Here's your new go-to dessert recipe. Easy Chocolate Chip Blondies that you can throw together in a snap, bake off and serve in just about 30ish minutes start to finish.
Best part? These Chocolate Chip Blondies are ooey, gooey, packed full of chocolate and are soon to become a family favorite in your house and the most requested among your friends.
Try Chewy M&M Blondies and White Chocolate Raspberry Blondies, too!
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Why you'll love this recipe
- Brown butter is the secret ingredient for super-chewy, butterscotchy blondies
- Part cookie and part brownie, no one can resist this classic sweet treat
- Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream to take buttery-soft blonde brownies over-the-top
- The perfect easy and quick dessert that’s practically no-fail
What are chocolate chip blondies
Sure, you could take your tried and true Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and spread the batter in a pan rather than scoop into individual cookies.
However, this usually doesn’t turn out so well in that the cookie bars are dry and tough.
Chocolate chip cookie recipes are created with the intent to bake cookies individually. And without the browning that occurs from baking them individually, you end up with dry and tough cookie bars.
So what makes these chocolate chip blondies special, you ask? Lemme tell ya.
For starters, they contain no leavener like in cookies, such as baking soda or baking powder, so they have chewy edges and gooey centers.
Adding leavener would make these more cakey and we are going for the opposite of that. Chewy blondies all the way.
This recipe starts with brown butter.
Now, the brown butter is optional (you could just melt the butter instead), BUT the brown butter brings a delicious nuttiness to the chocolate chip blondies that is really something special. (see more on the brown butter below). And for a full tutorial on How to Make Brown Butter, click here!
Lastly, there's a good amount of brown sugar in this blondie recipe and no granulated sugar, which provides a chewy texture, rich caramel flavor and helps maintain moisture in the final baked cookie bar.
So, to be straight with you, these easy chocolate chip blondies are nothing short of buttery, dense in the best way possible, gooey deliciousness you need to bake ASAP.
Try adding ¼ cup crunchy, buttery homemade toffee bits in with the chocolate chips for a tasty variation!
Ingredients & substitutions
- All-purpose flour and salt
- Chocolate chips: My favorite is semi-sweet chocolate. Or change up the flavor and mix and match any kind you like: milk chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, white chocolate chips and butterscotch chips
- Brown Butter: use unsalted butter to make the brown butter
- Brown sugar: substitute light brown sugar if you don’t have dark
- Egg: you’ll only need one large room temperature egg
- Vanilla extract: use a good quality pure vanilla extract, not imitation vanilla. You can tell the difference!
Brown butter vs. melted butter
Butter is essential. It makes everything in our lives taste so much better.
But when you melt it and brown it, these chocolate chip blondies get taken to a whole other level.
Like, I wanna eat the entire bowl of batter now cuz the it’s just so damn good level. But, I won’t do that (well, maybe just a little…).
That’s because the browned butter, for one, gives the blondies a chewier texture which is what moves them out of the ordinary and into the extraordinary category.
And, brown butter makes the flavor of these blondies slightly nuttier tasting and full of butterscotchy goodness.
A flavor that goes oh-so-well in this recipe.
Browning the butter takes just a few minutes and is worth its weight in gold, if you ask me.
The brown butter adds an extra layer of nutty flavor that you wouldn’t otherwise achieve with plain melted butter.
For a full tutorial on How to Make Brown Butter, click here!
How to make easy chocolate chip brownies
Step 1
Start by heating your oven to 350°F (177°C) and lining a square baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
Step 2
Prepare the brown butter.
Step 3
Add the browned butter and brown sugar to a large mixing bowl. Whisk until the mixture looks like wet sand and the ingredients are well blended. Add the egg and vanilla, then whisk until combined. Pour in the flour and salt until just blended. You shouldn’t be able to see any dry spots. Fold in the chocolate chunks.
Step 4
Scoop the blondie batter into the prepared pan. Press the dough into the corners until it forms an even layer. After a baking time of 20-25 minutes, the edges will turn golden brown and the bars will be finished. Remove from the oven and cool the pan on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes.
Step 5
Cut the cooled blondies into 16 squares. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.
Pro tips
- Browning the butter for this chocolate chip blondie recipe is completely optional. But, it doesn't take long (see above for a how-to) and is well worthwhile for adding an extra layer of flavor to this recipe
- I recommend baking these just until they seem barely baked in the middle. This will result in that ooey gooey center we're going for. Allow the blondies to cool in the pan for a bit which will continue the baking for a few more minutes in the hot pan. Overbaking these chocolate chip blondies will result in a more cakey texture. If that's what you're going for, then keep them in the oven up to 5 minutes longer than the recipe calls for
- As difficult as it may sound, allow these to cool for at least 20 minutes before cutting into them. This time will allow the blondies to continue baking a bit and set up or firm up just slightly enough for them to hold together well when you slice them up
Like this recipe? Follow me on Pinterest for lots more recipes just like this one! And don’t forget to pin this recipe for later by clicking on one of the images below the recipe. Or, click on any of the images in this post to save to Pinterest.
FAQs
What is the difference between a blondie and a brownie?
Blondies are lighter and softer than brownies, with a taste more like chocolate chip cookies. Blondies are bar cookies that use brown sugar and vanilla, while brownies use cocoa powder and melted chocolate.
How can you tell if a blondie is undercooked?
When done, the tops of the blondies will turn golden brown and the edges will start to pull away from the sides of the pan. The toothpick test should yield a few moist crumbs but no uncooked batter.
Are blondies supposed to be gooey?
The best blondies have gooey centers and chewy edges. If you bake them for 20-25 minutes and let them cool slightly before cutting, you’ll end up with done-just-right bars.
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Ingredients
- brown butter from ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup dark brown sugar packed
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177ºC). Line a square 8x8 inch baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a medium skillet set over medium-low heat, brown the butter.brown butter
- In a large bowl, whisk together the browned butter and brown sugar until well blended. The mixture will resemble wet sand. Add in the egg and vanilla and whisk to combine. Add in the flour and salt, stirring with a wooden spoon until just blended and no dry flour spots appear. Stir in the chocolate chips.1 cup dark brown sugar, 1 large egg, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Scoop batter into prepared baking dish and press gently into corners to form an even layer. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until edges are golden brown. Cool blondies in the pan then cut into 16 squares. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream (optional).
Notes
- Store cooled blondies covered at room temperature for up to 5 days
- Recipe slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Comments
Tasia ~ two sugar bugs
The brown butter and all brown sugar have to make these chocolate chip blondies insanely delicious!! I know they would not last long at my house!
Kim
Thanks Tasia!!!
Alene
I wonder if gluten free flour would work. Thanks.
Kim
I haven't tried it in this recipe, but I bet using a one-for-one gluten free all-purpose flour would work just fine in this recipe!
Christine D
These were the 2 time I've had blondies. The first time, I bought one from a specialty grocery store and it was a local brand and I didn't like it, but I was determined to like blondies because of all the fun flavors usually tied to them, so I really wanted to try fresh homemade ones. So I made these on Friday night and ate about 80-85% of the pan in about 24 hours, by myself--theyr'e that good! My husband was kind enough to help me eat some LOL. They are so good, I wish I had another pan!! The chewiness is perfect and the flavor is SO GOOD!! I added toasted pecans in mine. I will definitely be referring back to your recipe for blondies!! Thank you!
Kim
I am so glad to hear that you love these as much as I do!! They're so good!
Maria
Brown butter just makes it better,! Really great recipe and super easy to put together.
Kim
Yes! So happy to hear this Maria!! This is a fave in my house, too!
SHussain
This recipe is so easy and the blondies tasted delicious. I highly recommend for a quick but tasty dessert!
Kim
Yes! Thank you for baking and sharing your thoughts!
Shannon
It's a rainy day and I found myself craving a blondie, which I haven't made or had in years. Searched until I found a recipe that (a) mentioned browning the butter, and (b) mentioned "gooey" more than once. And here we are! In one short hour I've browned butter, followed your recipe, let them cool (most difficult part!) and now just ate a small square. DELICIOUS! Perfect in every way! Truly scrumptiously gooey (yet shape-retaining!) and tasty. Thank you!
Kim
So happy you found just what you were looking for, Shannon! Thanks so much for your comment - it's so helpful for other bakers, too. Enjoy!
Nancy Anderson
These Blondies are delicious! I think it is that brown butter taste that brings our the delicious flavors. They were so easy to make too. I think that these will be my new go to!
Kim
Yay Nancy! This made my day! I'm so happy you loved them.
Gloria
They taste great overall. Took me about 10-15 min to make which is great! I measured everything as it says on the recipe. They came out soft at first but about an hour later they were hard. Covered them up but it didn’t work, still hard. A bit disappointed.
Kimberlee Ho
I'm sorry to hear that, Gloria. I wonder what went wrong...