Easy No-Fail Blondies
I love this extra easy and adaptable blondies recipe! The blondies taste like deep, rich buttery caramel and you won’t believe how easy they are to make. Jump to the Easy Blondies Recipe
What Are Blondies?
I’m sure you familiar with brownies, but do you know about blondies? If not, it’s time to change that. Blondies are similar to brownies, but instead of the base ingredients including cocoa powder or melted chocolate, we leave that out for more of a vanilla-based bar. Think of blondies as brownie’s alter-ego.
We’ve fallen in love with blondies. They are so easy to make — we’re pretty sure they’re one of the simplest, tastiest baked goods you can make. Not only that, but they are practically no-fail. Just a few ingredients, a bowl, and a spoon.
How to Make Blondies (You Only Need One Bowl)
This recipe makes blondies that are rich and dense with a paper-thin crinkly top. They are complex with lots of vanilla and dark brown sugar. They taste like deep, rich buttery caramel. Keep them simple or customize. Add chocolate, nuts, dried fruit — whatever.
All the magic happens in one bowl. If you’ve been following Inspired Taste for a while, you’re probably tuned in to our love of no fuss, no mess recipes. We’re terrible with staying ahead of dirty dishes. So anything “one bowl” snags major points in our book.
What You Will Need
Melted butter makes these blondies rich and delicious. I use unsalted butter when baking so that I can control the salt content. I’ve also used browned butter to make blondies with great success. Just swap browned butter for the melted butter called for in the recipe (here’s our tutorial for how to make browned butter).
Brown sugar makes the blondies taste almost like caramel. If you have it in your kitchen, use dark brown sugar. It adds even more flavor.
Egg gives structure, makes the bars tender, and helps the blondies rise a little. We don’t use any additional leavener for these, so the egg is important.
Vanilla extract and salt are essential in making the blondies taste amazing. I also love adding a little bit of almond extract.
All-purpose flour provides more structure, although we really don’t use much of it.
Making The Batter
To make the blondies, stir the brown sugar with melted butter. Add an egg and vanilla extract, and salt then stir again. When all the other ingredients are blended, add the flour. If you are adding any extra ingredients like chocolate chips, fold them in at the end.
Baking Them
The blondies bake about 25 minutes. It’s important not to overbake them. Overbaked blondies turn hard.
The blondies are ready to come out of the oven when look almost done. As they cool out of the oven, they continue to bake. So to make sure you have that moist, gooey middle, take blondies out when they edges look browned, but the middle looks a little underdone.
What Our Readers Are Saying
I told you this blondies recipe was easy. Here’s what our readers have been saying about the recipe:
“Wow, these blondies really are foolproof and so delicious.” – Karen
“These were yummy, rich, moist and buttery, caramely mouthfuls of happiness” – Gizelle
“They are the best blondies I have ever tasted. So easy and Delicious!” – Susan
More Easy Baking Recipes
- Here’s my favorite brownie recipe! It makes the best fudgy brownies from scratch.
- I love these chewy around the edges, tender in the middle chocolate chip cookies.
- These delicious peanut butter cookies are naturally free of flour, butter, and dairy.
- When I want a chocolate cookie, I always turn to these double chocolate walnut cookies.
Recipe updated, originally posted July 2013. Since posting this in 2013, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear and added a quick recipe video. – Adam and Joanne
Easy No-Fail Blondies
- PREP
Blondies are one of the simplest, tastiest baked goods you can make. These blondies are perfectly dense with a paper-thin crinkly top and taste like deep, rich buttery caramel. If you have it, use dark brown sugar. Light brown sugar works, but the flavor will not be as rich. Feel free to customize this recipe to your liking — add chocolate, nuts, dried fruit or whatever else you adore. We’ve shared suggested amounts in the recipe below.
Makes 16 bars
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
8 tablespoons (115 grams or 1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup (215 grams) lightly packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract, optional
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour
Optional Extras1/2 to 1 cup chocolate chips (white, milk, semi-sweet, dark, etc.)
1/2 to 1 cup chopped and toasted nuts
1/2 to 1 cup chopped dried fruit or shredded/flaked coconut
1/4 cup liquor (bourbon, whiskey, rum, etc.) note: Increase flour by 1 tablespoon to accommodate
1/2 teaspoon flavorings or extracts (coconut, mint, rum, raspberry, etc.)
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
Directions
Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (176C). Line an 8-inch by 8-inch metal baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, stir melted butter and brown sugar until blended. Add the egg, vanilla, almond extract (optional) and salt then stir vigorously until smooth.
When the batter looks well blended, add the flour and stir until fully incorporated, then beat with the wooden spoon or spatula for 40 to 50 strokes. (The batter will be quite thick). Beat vigorously here. You want to see the batter pulling away from the sides of the bowl.
Fold in the chocolate chip, nuts or dried fruit (if using). Spread the batter evenly in lined pan and bake 20 to 25 minutes until the edges look browned, but the middle looks slightly underdone (the middle will continue to cook while it cools). Place the pan on a wire rack and let the blondies cool in the pan. Cut into 16 squares.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Store blondies covered in an airtight container up to 3 days at room temperature or up to a week in the fridge. You can also freeze up to 3 months.
- FAQ – Doubling The Recipe: Use a 13-inch by 9-inch pan and watch the baking time — it will need a little longer to bake. We suggest that you start checking at 25 minutes and then check every five minutes after that. The blondies will be a little thicker.
- Some readers have had problems with the fat separating during baking. This is a common problem with baking blondies. Since the recipe calls for so much butter and so little flour, it is very important that the batter is beaten vigorously enough so that the batter emulsifies. Otherwise, you risk the fat seeping out when baking in the oven. Just after adding the flour, you should be beating for about 40 strokes until the batter becomes very thick and begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. If you are not strong enough to stir a heavy batter by hand, use a mixer.
- Recipe slightly adapted and inspired by Mark Bittman’s cookbook, “How to Cook Everything” and by Smitten Kitchen’s blondies recipe.
- Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values. The calculations include 1 cup of chocolate chips.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste
Nutrition Per Serving: Calories 168 / Protein 2 g / Carbohydrate 22 g / Dietary Fiber 1 g / Total Sugars 15 g / Total Fat 9 g / Saturated Fat 6 g / Cholesterol 27 mg
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After multiple failed attempts at this dessert, I came across this recipe and begrudgingly decided to give it a try – it was FANTASTIC!!! Great taste, looked great and all the instructions were spot on!!!! Thank you thank you 🙏
Done this recipe but added mushed up banana nd custard the swirled it with a chop stick to get marble affect
We have made these throughout the pandemic. We like them better than cookies or cakes! My 10 year makes them on her own now. Thank you for making the video! I don’t think I saw it earlier!
This is absolutely hassle free recipe. Everyone likes blondies at my home. It’s quick and delicious.
I’m sure they are amazing but I won’t be able to make them tonight
I’m making these for the third time in two weeks. Everyone I’ve shared with loves them. My husband doesn’t eat sweets, so I have to share with or give to others. Love, love!
Without a doubt the best blondies recipe out there. I’ve been making this recipe for probably 4 years now, and I have the recipe memorized at this point. They have ALWAYS been a hit everywhere I take them, and they stand up to anything I put in them. Just plain sea salt? Amazing. Chocolate chips? Of course. Marshmallows and butterscotch chips? Why not! Blueberries!? Sure! The one tip I will give is that I love browning the butter — adds just one more delicious, nutty layer of flavor. Anyway, I cannot say enough thanks for introducing this recipe to my life. Made some tonight with leftover easter M&Ms, and I can’t wait to cut into them.
I love this recipe. I find that 1 cup of sugar is way too much for such a small cake. I used only 1/3 and it was still too sweet with 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. I find North American deserts too sweet so I always use less sugar. Also baking time I put only for 17 mins and they were nice and gooey. Thanks again.
I love this recipe and have made it so many times! My favorite variation is subbing half the butter for applesauce and adding in some cinnamon or pumpkin spice for an almost apple-pie-like taste. (A half-cup of chopped up nuts mixed in is also fantastic!)
It was so easy to make and really delicious!! I need to make a double batch next time. Thank you for the great recipe!!
So delicious and, as promised, very easy-almost foolproof! I browned them butter as recommended and added pecans and milk chocolate chips. My husband has eaten half the pan already. Thinking about roping one with coffee ice cream. Thanks for a wonderful recipe.
These blondes are perfect! Made them for the second time today. The first time I made them I was expecting them to be kind of flavourless, but they were the opposite! The second day, the flavour was unreal, almost coffee-like. I added super yummy milk chocolate chips, and pressed on dark chocolate chunks, which made it look like a giant chocolate chip cookie! Now I can’t decide whether I like brownies or blondes more…
I made these recently and they were the best blondies I’ve ever had! I weighed ingredients in grams as shown in the recipe and added some white chocolate chips. I also baked them on a baking tray (so they were flatter than if I’d used a tin) and reduced the cooking time 50% – they were absolutely perfect. Thanks so much!
Used raw sugar and honey instead and these turned out wonderful! Can’t wait to try these again but with brown sugar to see the difference.
These are awesome. I ran out of brown sugar so mixed white sugar with a tablespoon of maple syrup and they disappeared. Made them again today with sugar and a tablespoon of my friend’s honey. Again they disappeared. Going shopping so I’ll make them with brown sugar. Such a versatile recipe.