Brown Butter Blondies

Instructions

1. 1

   Heat the oven and line the pan

   Set an oven rack in the middle position and heat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9-inch square metal pan with parchment, letting two sides hang over the edge by an inch or so. Those flaps are your handles later, and they are the difference between lifting out a clean slab and digging bars out with a spoon.

2. 2

   Brown the butter

   Melt the butter in a light-colored saucepan over medium heat. It will foam, then quiet down and start to sputter as the water cooks off. Keep swirling the pan and scraping the bottom with a heatproof spatula. After about 4 to 6 minutes you will see amber flecks on the bottom and smell something toasty, almost like hazelnuts. Pour it immediately into a large mixing bowl, flecks and all, and let it cool for 10 minutes. Browned butter goes from perfect to burnt in about twenty seconds, so trust your nose more than the clock.

3. 3

   Whisk in the sugars

   Add both sugars to the warm butter and whisk hard for a full minute. The mixture will look grainy and thick at first, then loosen into something glossy. This is where the crackly top comes from, so give it the full minute.

4. 4

   Add eggs and vanilla

   Whisk in the whole eggs, the extra yolk, and the vanilla. Keep going for another 30 to 45 seconds until the batter turns a shade lighter and ribbons off the whisk. If the butter was still hot the batter may look thin, which is fine.

5. 5

   Fold in the dry ingredients

   Sprinkle the flour, baking powder, and fine salt over the top. Switch to a spatula and fold just until the last streaks of flour disappear. Stop there. Every extra stir builds gluten and nudges these toward cakey instead of chewy.

6. 6

   Stir in the mix-ins

   Fold in most of the chips and the pecans, holding back a small handful. Scrape the batter into the pan and press it into an even layer with an offset spatula or damp fingertips. It will be thick and sticky. Scatter the reserved chips over the surface so the finished bars look as good as they taste.

7. 7

   Bake

   Bake 28 to 32 minutes. You want the edges set and pulling slightly from the parchment, the top golden and crackled, and the center still a touch soft when you press it. A toothpick in the middle should come out with moist crumbs clinging to it, not clean. Clean means you went too far.

8. 8

   Cool, then cut

   Scatter the flaky salt over the hot blondies and set the pan on a rack. Cool completely, at least 2 hours, before lifting the slab out by the parchment. Cutting warm blondies gives you torn, gummy edges. Use a long sharp knife, wiping it between cuts, and slice into 16 squares.

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Baker's Tips

• 1.

  Use a stainless or light-colored pan to brown the butter. In a dark nonstick pan you cannot see the milk solids changing color, which is the only reliable cue you have.

• 2.

  Browning drives off water, so you lose a little weight in the pan. If you want to be exact, brown an extra tablespoon of butter and weigh out 170g for the batter.

• 3.

  Dark brown sugar has more molasses than light, which is what gives these their caramel depth. Light brown works and tastes lovely, just milder.

• 4.

  A metal pan beats glass here. Glass insulates, so the edges overbake while the center lags behind.

• 5.

  For a fudgier center, pull the pan at 27 minutes. For a firmer, more cookie-like bar, go to 34. The batter is forgiving across that whole range.

• 6.

  Swap the mix-ins freely: dark chocolate chunks, chopped toffee, dried cherries, or browned-butter-friendly macadamias all work at the same 1 cup volume.

Equipment

• 9-inch square metal baking pan
• Parchment paper
• Light-colored saucepan
• Large mixing bowl
• Balloon whisk
• Flexible spatula
• Wire cooling rack

Storage