Chewy Brown Butter Blondies

These Chewy Brown Butter Blondies are chewy, like brownies, sweet with brown sugar and vanilla, and toasty from brown butter. These blondies are special.

We mix in mini-white chocolate chips, Heath toffee bits and chopped salted pretzels. But you can mix in whatever you like.

For some helpful tips before you begin, click here.

Makes 16 Chewy Brown Butter Blondies.

Ingredients:

115 g (8 tablespoons or 1 stick) unsalted butter
16 g (2 tablespoons) full-fat milk powder
190 g (1 cup) dark brown sugar
3 g (1/2 teaspoon) salt
1 large egg, room temperature
5 ml (1 teaspoon) vanilla extract
120 g (1 cup) all-purpose flour

113 g (2/3 cup) mini-white chocolate chips
113 g (2/3 cup) Heath Bits
2/3 cup (40 g) chopped salted pretzels

1 1/2 to 2 cups mix-ins of your choice (like chocolate chips, toasted walnuts, dried fruit, chopped candy bars etc.)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven and prepare the pan.

– Heat the oven to 350°F (177 °C).
– Grease an 8×8-inch baking pan with cooking spray.
– Line the bottom and sides of the pan with parchment paper.
– Grease the parchment paper with cooking spray as well. (See TIPS)

2. Brown the butter. Then stir in the brown sugar.

– In a large heavy-bottomed pot, (use a light-colored or stainless steel pot so you can see the progress of the butter browning) heat the butter over medium-high heat.

– Swirl the pan around to heat the butter evenly. Allow the butter to sputter, bubble and foam.

– Once the sputtering starts to subside and the butter begins to turn clear, sprinkle in the milk powder. (It will be foamy.)

– Turn the heat down to medium-low.

– Continue to swirl the butter around and stir with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, scraping up any browning bits sticking to the bottom of the pot.

– Once the milk solids beneath the foam have turned a deep brown (about the color of butterscotch) and the butter smells toasty and nutty, remove from heat and immediately stir in the brown sugar.

– Add in the salt as well and stir until the brown butter, brown sugar and salt are combined and there are no lumps.

3. Stir in the egg and vanilla. Then stir in the flour.

– Lightly beat the egg in a small bowl and stir into the browned butter mixture..
– Add in the vanilla and stir until combined.
– Then add in the flour and stir until combined and smooth.

4. Stir in the mix-ins. Then spread into the pan.

– Stir in the mini-white chocolate chips, the Heath Bits and the chopped salted pretzels (or whatever mix-ins you choose).
– Scrape into the prepared pan and smooth with a spatula; the batter is thick and may take some nudging.

5. Bake, cool and serve!

– Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until lightly browned at the edges and the top looks dry. (Do not over bake.)
– Let the blondies cool in the pan. Then use the parchment paper to lift them onto a cutting board.
– Cool completely before cutting into squares.

– Store your Chewy Brown Butter Blondies in an air-tight container.

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About this recipe:

The blondies of my youth were really just chocolate chip cookie dough (without chocolate chips) pressed into a pan. These Chewy Brown Butter Blondies are closer to brownies, but with toasty, butterscotch-y notes from the brown butter and brown sugar.

Use your favorite add-ins, at least 1 1/2 cups of add-ins! Along with the usual chips and toffee bits, I always like to have at least 1/3 of the add-ins in my Chewy Brown Butter Blondies to be something salty, like chopped pretzels, or salted peanuts or cashews.

However, if you feel add-ins are unnecessary, you may omit them. But then you may have to lessen the baking time as the blondies will be a bit thinner.

Tips:

Here are 4 helpful tips:

1) How to line your baking pan:

This is how I do it:

1) Lay your pan on top of your parchment paper.
2) Cut from the outer corner to the corner of your pan.
3) Tuck the parchment paper into your pan, letting the corners overlap.
4) Trim off any excess edges and secure in place with office clips***.

***I have used office clips (generic from Staples) in the oven in temperatures as high as 500°F (260°C} and have never had a problem. Just be careful. When taken out of the oven, they are hot!

2) Browning butter:

Brown butter adds a nutty depth, an irresistible back-note that is really so good. It takes something already delicious and brings another level to it.

If you are new to browning butter, just follow these steps:

1) Have a heat-proof bowl nearby where you can pour out the brown butter as soon as it is done. If left in the hot pot, it can go from brown to burnt pretty quickly.

2) Swirl the pan and keep an eye on the melting butter and the stages it will be going through:

It will melt.
It will bubble, foam and sputter.
The sputtering will subside and the butter will turn clear beneath the foam.
The milk solids will toast and turn brown….Done!
Use immediately or pour into a heat-proof bowl to cool.

3) Make sure you keep stirring the milk solids and scraping up the bits sticking to the bottom of the pot.

If at any time you feel the butter is browning too fast, just take it off the heat.

4) Once the butter smells nutty and the milk solids reach the desired toasty-brown color, immediately take it off the heat.

5) If you are not adding anything to the pot (like the brown sugar in this recipe…), then pour the browned butter into a heat-proof bowl right away to stop any further browning.

If you leave the browned butter sitting in the hot saucepan, it will continue to cook and can become burned and bitter.

3) Milk powder makes brown butter even better:

– Milk powder adds flavor (and color) to baked goods.

– The addition of milk powder to the browning butter practically doubles the amount of browning milk solids, which is where the toasty, nutty flavor is.

Brown butter without the milk powder (LEFT) and with the milk powder (RIGHT). All those extra toasty milk solids are PURE FLAVOR.

Use full-fat or non-fat milk powder:

– I like to use full-fat (or whole milk) milk powder, but nonfat milk powder seems to be more readily available in local grocery stores. Both can be used.

4) To get a shiny, crinkly top:

I have found the batter must be smooth and shiny when spreading it into the pan before baking to get that shiny, crinkly top. Some ways to ensure this are:

Make sure the butter is nice and warm before stirring in the sugar. (But don’t leave it on the heat when adding in the eggs. We don’t want scrambled eggs!)
Make sure your eggs are room temperature before you begin. If you use cold eggs, your butter might chill and make your batter stiff and crumbly.