Push aside all other blondie recipes, these Brown Butter Blondies are a game changer. Chewy, gooey, toasty, caramely, brown buttery, butterscotchy, just enough salt - such layered, balanced flavors. The blondie all by itself is already crazy good, and the caramelized white chocolate bits (where have you been all my life??) add little bursts of toasty, sweet flavor. The brown butter echoes this toastiness while adding a bit of nuttiness, and really, what isn't improved by a bit of brown butter? Or a little bit of nuttiness, for that matter 😉
And then, AND THEN, the stout butterscotch sauce. It is so interesting - dark, sweet, buttery, with a smoky, slightly bitter edge from the stout beer. What do you say? Let's make some.
These brown butter blondies began as a curious thought in my mind
There are so many blondie recipes out there, (just search "blondie recipes" on Pinterest) and I really wanted to create a new, unique blondie. I originally imagined these with regular white chocolate chunks, but decided to get carried away on the caramelized white chocolate train and boy am I so glad I did. It totally changes the flavor profile of white chocolate, which can be a bit one-dimensional, in my opinion. Slow roasting the white chocolate (yes, trust me) adds a toasty, caramel flavor and turns it a beautiful golden color. I don't think I'll ever be able to use unadulterated white chocolate again!
Moving on to that stout butterscotch sauce. Wow. Again, so many recipes for caramel and butterscotch sauce, including my own that I've been making for years, but I wanted to do something different. With St. Patrick's day coming up, Guinness is everywhere, but I knew I wanted to use a local brew-we have so many wonderful craft breweries in the area. So Jason and I stopped into Wort Hog Brewing Company right here in Warrenton, Virginia and had the best Friday afternoon date. Jeff was behind the bar and gave us samples of several different brews, but as soon as I tasted the "Legacy" brew, I knew it was the one. It's aged in bourbon barrels and the bourbon flavor really comes through in the beer. I knew it would be perfect for this brown butter blondie recipe.
Ok, onto the blondie recipe
Did I mention these are a one bowl deal? No mixer needed. You're welcome. Yes, they have a few steps. But if you make your white chocolate and butterscotch sauce the day before, these blondies will come together in minutes.
Also, while I highly encourage you to try this flavor combo, feel free to riff on this recipe all you want. Leave out the chocolate or switch it up to your favorite kind, add nuts, drizzle with melted dark chocolate. I'm already planning to add crushed pretzels to mine next time. (Truth: I meant to add them to this batch but totally forgot.) Your imagination is the limit! Have fun!
I've included all steps and components of the recipe here: The Caramelized White Chocolate, Stout Butterscotch Sauce, and the Blondies, so if you print this recipe you'll have it all in one place. The chocolate and the sauce are each linked to their own blog post if you'd like just that recipe. Just click the title and it will take you to the individual post.
Happy baking!

Brown Butter Blondies
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 9 large blondies 1x
Ingredients
- ½ cup brown butter, still warm (recipe below)
- ¾ cup dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup caramelized white chocolate (recipe below)
- Stout Butterscotch Sauce for serving (recipe below)
- flaked sea salt for serving (optional, but highly recommended!)
Instructions
To prepare:
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Spray or butter an 8 x 8 square baking dish and line with parchment, leaving an overhang on two sides of the pan. (this is so you can easily lift them out of the pan later)
- In large bowl, whisk brown butter with sugars until combined.
- Add egg, vanilla, and salt and whisk vigorously for about a minute.
- Switch from whisk to wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Add flour, baking powder, and baking soda, and stir to combine. When you have a few streaks of flour remaining, add caramelized white chocolate chunks. Stir to combine.
- Transfer mixture to prepared baking dish. Wet your hands and gently press dough into an even layer.
- Place in preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes. The middle will still be quite soft, but this ensures a gooey, chewy middle once they cool.
- Remove from oven and let cool completely at room temperature before slicing. You can even stash them in the fridge to get really, really clean slices. *see note below
- When blondies are completely cool, carefully lift out of the pan using the parchment paper overhangs, place on cutting board, and slice into any size you like. I like to slice them evenly into 9 large squares.
- Serve with a generous drizzle of Stout Butterscotch Sauce and a sprinkle of flaked sea salt.
*If you want to serve these warm, you won't get clean slices, but you can just messily scoop it from the pan to your serving dishes, top with ice cream and Stout Butterscotch Sauce, add a sprinkle of sea salt or some crushed pretzels, then just lean back, relax, and pat yourself on the back for making something so darn delicious.
Ingredients:
- 3 bars, about 12 ounces, good quality white chocolate, I use Green & Blacks because I adore the vanilla flecks
To prepare:
- Preheat oven to 250 F.
- Break up white chocolate bars in a large glass dish, or on a baking sheet. You can use parchment here, but it is kind of a pain when you're stirring and it's not necessary.
- Place chocolate in oven for 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven, and with a rubber spatula, stir chocolate and spread into a thin, even layer before returning to oven.
- Repeat this process until your chocolate has turned a light golden-tan color. It took mine about 2 hours, but all ovens are different, so just judge by the color.
- There will be points during this process when you're stirring and the chocolate gets clumpy and you think you've ruined everything. You haven't. Just keep stirring and smoothing the chocolate and it will all come together.
- After about 2 hours, you will have a golden puddle of caramelized white chocolate.
- Remove tray from oven and stir for about 3-5 minutes.
- Transfer chocolate to wax paper or parchment. Smooth into an even layer, as thick or thin as you'd like, and allow to cool until hardened. I left mine overnight.
- Break into pieces and store in an airtight container.
Brown Butter:
Ingredients:
- 1.5 sticks room temperature butter
To prepare:
- Place butter in medium saucepan over medium-high heat.
- Cook until butter melts, foams, and sizzles then the foaming and sizzling subsides. Brush foam to the side and check your color. You want a dark tan/golden color. This whole process takes about 5 minutes. Keep a close eye and use your nose. It will smell nutty and almost like caramel when it's done.
- Remove from heat and let cool slightly. You'll have a little more than the recipe calls for, but I like to plan for a little evaporation. And whatever is left, just put to use anywhere you'd use regular butter: toast, pancakes, waffles, cook some eggs in it, etc.
Ingredients:
- 12 ounces dark stout beer
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 tablespoons butter
To prepare:
- Place stout in medium saucepan over high heat. Make sure your pan is big enough, as the beer will bubble and foam up quite a bit.
- Bring to a boil and allow to reduce by half. This should take about 10 minutes.
- Carefully pour into a heat safe measuring cup to ensure you have 6 ounces.
- Pour reduced stout back into saucepan, add sugar and stir to combine. Cook on high for about 10 more minutes without stirring until thick and syrupy and the bubbles become larger.
- Add cream and stir. Continue cooking for about 10 minutes on medium high heat.
- Remove from heat and add vanilla, salt, and butter. Stir until all butter is melted and combined.
You should have about 1 ½ cups after it reduces.
Transfer to glass jar and allow to cool. It will thicken more as it cools.
- Category: dessert
- Method: baking
Keywords: brown butter blondies, blondies recipe, chewy blondies
This recipe has a lot of moving parts, so read all the way through before you commit to making them. Make sure all of your components are prepared and ready before you begin! Happy baking!
hump day drooling!
Thank you! Yes, so good!! Sorry for my delay, somehow this got caught in spam!