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.
PrintSalted Butterscotch Blondies
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 16 blondies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Dense and chewy, 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!
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter (browned or melted, see note)
- 1 and 3/4 cup (350g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/2 cups (270g) butterscotch morsels
- optional: 3/4 cup (95g) chopped walnuts
- coarse/flaky sea salt for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease a 9-inch square pan or line with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the sides to lift the finished blondies out (makes cutting easier). Set aside.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the browned or melted butter and brown sugar together. Once completely combined, whisk in the whole egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk or stir until combined. Batter is pretty heavy and thick, so I usually use a rubber spatula. Fold in the butterscotch morsels and nuts, if using.
- Evenly spread batter into prepared pan. Bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out *mostly* clean. A couple moist crumbs are ok, as long as it’s not wet. Remove from the oven and cool blondies completely in the pan set on a wire rack.
- Cover and store leftover blondies at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: To freeze, cool blondies completely. Cut into squares and layer between sheets of parchment paper in a freezer-friendly container. Freeze up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator then bring to room temperature before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9-inch Square Baking Pan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Rubber Spatula | Cooling Rack
- Butter: Butter should either be melted or browned before using in this recipe. Melt on the stove or in the microwave. For enhanced butterscotch and nutty flavors, I prefer using browned butter in these blondies. To brown the butter: slice the butter into pieces and place in a light-colored skillet. (Light colored helps you determine when the butter begins browning.) Melt the butter over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once melted, the butter will begin to foam. Keep stirring occasionally. After 5-8 minutes, the butter will begin browning– you’ll notice lightly browned specks begin to form at the bottom of the pan and it will have a nutty aroma. Once browned, immediately remove from heat, and pour into a heat-proof bowl. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before using in step 3.
- What Pan to Use: A 9-inch square pan is best. An 8-inch square pan is a little too small. Blondies may not cook evenly. You can spread the batter into a 9×13 inch pan for thinner blondies. Do your best to spread the batter to each edge of the pan. Bake time will be around 30 minutes.
Keywords: butterscotch blondies
These are great!!! So glad I browned the butter and the saltiness is just amazing!
Thank you so much for the recipe!
★★★★★
Hello Sally, I’m writing from India!
Your recipes are always an absolute hit with my folks.
I was wondering if these blondies could be given a subtle herby undertone. I was thinking rosemary. Do let me know your thoughts.
Thanks again and keep up the fabulous work!!
Hi Sally!
If I’m going to use an 8 inch square pan, what adjustments in temperature and time should I make?
Hi Joy! I recommend a different recipe. Try my chocolate chip cookie bars and replace the chocolate chips with butterscotch morsels. You can also brown the butter for that recipe, too. Bake time will be a little longer than what’s stated in the chocolate chip cookie bars recipe since you’re using a slightly smaller pan.
This was terrific! Turned out great- loved the addition of walnuts. Thanks so much!
★★★★★
These are so delicious I’m so glad I made these! My whole family ate these and they were gone in one day! My only problem is that they’re pretty greasy but nonetheless still amazing!!!
★★★★★
The texture was perfect, they smelled amazing, but were really REALLY sweet (this coming from a sugarholic). I added only 1 cup of butterscotch chips and even then they were much too sweet for my tastes. I’ll try another batch with less brown sugar and see what happens.
★★★
Browned the butter, used choc. chips instead of butterscotch (not a fan) and added 2 tablespoons if Bourbon. The best balance between a cookie and a brownie…a blondie. Who knew?
★★★★★
im not sure what I am doing wrong. this is my second time trying to make blondies and it didn’t work. the inside never cooked and the top baked nicely. 🙁
Hi LuAn! I recommend lowering the oven temperature so the center and top cook evenly. And you can even tent a piece of aluminum foil on top so the top doesn’t cook as quickly.
Just made these tonight for my fellow co-workers who are working without pay during the government shutdown. They smelled so good I had to test them though. And, then my husband had to test three! Hope there will be some left for the co-workers. They are delicious:-) Thank you, Sally!
What a thoughtful thing for you to do! Sounds like a second batch might be in your future 😉
I made them sans nuts and chips. Omg, browned butter is the best thing I’ve found in many years, cooking wise. I’m looking forward to showing them off when it’s my husband’s turn to bring the snack to hid faculty meeting. Oh, and I didn’t use vanilla and they were still amazing. It’s all about
the browned butter.
Perfect holiday bar for the office. I made this recipe with 1 1/2 sticks of butter, because 2 sticks is beaucoup butter! My bake time should have be 25 mins, as they were well done at 28 mins. I live in Colorado, so not sure if it was the recipe alteration or the altitude. Great flavor either way!
I just pulled these out of the oven and I can’t believe how amazingly my whole house smells. Butterscotch is one of my favorite things, and I love blondies. In my opinion, nothing is better than a salty/sweet dessert (I always say you could put salted caramel on a shoe and I’d happily eat it). Waiting for these to cool is kinda killing me right now!
Can this be doubled and baked in a half sheet 12″×17″ pan?
Yes, definitely!
I made these following the recipe and thought they were delicious but a little sweet. Made again using homemade butterscotch sauce swirled through the batter, and I liked it more, but my husband liked it better with the chips. Either way – pretty tasty and easy!
Ha – looks like you will have to make two batches from now on! Or you can try using a little more salt to cut the sweetness a bit! 🙂
When do you add the flaky se salt? Also, can you leave the flaky sea salt off and will they still taste amazing?
Hi Pamela! The coarse salt is optional, but if you decide to use it, sprinkle on before baking. The blondies are still fantastic without it though!
I made these last night and I love how chewy they are!
I made these yesterday afternoon and they are AMAZING! Pretty easy to put together and definitely worth the effort. Thanks for another great recipe Sally!!
Hi Sally,
I made them & they are wonderful! I’m addicted to your baking success!
Hi Sally – another amazing recipe thank you! I made these last weekend and they were SO good!
I also live in the UK and butterscotch chips are a little tricky to find so I just added some chopped white chocolate and milk chocolate chips alongside the walnuts which turned out to be delicious anyway.
However to all my fellow UK bakers I had a brainwave….how about chopping up some Werther’s Original Butter Candies (which are widely available) instead? 🙂
My grocery store had a ton of butterscotch chips on sale today, something I don’t normally buy but I thought why not. First thing I did was open your website for a recipe to use them up! Just took these Blondies out of the oven and they smell amazing!! I was out of brown sugar so just used regular granulated sugar, I’m hoping they hold up! Thank you for the recipe!
★★★★★
I made these on a whim last night but used 1 cup butterscotch and 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (and the walnuts) and holy cow – I’m a blondie convert! So good! This recipe is a keeper. Easy, quick and delicious!
Hi Annie Sue! My suggestion is to lower the oven temperature to 325F and tent the blondies with a sheet of aluminum foil. Both will help them bake a little more evenly.
I had the same problem. Cooked them for 40 minutes and still totally gooey. The edges tasted delicious though, so I want to get this right! If I lower the temp to 325 how long should I cook it?