Name: Small-Batch Browned Butter Blondies
Total time: 2 h 15 min
Ingredients: ¾ cup (3¾ ounces/106 grams) all-purpose flour; ½ teaspoon table salt; ¼ teaspoon baking powder; 4 tablespoons unsalted butter; 10 tablespoons packed (4⅓ ounces/123 grams) light brown sugar; 1 large egg; 2 tablespoons corn syrup; 2 teaspoons vanilla extract; ⅓ cup pecans , toasted and chopped coarse; 2 tablespoons (¾ ounces/21 grams) milk chocolate chips; ⅛ teaspoon flake sea salt , crumbled (optional)

Why This Recipe Works

For a blondie that's chewy but not too sweet, we found that you can't simply swap in a cookie dough or brownie batter. Using melted rather than creamed butter made for a blondie that was dense and chewy instead of cakey. To boost the blondie's bland flavor with nutty complexity, we browned the butter first. Using brown sugar was a must for its underlying caramel notes, and its moistness contributed to a chewy texture. To tone down the sweetness, we replaced a portion of the sugar with corn syrup. A full 2 teaspoons of vanilla brought more complexity to the bars, and a generous amount of salt in the batter and sprinkled on top brought all the flavors into focus. Chopped pecans and milk chocolate chips complemented the butterscotch flavor without overwhelming it. Due to the greater depth of batter and the high sides of the loaf pan, our small batch of blondies bakes for just as long as our full batch.

Before You Begin

We developed this recipe using a metal loaf pan; using a glass loaf pan may cause the blondies to overbake.

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 8½ by 4½-inch loaf pan and line bottom with parchment paper. Lightly grease parchment. Whisk flour, table salt, and baking powder together in medium bowl.

Melt butter in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat, 1 to 2 minutes. Continue to cook, swirling skillet and stirring constantly with rubber spatula, until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, about 2 minutes longer. Transfer browned butter to second medium bowl.

Add sugar to hot browned butter and whisk until combined. Add egg, corn syrup, and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Using rubber spatula, stir in flour mixture until fully incorporated. Stir in pecans and chocolate chips. Transfer batter to prepared pan; using spatula, spread batter into corners of pan and smooth surface. Sprinkle with sea salt, if using. Bake until top is deep golden brown and springs back when lightly pressed, about 40 minutes (blondies will firm up as they cool).

Let blondies cool completely in pan on wire rack, about 1 hour. Invert blondies onto cutting board, remove parchment, and reinvert. Cut into 6 bars and serve. (Blondies can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 5 days.)