Salted Caramel Bourbon Blondies

Today we’re making Salted Caramel Bourbon Blondies.  I found this recipe for Salted Caramel Blondies in The Cookie Book and decided that I needed to make them because a) brown butter is my love language, b) salted caramel is dreamy and c) obviously bourbon makes everything better.  

Y’all know how much I love disclaimers, they just warm my lawyer heart.  Here’s the skinny: This post contains affiliate links which means that if you click through the link and make a purchase from that link, I may receive a commission.  I only link to products that I use and love. Thanks for your support. 

A while back someone asked me to describe my baking “signature”.  What choice do I consistently make while baking that screams “Richelle”?   If I put baked goods on a table with a group of others, how would people know that I baked the thing that I baked?   This question seemed overwhelming to me, but when I surveyed a group of people who regularly eat my baking the answer was unanimous:  adding alcohol to baked goods. 

I am sure there is a lawyer joke in here somewhere, but they weren’t wrong.  I’ve been putting vodka in pie crust for so long that I have vodka brand preferences for my crust. (Grey Goose may cost a little more, but it makes the crust gummier, I prefer Ketel One in baking).   When I’m not putting vodka in pie crust, I am probably rehydrating raisins (or any tropical fruit!) in Cuban rum or adding a splash of bourbon here and there:  Peach pie. Apple Pie. Pound Cake. Blondies. Extract is basically alcohol, so bourbon is a great substitute.   

When we lived in DC, not surprisingly, people gave us bottles of bourbon as gifts all the time. New baby? Here’s a bottle of Blantons!  Get a new job: Congrats, enjoy this bottle of Untitled #10! I’m moving, can you take this giant handle of Maker’s Mark? Our liquor collection was out of control, because as much as I use liquor for baking, we aren’t really big drinkers. 

At a certain point, I just started using it for baking because there was so much of it collecting dust taking up prime storage real estate in my kitchen.   This is unexpectantly turning into the most lawyer-like post over– poor thing, has too much bourbon she doesn’t know what to do with it.  I am rolling my eyes at myself. Anyway.  The surplus of bourbon is how I ended up adding a splash (or two) of the Untitled #10 into the salted caramel blondies. Later my husband informed me that “Untitled #10 is an expensive bottle of bourbon.”   Then I googled it, and these are officially the most expensive blondies in the history of the blondies! But they are phenomenal and I regret nothing. 

If you want to see the play by play process check out my stories on Instagram (and follow me!). 

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Brown Butter + Salted Caramel Blondies

Course Dessert

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Servings 16 Blondies

Ingredients

• 2 sticks of butter
• 2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp. Baking powder
• 1 cup brown sugar
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 3 eggs room temperature
• 1 tsp. Bourbon
• 1 tbsp. Vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cup chocolate chips
• ½ cup salted caramel

Instructions

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350º F.

2. Prep 8×11 inch pan with parchment paper that hangs over the sides of the pan to easily lift cooled blondies out of the pan. Spray the parchment paper with cooking spray. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, measure out the dry ingredients: flour, salt and baking powder.
4. Brown the butter. In a medium pan over medium heat, cook the butter stirring occasionally until brown flecks begin to appear in the pan and the scent of the butter has a “nutty” smell. This process should take 5-7 minutes. If you’re new to browning butter, this is not the time to multi-task. Just stand at the stove and stir.
5. Pour the browned butter into a large glass bowl and let the butter cool slightly. Then whisk the granulated and brown sugar into the cooled butter.
6. One at a time, stir in the eggs until completely incorporated.
7. Mix in the bourbon and vanilla extract.

8. Dump in the flour mixture and stir until the flour is incorporated and not a minute more. DO NOT OVER MIX! Ain’t nobody got time for overworked blondies.

9. Gently fold in the chocolate chips.

10. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
11. In large dollops, dot the top of the batter with the salted caramel, then use a butter knife to swirl the salted caramel creating pattern across the blondies.
12. Bake for 25-30 minutes (until the center is just set, but not completely. The blondies should wiggle just a little).
13. Cool completely before cutting into squares.