Wild Thistle Kitchen: Brown Butter Blondies
By • March 17, 2022 0 820
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.
Okay, On To 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!
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!)
Total Time: 50 minutes
Yield: 9 large blondies
For full instructions, ingredients with photo illustrations go to https://wildthistlekitchen.com/brown-butter-blondies/.
