Chocolate Chunk Almond Blondies
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These chocolate chip almond blondies are super simple to mix up and don’t even need a mixer to make them! They are made with chocolate chips, almonds, and have a wonderful buttery vanilla flavor.
So I turned to the Bible of Cooking and Baking. I knew they wouldnโt steer me wrong.
I did, however, have in my head that I wanted to change it a little bit. Eek, am I allowed to say that I think I improved upon the recipe? Am I allowed to say that?
I decided to brown the butter to up the caramel flavor with the brown sugar. Trust me, if you do one thing. Brown. The. Butter. Donโt be scared, follow this step by step tutorial on how to brown butter. The original recipe called for pecans, but I had almonds on hand. To ump the almond flavor, I decided to also swap out the vanilla extract and use almond extract instead. So if you donโt like almond extract, whatโs wrong with you?! How do you not like almond extract?! Just kidding. You can totally keep the original vanilla extract and pecans.
I finished off the delicious blondie by still adding in dark chocolate chunks and white chocolate chips. I mean, come on, itโs chocolate. You donโt omit that.
What Are Blondies Made Of?
Blonde brownies, or blondies, are basically a brownie but no cocoa powder is used. Vanilla is substituted for the cocoa instead.
They are made from some pretty typical pantry ingredients: flour, brown sugar, vanilla, sugar, butter, eggs, and a leavening agent (baking powder, baking soda or sometimes both).
How To Make These Almond Blondies โ Step By Step
- Toast the almonds on a baking sheet in a 350oF for 7-10 minutes until fragrant.
- Brown your butter (it will need time to cool so it’s best to do this before you measure out the rest of your ingredients.
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Adjust oven rack to middle position; preheat oven to 350ยฐ F. Line a 13 by 9-inch baking pan with foil, leaving enough overhang to help you lift the blondies from the pan when theyโre done. Turn the pan upside down, and form the foil over the bottom to make the shape of the pan with the foil. Turn the pan back over and press the pre-shaped foil in the bottom. Spray with cooking spray and set aside.
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Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl; set aside.
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Melt the butter over medium heat and allow to cool slightly. Whisk melted butter and sugars together in medium bowl until combined. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Using rubber spatula, fold dry ingredients into egg mixture until just combined; do not overmix. Fold in the chocolate chips and almonds and turn batter into prepared pan, smoothing top with rubber spatula.
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Bake until top is shiny, cracked, and light golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes; do not overbake. Cool on wire rack to room temperature. Remove bars from pan by lifting foil overhang and transfer to cutting board. Cut into 12 large or 16 small(ish) bars and serve.
Step One: Toast your almonds.
Toasting the almonds helps to bring out the flavor of the nuts before adding them to the blondie batter. I used slivered almonds but sliced almonds would also work.
Step Two: Brown Your Butter
These blonde brownies call for browned butter. I love the flavor it gives to these blondies.
Pro Tip: Do this before measuring the rest of the ingredient. You do want to make sure to allow it to cool slightly before adding to the rest of the wet ingredients.
Step 3: Combine the dry ingredients
In a mixing bowl, simply whisk your dry ingredients together.
Step Four: Combining The Wet Ingredients
Once cooled, pour into a second mixing bowl. After that go ahead and add in your sugars and whisk to combine. Then your almond extract and eggs! Whisk, whisk, whisk.
Step Five: Combining the flour mixture and wet ingredients.
At this point you are so almost there. I add my flour mixture to my wet ingredients. Always be sure to not over mix. I like to leave a few streaks of flour left behind. Donโt worry those streaks will get baked right in. And since you are adding in all those yummy mix-ins, you will end up giving the batter a few more stirs.
Step Six: Add your Mix-ins
For this version I added white chocolate chips, dark chocolate chunks, and almonds.
Step Sevenโ Baking
You want to then spread the batter into your pan. This batter is thick so you might have a bit of difficulty doing this.
Pro Tip: I spray a piece of plastic wrap with nonstick cooking spray and then spread the batter with that covering my hand to help it from sticking.
You will bake these in a 13ร9 pan. I like to either line mine with aluminum foil, and a few good sprays of PAM cooking spray. Or use parchment paper.
To form the aluminum foil here is a little trick for you. Turn your baking pan upside down and form the foil over it making the perfect shape of the inside. Then simply turn the dish back over and insert the foil! Itโs a perfect fit and no wrestling with getting the corners to fit anymore.
You want to bake at 350 these blondies for 22-25 minutes.
Baking Tips For These Chocolate Almond Blondies
- Toast the almonds first! It helps to bring out the flavors before they will be baked.
- Brown your butter before you start measuring the rest of the ingredients so it has time to cool.
- Be sure to measure your flour correctly. Overmeasuring can result in a cakey texture instead fo the perfect chewiness that we are going for. You can get the full tutorial on how to measure your flour here.
- Make sure your ingredients are room temperature, like your eggs. To bring your eggs to room temperature quickly place them in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes.
- Do not overbake. They may appear not done at this time, but taking them out during that time, ensures you wonโt overbake them!
- Once they have cooled and set up, use a plastic knife to cut them. Plastic wonโt heat up and will cut them neatly.
Blondie Variations
You can definitely customize these blondies. Try a different candy or chocolate. Iโve made a Reeseโs pretzel version. But try swirling in some caramel sauce, peanut butter, or nutella. Got nuts.
I made a cookie bar variation with white chocolate chips and pumpkin. I also have made a version with M&Mโs and browned butter.
How To Cut These Almond Blondies:
You could just bring the whole pan to your party and call it a day. No one would care once they taste one. But if you want to cut them into attractive bars here a few tips:
- First, line your pan with tinfoil and spray lightly with cooking spray. This will make it easier to simply lift out the entire pan at once and cut into bars.
- Allow them to cool. Completely. Cutting them warm is just going to end up in a GIANT disaster. Let them sit on the counter until they come to room temperature. I pop mine in the fridge to hurry up this process and help to firm up the bars before cutting. Usually at least an hour if not longer if I can wait that long!
- Use a plastic knife! Plastic does not conduct heat like a metal knife will so it will cut through the bars easily without warming up that chocolate inside! You will have nice clean cuts and pretty bars to present in the end!
How Do You Store These Almond Blondies?
I love blondies because not only are they simple to make but you can also make them ahead of time. In fact I recommend it, because they need time to set up before you cut into them.
You can store these at room temperature for up to 3 days. Just make sure they are covered.
Can I Freeze These Blondies?
You can also freeze these for up to 3 months. Just make sure to cool completely. Freeze solid and then place in an airtight container.
Should You Refrigerate Blondies?
I donโt recommend it. Storing them at room temperature if best.
Refrigerating the blondies can end up drying them out.
For More Bar Recipes Check Out These:
- Snickers Cheesecake Bars
- M&M Browned Butter Blondies
- Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars
- Margarita Bars
- Strawberry Rhubarb Bars
- Apple Pie Gooey Bars
To Make This Blondies Recipe You Will Need:
As always, if you loved this blonde brownies recipe or have a question let me know by leaving a rating and a comment below.
All I can say is that after making these I have started thinking of all the endless possibilities of blondies. Hmm…what to add next? Coconut? Peanut butter chips? Pretzel bits? All three….any suggestions?
Chocolate and Toasted Almond Blondies
Ingredients
- 1 cups (114 g) almonds toasted and chopped
- 1 1/2 cups (180 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon table salt
- 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter melted, brownedย and cooled
- 1 1/2 cups (320 g) packed light brown sugar
- 2 large large eggs (room temperature) lightly beaten
- 1 1/2ย teaspoonsย almond extract
- 1/2 cups (85 g) white chocolate chips
- 1/2 cups (85 g) dark chocolate chunks
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Spread nuts on large rimmed baking sheet and bake until deep golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer nuts to cutting board to cool; chop coarsely and set aside
- While nuts toast, cut 18-inch length foil and fold lengthwise to 8-inch width. Fit foil into length of 13 by 9-inch baking pan, pushing it into corners and up sides of pan; allow excess to overhang pan edges. Cut 14-inch length foil and fit into width of baking pan in same manner, perpendicular to first sheet (if using extra-wide foil, fold second sheet lengthwise to 12-inch width). Spray foil-lined pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a saucepan, melt and brown your butter. As it cools, prepare your other ingredients.
- Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl; set aside.
- Whiskย browned butter and brown sugar together in medium bowl until combined. Add eggs andย almond extractย and mix well.
- Using rubber spatula, fold dry ingredients into egg mixture until just combined; do not overmix.
- Fold in chocolate and nuts and turn batter into prepared pan, smoothing top with rubber spatula
- Bake until top is shiny, cracked, and light golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes; do not overbake. Cool on wire rack to room temperature. Remove bars from pan by lifting foil overhang and transfer to cutting board. Cut into 2-inch squares and serve.
Notes
- Toast the almonds first! It helps to bring out the flavors before they will be baked.
- Brown your butter before you start measuring the rest of the ingredients so it has time to cool.ย
- Be sure to measure your flour correctly. Overmeasuring can result in a cakey texture instead fo the perfect chewiness that we are going for. You can get the full tutorial onย how to measure your flour here.
- Make sure your ingredients are room temperature, like your eggs. To bring your eggs to room temperature quickly place them in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes.
- Do not overbake.ย They may appear not done at this time, but taking them out during that time, ensures you wonโt overbake them!ย
- Once they have cooled and set up, use a plastic knife to cut them. Plastic wonโt heat up and will cut them neatly.
- Adapted from Cooks Illustrated
Tried the recipe, the blondies are absolutely delicious! Just next time will lower the baking time, since in my small oven they have dried too much. Anyways, I loved the taste of the blondies, both baked and the raw dough :)).
Aw that’s awesome so glad you loved these Joanna!!
Great tip of browning the butter and toasting nuts, that gave such a reach nutty flavor to them, yum!
Oh thanks Evgeniya! I’m so glad you loved them ๐
Blondies are some of my favorites. The brown butter and almonds in yours kicks butt and takes names!!!