Salted Butterscotch Blondies

Dense and chewy butterscotch blondies are made with brown butter, sea salt, and butterscotch morsels. These sweet and salty bars hit the spot when you need a simple yet satisfying dessert. No mixer needed! 

These innocent little squares boast huge flavor and texture. Super dense, chewy, filled with brown sugar, topped with sea salt, and the two words to end all other words: brown butter. Not to mention they’re loaded with butterscotch, the best and most underrated morsel in the baking aisle! There’s also no mixer or fancy kitchenware required, so not only do they taste unbelievable—they’re insanely easy to make. Win win win and… win.

If you gush over sweet & salty desserts, this one has your name written all over it.

These Butterscotch Blondies Are:

• Soft and chewy
• Dense and buttery
• Sweet and salty
• Made with brown butter
• Sprinkled with sea salt
• Simple to make—you don’t need a mixer

This Is My Base Blondie Recipe

This blondie recipe is my go-to blondie base. I shared the recipe a few years ago with my dark chocolate coconut blondies. In that recipe, I spread the blondies into a large 9×13 inch pan. For today’s butterscotch version, we’re squeezing them into a 9-inch square baking pan so they’re thicker and denser. We do this with mocha blondies, too.

The best blondies are buttery, soft, and chewy with tight dense crumbs. More like a brown sugar brownie and less like a thin piece of cake. To help us achieve this special blondie texture, we begin with melted butter. Though regular melted butter is fine, I highly recommend browning the butter. Brown butter, pictured below, adds a new layer of flavor.

We’ve discussed brown butter many times before and I have a complete how to brown butter tutorial as well. All you’re really doing is melting butter on the stovetop and gently cooking the butter until it develops a nutty flavor and aroma. It’s a basic technique that considerably changes the flavor of anything it touches, like brown butter chocolate chip cookies and brown butter pumpkin oatmeal cookies. As the butter browns, you’ll notice there are bits at the bottom of the pan. These are good! They are actually milk solids that have cooked faster and will give even more flavor to your recipe. Don’t leave the bits behind.

Ingredients in Butterscotch Blondies

Blondies are very low key—made with simple baking basics. They’re also unexpected and underrated, which is why I love making them. Everyone forgets how good they are!

• Flour: Sturdy all-purpose flour is the base of this blondie recipe.
• Baking Powder: Baking powder helps the blondies rise.
• Salt: Salt adds flavor.
• Butter: You can use either melted butter or browned butter, but I really love using browned butter because it adds another layer of flavor to these blondies. I share more about browned butter above.
• Sugar: We use all brown sugar for mega flavor and ultra moist blondies.
• Eggs: Use 1 egg and 1 egg yolk for ultra chewy blondies.
• Vanilla Extract: Pure vanilla extract adds flavor. Try using homemade vanilla extract.
• Butterscotch Morsels: Butterscotch morsels are essential for butterscotch blondies!
• Walnuts: While totally optional, chopped walnuts add a delicious texture.
• Sea Salt: Sprinkle the blondies with coarse sea salt before baking for an added crunch and burst of flavor.

No Mixer Required

Since we’re not creaming butter and sugar together (we use melted butter instead of softened butter), there’s no need to break out the mixer or any fancy kitchen equipment.

This is a quick and easy recipe. You only need 2 bowls—1 for dry ingredients and 1 for wet ingredients, a simple whisk, and rubber spatula.

Will you just look at this golden perfection? With brown butter, sea salt, butterscotch, and brown sugar, I can’t think of a more perfect square.

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