Brown Butter Blondies, Gluten Free

Instructions

1. 1

   Line the pan

   Line a 9-inch square metal pan with parchment, leaving an inch of overhang on two sides to use as handles. Hold off on heating the oven for now, since the batter needs a rest before it bakes.

2. 2

   Brown the butter

   Melt the butter in a light-colored saucepan over medium heat. It will foam, then sputter as the water cooks away. Swirl the pan and scrape the bottom until you see amber flecks and catch a toasty, nutty smell, about 4 to 6 minutes. Pour it into a large bowl right away and let it cool 10 minutes.

3. 3

   Whisk in the sugars

   Add both sugars to the warm butter and whisk for a full minute, until the grainy mixture turns glossy.

4. 4

   Add eggs and vanilla

   Whisk in the whole eggs, the extra yolk, and the vanilla for another 30 to 45 seconds, until the batter lightens and falls in ribbons.

5. 5

   Fold in the dry ingredients

   Sprinkle the gluten-free flour blend, xanthan gum if using, baking powder, and fine salt over the batter. Fold with a spatula until no dry streaks remain. There is no gluten to overwork here, so make sure the blend is fully hydrated and the batter looks uniform, with no pockets of dry flour hiding at the bottom of the bowl.

6. 6

   Rest the batter

   Fold in most of the chips and the pecans, then cover the bowl and let the batter sit at room temperature for 25 minutes. This is the step that matters most with gluten-free flour: the rice and starch flours need time to drink up the liquid. Skip it and you get a gritty, sandy bite. During the rest, heat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the middle.

7. 7

   Pan and top

   The batter will have thickened noticeably during the rest. Scrape it into the lined pan and press it level with a damp offset spatula or damp fingertips, which keeps it from sticking. Scatter the reserved chips across the top.

8. 8

   Bake

   Bake 30 to 35 minutes, a few minutes longer than the wheat version. Look for set, lightly pulled-away edges and a golden crackled top. The center should still jiggle very slightly and a toothpick should come out with moist crumbs. Gluten-free batters look wetter in the middle than they are, so go by the edges and the top, not by poking the center.

9. 9

   Cool fully before cutting

   Sprinkle the flaky salt over the hot bars and cool the pan completely on a rack, at least 2 hours. Gluten-free bars set up almost entirely as they cool and are fragile while warm, so cutting early will crumble them. Lift out by the parchment and slice into 16 squares with a long sharp knife.

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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.