brown sugar - firmly packed (see note 2)
- 1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter - melted
- 2 large eggs - room temperature
- 3 tsps vanilla essence/extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 °C (350°F) conventional (see note 3 if using a convection oven with a fan) and line an 8x8 inch cake pan with parchment paper.
- Sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Using a whisk or fork, mix until well combined and set aside.
- Roughly chop the white chocolate (if using a block) and walnuts. Set aside.
- In a large bowl add in sugar and melted butter. Using a whisk, mix until well combined. Avoid overmixing as we don't want to incorporate too much air into the batter. If the butter is hot, let it cool slightly before moving on to the next step.
- Add in eggs and vanilla and mix until well combined - avoid overmixing. Get any batter off the whisk as the rest of the mixing will be done with a spatula.
- Add in the presifted dry ingredients into the wet mixture and using a spatula, fold until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Next add in the white chocolate and walnuts and fold until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Distribute the batter evenly into the prepared cake tin. Level the top and drop the cake tin lightly on the counter to remove any large air bubbles.
- Bake for 28-30 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned and set and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out with a little bit of undercooked batter on the tip (see note 4).
- Allow the blondies to cool in the cake tin for about 45 minutes to set, before lifting them out using the parchment paper. Slice and serve!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information are estimates only as they are automatically calculated by a third party application. Actual values may differ based on brands and types of products used.
39 Comments
These sounded perfect on paper but came out, for lack of a better word, very one note with not enough depth of flavour. It felt like it could do with some spice like cinnamon or better still replacing half of the white chocolate with dark or semi sweet chocolate. Considering how unique the recipe is I will definitely experiment with it a bit till it hits the perfect notes!
Hi, I tried the recipe , Alhamdulillah it turned out well.
Thank you very much
So glad to hear that Zaneema! 😀
Great recipe! Just made a second time. My whole family loves these.
Awesome! So happy to hear that Emily 😀
Hi, gd day. Can I use dark chocolate instead as I don’t have white chocolate.. Is it okay?
Hi Melodee! Yes that should work fine 🙂
Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Hi MK! Thank you for this beautiful recipe. If I wanted to omit chocolate and walnuts and add peanut butter instead, to make them peanut butter blondies, how much peanut butter would I need to add?
Hi Maryam! 🙂
I haven’t tried peanut butter myself so I’m not too sure what would be a good amount sorry! I would recommend maybe using the peanut butter as a swirl on the top as opposed to mixing it into the batter completely in case it affects the texture of the blondie significantly. Hope that helps and would love to hear how it goes if you decide to try it out 🙂
Omg this recipe is a perfection!!!
It came out flawless. Chewy and it gets even better by the end if the day.
One question, the nutrition is aprox per piece?
Aww yay! So glad you loved the recipe Sija 😀
Yes the nurtrition is per piece 🙂
Thankyou for your delicious receipes
You’re so welcome Rashida! So glad you’re enjoying the recipes 😀
This was my first time baking blondies and this recipe was just so good! I browned the butter and added dark chocolate chips to balance the sweetness fr me ! These were so yum and dense . Love!!
Aww yay! So so happy to hear you loved the blondies Saara! Brown butter would have made these eeeextra good 😀
Absolutely delicious and so easy to make
Yay! So glad you loved them Megan 😀
Heya
Can i use chocolate chips instead of whiteboard chocolate please and thanks 😊
Hi Emma! 🙂 Yes you could totally use chocolate chips instead 🙂
Hope you enjoy the recipe!