One-Bowl Brown Butter Blondies

The only thing better than a great batch of blondies or brownies is a great batch that can be mixed up in only a few minutes using just one mixing bowl. My One-Bowl Brown Butter Blondies are just such a recipe. They’re deliciously addictive and very easy to make. You don’t even need a mixer to bring this batter together; the batter can be mixed entirely by hand! The recipe only uses 6 ingredients, and that means that you should start preheating your oven right now so that you can make a batch today.

Now, I do need to qualify the “one bowl” nature of this recipe because I used a microwave-safe mixing bowl and browned my butter in the microwave. Did you know that you can do that? It is quick and easy, though you’ll still need to keep an eye on it while it cooks because, as on the stovetop, the butter can still burn in the oven. Once it has browned, simply let it cool down for about 2 minutes before adding in the rest of the ingredients. You can use that cooling time to prep your baking pan with aluminum foil, which makes it easy to get the blondies out once they’re done. If you don’t have a microwave safe mixing bowl, don’t try to brown your butter in the microwave because your bowl will probably get far too hot. Use a saucepan or skillet and brown your butter on the stovetop, then pour it into your mixing bowl and proceed with the recipe.

The blondies are dense and chewy, with lots of that addictively nutty brown butter flavor in every bite. I use a little bit more salt in this recipe than I do in some of my blondie recipes because I feel that it helps to highlight the butter even more. The bars can be cut into any size piece (I usually go for about 20 bars per batch) and keep well when stored in an airtight container if you’re not going to eat them all right away.

One-Bowl Brown Butter Blondies
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8×8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil.
In a large, microwave-safe mixing bowl, microwave the butter until it begins to turn golden brown and develops a nutty aroma, about 3-4 minutes. Allow butter to cool for 2 minutes, then whisk in the sugar, egg, salt and vanilla extract. Once those ingredients are well-combined, stir in the flour using a whisk or spatula.
Pour batter – it will be thick – into prepared baking dish and smooth it into an even layer using a spatula
Bake for about 30 minutes, until bars are set and the edges are lightly browned on top.
Cool completely in the pan before lifting the bars out using the aluminum foil and slicing.

Makes 20 bars.