 These browned butter blondies are studded with butterscotch caramels. Nuff said.
Five of my fingernails are hot pink right now.Â
Look. SEE? I’m girly! I’m so put together!
Well. At least halfway girly. I still haven’t painted my other hand. Wanna know why? Diapers. That’s why.
Every time I think “I should paint my fingernails” the rational part of my brain chimes in: ain’t NOBODY got time for that! I’ve got faces to wipe, pigtails to comb, and pins to pin toilets to scrub.Â
But guess what you guys. Something’s going on with this little bloggy-thing of mine. This month I’ve gotten 30x the amount of traffic that I got last January. And 3x the amount of traffic I got even just last month.
With traffic comes feedback, which I LOVE. Listen to this: “I just found your site today and have spent over two hours here so far.” This is from Linda. Linda, I love you. Come to my house. I will make you these blondies. You think I’m joking.
But along with all the stars-and-rainbow-comments come the reality checks. The other day someone called me out on the photos of my atrocious chipped nails. Alright, ALRIGHT, I’m super tacky, I KNOW! Try not to hate me.
So here’s me making an effort. Valentine’s Day is coming up, so I thought pink. (False. I only have 5 shades, one of them is clear, and the others are getting kinda crusty, so choice was limited.)
I’m surprised there is not pink nail polish on these Blondies. I literally stopped in the middle of my shoot, slapped some paint on my nails, blow-dried them for about 30 seconds, then came back. Don’t lick chocolate and caramel off your fingers 3 minutes after you paint them. Thank you, Captain Obvious.
So are you guys ready to Super Bowl it up? (Probably now is a bad time to mention that I found out on Friday that the Super Bowl wasn’t this last weekend. Yes, really.)
But the good news is that there is still time for you to make these Blondies! Now, if you have been reading my blog recently you’ve probably heard me gush about these Brown Butter Sea Salt Butterscotch Cookies. And with good reason. They are my favorite cookie, ever. But…the recipe’s a bit time consuming because you have to chill the dough. Which means there is at least a couple hours between “I want cookies” and “Kill me now, these are amazing.” These Blondies are the answer. You can have these in your mouth in 35 minutes flat. No frilly refrigeration required. Just git ‘er done.
If you live within 5 hours 3 hours 1 hour <— that’s my final answer) of a Trader Joe’s, you need these in your life:
Seriously. I could go on all day, but I’ll just tell you that I’ve made many, many trips to the store for no other purpose than buying these little butterscotch caramels.
These are my regular Browned Butter Blondies (which are anything but ordinary) with the butterscotch caramels added instead of chocolate chips. The result is a chewy, tender, soft, and rich blondie filled with little nuggets of butterscotch-y caramel goodness. I discovered this recipe last summer and have probably made it 7 or 8 times. I made it 3 times with these caramels. The first time I tried cutting each caramel in half like I do for the cookies, but I actually prefer them when they are added whole. And it’s faster. Like I said. Git ‘er done.
Mmmmmm browned butter. Make sure your butter has those little brown bits in it, otherwise cook it a little longer.
They’re just so beautiful. I love you, sea salt butterscotch caramels.
It’s a lot easier to get them out of the pan it you line it with foil or parchment paper. Enjoy!!!
***2022 UPDATE: Sad news my friends! Trader Joe’s no longer sells my beloved caramels! What a tragedy. But the good news is that you can make these blondies with any store bought chocolate-covered-caramel. One of the easiest to find will probably be these Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel squares that Ghirardelli sells. Chop them up and use as directed in the recipe!
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Browned Butter Blondies with Sea Salt Butterscotch Caramels
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup salted butter
- 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 large egg
- 1 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 7-oz package Chocolate Covered Sea Salt Butterscotch Caramels
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Keep it on the heat, stirring or swirling occasionally, until the foam starts turning golden and the mixture smells nutty. If you've never browned butter, go here.
- Remove from heat and pour immediately into a mixing bowl or stand mixer. (Hurry, otherwise the heat from the pot could burn this precious stuff.)
- With a wooden spoon or using the mixer, stir in the brown sugar, then the vanilla, then the egg.
- Add the flour, but don't mix it in. Spoon the baking soda and salt onto the flour, and stir with a small spoon to blend it with the flour.
- Stir in the flour until almost combined; add the butterscotch caramels and stir just until there are no more streaks of flower.
- Line a 9x9 or 8x8 inch pan with foil or parchment paper, then spray with nonstick spray. Spread the batter evenly into the pan.
- Bake at 350 for 20-22 minutes, until golden on top and set. Let them cool in the pan for at least 10-20 minutes before lifting them out. These blondies are amazing when they have cooled...but they are OUT OF CONTROL when they are warm. I always stick mine in the microwave for 10 seconds if they are cool.
Oh my gosh those sea salt butterscotch caramels are THE BEST. These look absolutely amazing. You cannot go wrong with browned butter but combined with sea salt butterscotch caramels?? Yes. Yes please. Pinning x100! Congrats on all the traffic, Karen! So exciting!! Your nails look great. :)
I’m so glad you’ve tried them Erin! Now I have back up that these caramels are out of control amazing! and thank you for pinning!
Woah! These blondies look crazy amazing!!! Pinned!
Thanks for pinning Anna!
Karen! You read my mind. When I saw those cookies a little while back, I had to immediately go and buy some of the caramels. Tammy and I were munching on them and thought “man, these would go great in a blondie!” You nailed it girl! Also, p.s., I can show you how to edit fingernails in photoshop if you really want ;) For edits like that, I use the clone stamp tool usually…..
Great minds think alike!! And I don’t even have photoshop because I’m lame. I’m about to go answer your email. And probably it would be faster to just paint my nails anyway right?? :)
Wow! These look completely delicious! Your photography is mouthwatering!
Thanks Erin! Let me know if you figure out a way to make these gluten free :)
Hellloooooo caramel! These pics make me want to lick my screen! I have a Trader Joe’s within 15 minutes of me but I’ve never bought these. What the heck is wrong with me? This will change…ASAP.
Seriously Courtney. I don’t KNOW what’s wrong with you!! :) Buy 2 bags so you can eat 1 bag while these blondies bake! haha. Remember how it’s still January and we’re supposed to be dieting? Oooops.
I wish you could mail me some of these. I’m so hungry for sweets and I’m sick and can barely even think about going into the kitchen to cook. A list of things to make and nothing. I can’t do it. Ugh. These are amazing. The gooeyness. I need it!
Oh nooooo!! We were sick just after the holidays and I thought it would NEVER END! I’m so sorry. Wish I could send you some!
These look amazing. I mean GENIUS amazing. Now I just need a trader joes closer by!
Thanks Kayley! I know, they seriously need to open an online store. They would make bank.
Your nails are looking great! I hate when I take a picture and my nails look unkempt. I wish I knew photoshop so I could fix that. Oh well, true friends won’t mind, right? And dying over how gooey and delicious this blodies look. And I’ve never had those butterscotch caramels, will definitely be buying a bag the next time I go to TJ’s, which should be in about 4 hours. Ha!
YES Natalie, you must!! And if you ever figure out how to photoshop pretty nails…Imma hunt you down. :) And hold up, Brussels Sprouts?? My nemesis. I’m heading over, if anyone can make me a better vegetable person it’s you.
These look to-die-for!!! I’ve never tried those little caramels from TJ’s, good thing I have one about 2.5 seconds from my house, I need those in my life ASAP. I can’t even handle the gooeyness in these. Ah-mazing.
Thanks Nicole! If you live that close to a TJ’s, you need these in your life STAT!
For sure trying these yummy brownies!
Let me know how it goes Angie! They are seriously amazing.
Just when I thought that it couldn’t get any better
oh my you just totally did! Just the words “sea salt caramels” pulled me in. I’m going to have a salivating hubby when he sees this for dessert Super Bowl Sunday !
Thanks Amy! I’m totally making these for the Super Bowl too! Let me know how they turn out!
You are hilarious! Wowzers, yum. Heading to Trader Joes…
Thanks Julie! You really should head over. These babies won’t let you down.
Haha, I pretty much never bother with painting fingernails, they never stay unchipped for a full day. And I have to say I’ve never noticed your fingernails . . . I’m way too busy looking at your food. :)
I’m glad I’m not the only one Claire! And thanks for not noticing my fingernails! :)
Your fingernails look nice. But maybe don’t use the word “diaper” when I’m looking at photos of oozing brownies? hahahaha
Haha! Gotta tell it like it is brother :) But I definitely see your point.
Congrats on the increase of blog traffic. That is so great for you :) I’m usually a painted nail girl on the weekends, but at work I feel to weird. Its enough of a fact I’m in a girl thats an Engineer… one with painted nails is over the top. ha! Anyway love these brownies. I’m snowed in again… could you send me some and I could snow shoe to the end of the road to meet the fedex truck :)
Thanks Laura! And I totally get it. You can’t ruin your Girl Engineer reputation. Although did you tell your coworkers you have a food blog? That will kind of give you away. :)