If brownies had a blonde cousin who was a little wild, a little warm, and 100% party-ready, these would be it. I started making these boozy Brown Butter Bourbon Blondies when my husband's bourbon collection got a little out of hand (he's from Louisville, it's a whole thing). Just like my favorite one bowl coconut bread, these are made in just one bowl and mixed together in less than 10 minutes!
TL;DR - Brown Butter Bourbon Blondies
- 💛Why you'll love them: An easy blondie recipe made in just one bowl with simple ingredients and a splash of your favorite bourbon!
- ⏱️ Prep Time: 10 minutes
- 🔥 Bake Time: 35-40 minutes
- 🧂 Ingredients: 7 pantry staples (+ optional mix-ins)
- 🥄 One bowl = less mess, faster cleanup
- 🍫 Customize with your favorite mix-ins: Pecans, chocolate chunks, etc.
- 🍰 Want more easy dessert bar recipes? Try my one-bowl brownies, these tahini brownies or these 7-layer bars for easy anytime baking.
Want to know what else would be great on the dessert table with these blondies? Let AI help!
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Key Ingredients
- Bourbon: Use a bourbon that you would drink, but that isn't too expensive. I have a bottle of reserved for baking, but any bourbon will do.
- Butter: Unsalted. Melt the butter in the microwave OR brown the butter on the stove first and let cool. Either method will work, so do what is easiest for you.
- Flour: All purpose. I recipe tested with King Arthur Brand.
- Brown Sugar: Light or dark brown sugar.
Bourbon Blondie mix-in ideas
While I think the bourbon blondie recipe is delicious as written, you can also jazz them up with a variety of mix-ins. Add about ¾ cup of mix-ins total. Here are a few that I have tried successfully:
- Chocolate chips (I like 60% cacao, but you can use any dark or semi-sweet chip here)
- Walnuts (chopped)
- White chocolate chips
- Caramel swirl (use a thick salted caramel and swirl in before baking)
How to make boozy bourbon blondies
Preheat the oven to 350℉ and line a 9x13 baking pan with parchment paper.
Step 1: Melt the butter in the microwave or brown the butter on the stove top. While the butter cools for 5-10 minutes gather the rest of the ingredients.
Step 2: In a mixing bowl, whisk the brown sugar into the melted butter until smooth.
Step 3: Add in the egg, vanilla, salt and bourbon and mix until you have a smooth batter.
Step 4: Slowly add in the flour and mix until it is just combined.
Step 5: Pour the batter into your prepared baking pan.
Step 6: Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the top is golden brown the middle is just set.
Perfect for Derby Day!
If you're into that rich, bourbon flavor, you'll definitely want to check out my Derby Pie recipe too, it's loaded with chocolate and pecans. Serve these bourbon blondies with a batch of homemade Mint Juleps and your Derby Day party is complete. See you at the races!
🩶Marni
Recipe FAQ's
Flavors of brown sugar, vanilla and oakiness. Bourbon's warm flavors pair especially well with fall and winter holiday baking, but if I'm honest, we keep this one on repeat all year long.
While this blondie recipe was written so that you taste the bourbon, you can leave it out. Reduce the flour by a few tablespoons to adjust for the reduced liquid amount. For just a hint of bourbon flavor, substitute bourbon for the vanilla and leave out the rest of the bourbon.
Did you try this recipe and and love it? 😍 Let me know by leaving a comment below or 5 ⭐ rating!
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More easy baked good recipes you'll love
📖 Recipe
Boozy Bourbon Blondies
Ingredients
- ½ cup Unsalted Butter (one stick)
- 1 cup Brown Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- ¼ cup Bourbon (any bourbon you like to drink)
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup All purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon Kosher Salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉ degrees. Prepare an 8x8 square baking pan by coating with baking spray.
- In a medium glass bowl in the microwave, melt the stick of butter (about 30 seconds). Once melted, let cool for 5 minutes.
- Whisk in the brown sugar until well combined with the sugar completely melted into the butter.
- Whisk in the egg, the vanilla, the bourbon until well combined
- Switch to a large spoon or spatula and gently stir in the flour, salt and baking soda just until the flour just disappears.
- Bake at 350℉ for 35-40 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto on a cooling rack to cool completely. Slice into small bars with a sharp knife and enjoy!
Notes
- Let blondies cool completely before cutting. Since these are rich, I suggest cutting them into bite-sized treats. You can get 16 bigger or 25 tiny pieces out of one batch.
Donna Carey says
I made these this weekend for a small get together. They turned out wonderfully. I followed your instructions to make them thicker. I made one and a half batch and baked in a 9 in. Square pan. Here are the quality quantities I used.
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) Butter, 1-1/2 Cups(270 g) dark brown sugar, one egg plus one egg yolk, 1/3 cup bourbon, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 200 g all purpose flour, 120 g butterscotch chips, 1/2 cup toasted pecans broken. Baked for 40 minutes.
Marni Katz says
Donn - I'm so glad you enjoyed them! Thank you so much for including what you changed to help others modify the recipe if desired 🙂
Danielle Piechowiak says
Fabulous! Parchment paper is a must. Otherwise it sticks to the pan. I LOVE blondies and this will be my go to!
Carol says
Really 3 sticks of butter?
Marni Katz says
The recipe calls for 1 stick of butter. I can't find mention of 3, but if you let me know where you see that I will quickly edit it. Sorry for any confusion 🙂
Kelly says
I love bourbon and I love blondies. Making these ASAP!!! Can't wait to try them. A caramel swirl would be an awesome mix-in to compliment the bourbon taste. YUM.
Michele K Hervol says
I'm not usually a bourbon fan, but these sound delicious - I'll give them a try for sure!
Jamie says
My goodness these sound, and look, delicious! I'm all about a dessert that incorporates liquor. Thanks for sharing!
Natali says
I had no idea bourbon gave those type of flavors! I’m going to try this soon!
Suzan says
These look yummy & just in time for my daughters college grad party 🙂
Katie says
These look and sound amazing! I really like the adaptations and warnings you included. I'm going to Pin this for the future!
Mandee says
Those sound amazing! I love the taste of bourbon in baked goods. I make my own vanilla extract and in one of them I use bourbon as the alcohol base... I bet that would work amazingly well in these. Great post, I’ll definitely have to try making these soon!
simplegraytshirt says
I didn't think of using bourbon to make vanilla. That sounds great! I'll have to try it.