We’ve made these Best Ever Blondies so many times this summer that I had to stop and take some pictures so I could share them with you all here. This is one of those recipes you need on speed dial. You likely have all SIX ingredients on hand as we speak, and the recipe comes together quickly in ONE bowl! We all know summer has a tendency to fly by, so quick, crowd-pleasing recipes come in so handy!
How do they taste?
If you’ve never had a blondie before, think of them as a brownie but replace the chocolate flavor with caramel. There’s no caramel in the actual recipe, but the butter and brown sugar come together to make a rich caramel flavor. These Best Ever Blondies have a fantastic soft chewy texture, shiny crackled finish, and a not-too-sweet buttery caramel flavor that people go crazy for!
My son, Noah, first made this recipe, and each time we’ve made them we streamlined the recipe just a bit to see if we could make it simpler and faster without compromising texture or flavor. Not everything we make is a success around here, but when we come up with something this good and easy, we can’t help but share it!
How to Serve
Best Ever Blondies would be the perfect thing to bring to a 4th of July get-together. You can keep them simple and serve as is, or you could add a scoop of vanilla ice cream, a drizzle of caramel sauce, and some cashews for an over-the-top Carmel Cashew Sundae. Any Culver’s fans out there? Yum!
Quick Tip
The key to cutting nice neat squares is to let the blondies cool for at least 2 hours, and then use a plastic knife. You can also pop them into the freezer for 15 minutes after cooling completely, and then remove them from the pan and cut with a very sharp knife.
I hope you get the chance to try our Best Ever Blondies soon, and if you do, save me an edge piece!
Did you make this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and share a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #lovelylittlekitchen
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Best Ever Blondies
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 16 bars 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
These Best Ever Blondies have a soft chewy texture, shiny crackled finish, and a not-too-sweet buttery caramel flavor that we go crazy for!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cups butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted
- 1 3/4 cups brown sugar, packed
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line a 9 by 9 inch metal baking pan* with parchment paper and spray with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a mixer with the whisk attachment, add melted butter and brown sugar. Whisk together until incorporated.
- Add eggs and vanilla extract and whisk on medium speed for one minute.
- Add flour and salt, and mix by hand, scraping down the edges of the bowl just until the flour is incorporated. Do not overmix.
- Scoop the batter into the prepared pan, and smooth it out into an even layer.
- Bake for 28-30 minutes. The edges will be golden, and the top will be crackled and shiny.
- Allow to cool completely (at least 2 hours) before cutting with a plastic knife to serve.
Notes
*I recommend baking these in a metal baking dish versus glass or stoneware. Here’s a comparison on baking times for different types of pans.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Bar
- Calories: 200
- Sugar: 19g
- Sodium: 116mg
- Fat: 9.3g
- Saturated Fat: 5.7g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3g
- Trans Fat: 0.3g
- Carbohydrates: 28g
- Fiber: 0.3g
- Protein: 2g
- Cholesterol: 46mg
Christina says
I wish I had stuck to my old recipe!
My son and I were so excited to make these. We baked them for a good 10 minutes extra and they looked done. We let them cool and they were completely gooey inside! So gross! They look nothing like your picture and we followed the directions exactly.
So I turned the oven back on and we’re going on 30 more minutes and they still look gooey.
Lesson learned. I’ll stick the what isn’t broken and suggest people stop naming things “Best Ever” when they aren’t edible.
Julie says
Christina,
I’m so sorry to hear they didn’t turn out well for you… I have made this recipe many times with the same result, so I’m not sure what went wrong for you. I know how frustrating it is when a recipe doesn’t turn out. Thank you for your honest feedback.
Ellen says
These sound wonderful. I do have a bbq to go to, so I thought I would double the recipe, and you nicely have the 2x & 3x buttons. What those don’t tell you is how big a pan to use for making the bigger batches, or any adjustments to the cooking time. Could that be added in? Thanks.
Julie says
Hi Ellen, I admit – those multiplier buttons are only so helpful! I haven’t tested this recipe any other size than a 9 by 9 inch metal pan, but if you doubled the recipe and used a 9 by 13 pan, my best guess would be that they would be slightly thicker and would take around 10-15 minutes longer to bake. Please let me know how it goes if you decide to try that out.
Gina says
Could I add chocolate chips to this recipe?
Julie says
You could… though I think they might dilute the buttery caramel flavor these are known for. Here’s a recipe that includes chocolate chips.
https://lovelylittlekitchen.com/easy-one-bowl-blondies/
Maureen H says
I have always made my mom’s recipe for blonde brownies. They always seem dry to me and I remember them being better as a child. I have been looking for a new recipe for years and haven’t found the perfect one. Of course I had to try these today for the 4th of July and they did not disappoint. They are so buttery and moist. Just what I was looking for!
I took them out of the pan on the parchment paper to cool and before I could even cut them up, my husband and brother ate 1/3 of the batch.
I can always count on you for delicious and easy recipes. Thank you!
Julie says
Hi Maureen! So glad they worked for you! Thanks so much for leaving me a comment to let me know. Happy 4th to you all!
dubaiimaintenance says
This is really given to a good informative blog and helps overall learning this information thanks for sharing this amazing article.
Emily says
I am going to try making these today, they look delicious! And simple ingredients too, love it.
In regards to the comment Christina posted about her blondies underbaking & staying gooey inside, that is a common issue with blondies. The problem is when you don’t aerate the egg & brown sugar mixture enough. It needs to go from dense, runny & dark, to light, thick and pale. If you don’t get enough air to lighten up the egg/sugar mixture, the blondies will never cook inside no matter how long you bake it. It’s not a problem with your recipe.
This can be looked up with a quick Google search, I’m not sure why people always take so quickly to negative reviews.
I wanted to post this in case others come across the recipe and to help the avoid this issue.
I will come back and update how mine goes once I try it!
Tina says
Loved these! Made them for mother’s day and they were the perfect treat with ice cream and caramel syrup.
Tina says
So, I’ve made these twice now in the last 3 weeks, and they are simply delish! The first time, I added toasted pecans and some homemade toffee bits. Really good, but it pushed the sweetness up more than some in my family wanted. But the more they ate, the more they liked them. I personally ate more than I care to admit Even better the next day. Made them the 2nd time and left out the toffee bits but browned the butter and kept the pecans. Yum! They are wonderful either way, and I’m sure just as good without any of those mods. It’s def a keeper! Thanks, Julie for the perfect most simple blondie recipe ever!