brown butter blondies with sea salt

February has been the busiest month at The Setting since launch. Traveling to London and Los Angeles and producing our first exhibition at Capsule has made for a very entertaining few weeks. Now that I’m finally catching my breath, I wanted to share one of my recipes from this year’s super bowl party. I chose this dessert because it was above and beyond everyone’s favorite…

This recipe plays on the brown butter creating a cookie dough flavor ribboned through the pecan blondies.

INGREDIENTS

Brown butter mixture

  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

  • 1 large egg

  • 3/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  • 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour (I like King Arthur’s)

Blondie

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more

  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more

  • 1 1/2 cups pecans, coarsely chopped

  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

  • 1 1/2 teaspoons sel de mer (sea salt)

  • 1 3/4 cups (packed) light brown sugar

  • 2 large eggs

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  • Vanilla bean gelato (for serving)

PREPARATION

Brown butter mixture

  1. Cook butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring often, until butter foams, then browns, 5-8 minutes. Transfer brown butter to a medium bowl; let cool slightly.

  2. Add egg, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt and beat until mixture is light and falls back onto itself in a slowly dissolving ribbon, about 3 minutes. Fold in flour.

Blondie

  1. Preheat oven to 350°. Butter a 13×9″ baking dish and dust with flour. Toast pecans on a rimmed baking sheet, tossing once, until slightly darkened and fragrant, 8-10 minutes. Let cool.

  2. Whisk baking powder, salt, and 2 1/4 cups flour in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat brown sugar and 1 cup butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating between additions; mix until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in vanilla.

  3. Reduce speed to low and mix in dry ingredients. Fold in half of pecans. Scrape two-thirds of batter into prepared baking dish; smooth top, pushing batter to edges. Alternating, dollop brown butter mixture and remaining batter on top. Smooth and sprinkle remaining pecans over.

  4. Bake until blondie is golden brown and firm (a tester will not come out clean), 30-35 minutes. Let cool before slicing. Serve with ice cream.

Enjoy! xx

The Setting