When you don’t need a dessert to look perfect, nor do you want to make a stack of dishes – brownies are the answer. But what’s possibly even better than a brownie? A blondie, that’s what. This dense, crinkly-topped caramel, chocolate studded blondies recipe is perfect to whip up in just over half an hour. YUM.
You see, blondies are the fudgy sibling of brownies and if you’re yet to try the vanilla, caramel goodness for yourself, let this one-bowl blondies recipe be it! HOLY YUM!
What’s the difference between a blondie recipe and a brownie recipe?
In short, the difference between blondies and brownies is just a few ingredients. Blondies typically use vanilla extract and brown sugar for that deliciously fudgy, choc-chip biscuit-like texture. However, brownies usually call for chocolate, cocoa and white sugar.
No matter which team you’re on – blondies or brownies, both are an indulgent and easy-to-make sweet treat. Oh, and they’re both very hard to stop at just one, we promise.
Choose your level of doneness
Truth be had, not all of us like our blondies (or brownies) baked the same way. Some of us like a gooey, soft centre and some of us prefer a more cakey, cooked-all-the-way-through kind of centre. Depending on where your preference lies, you can take this blondies recipe out from around the 23-minute mark, for super soft just-cooked centres or keep them in for the full 30 minutes for a more solid, cakey crumb.
Fudgy vanilla blondies recipe
Makes: 16 blondies
Ingredients
- 115g butter
- 1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- ½ tsp salt flakes
- 1 cup plain flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips (you could use a mix of white and milk)
- ½ cup of chopped pecans or walnuts
Method
- Heat the oven to 175°C and lightly grease and line a 20cm x 20cm square baking pan with baking paper. Make sure there’s plenty of overhang on the baking paper so it’s a little like a sling, making it easy to lift the blondie slab out.
- Melt the butter in the microwave and then add it to the brown sugar in a mixing bowl. Whisk together so that it’s well blended – it will look a little greasy but that’s ok!
- When the butter and sugar mixture is just warm (not hot), add the egg, vanilla and salt. Stir until it’s well combined and a light colour.
TIP: You want to make sure the sugar and butter mixture is only warm and not hot or you will cook the egg! - Add the baking powder to the flour, stirring it through. Add half the flour and baking powder mix to the sugar and egg mix, gently folding it in until you no longer see big streaks of flour. Add the remaining flour and baking powder mix in and repeat the folding through.
- Gently stir in the chocolate chips and nuts, being careful not to over-mix!
- Spread the thick blondie batter evenly in the prepared pan, pushing it into the corners with your spatula.
- Bake the blondies for 20 to 30 minutes until the corners have caramelised golden, the top is glossy and there’s no wiggle in the middle – it should be just set to the touch. It’s ok if there are cracks, they just add to the deliciousness.
- Remove from the oven and let the blondies cool to room temperature in the tin before removing the slab to a cooling rack to cool completely or eat warm. Cut into 16 squares and keep in an airtight container for up to three days.
Help, they’re flat!
If you don’t have much blondie or brownie baking experience you might be really disheartened that they don’t rise much at all – and that’s because they’re not supposed to. Blondies and brownies are more like a slice than a cake. This blondie recipe is sweet, rich and dense – a whole lot of fudgy goodness compacted into one bite!
Do you love blondies and brownies or have a blondies recipe you’d like to share? Let us know in the comments so we can give it a go too!
