Gingerbread Blondies

About these Blondies

Looking for a festive Christmas dessert that isn't a cookie? You need to try these warm and gooey Gingerbread Blondies. Topped with fun and festive white chocolate designs, they're perfect to make for family during the holidays or bring to your next party!

These blondies have just the right amount of gingerbread spice and will get you in the Christmas spirit in no time. The secret ingredient in these Gingerbread Blondies, however, is brown butter.

Taking the little bit of extra time to brown your butter will take this classic dessert up a notch by adding the richest nutty and caramelized flavor. And if you love these blondies you may also love these Cranberry White Chocolate Bars, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Blondies, these Apple Cinnamon Blondies or my Homemade Frosted Cookie Cake.

Recipe Ingredients

• Butter: We'll be browning our butter in this recipe to bring out some delicious nutty and caramel flavor.
• Sugar: This recipe requires both brown and white sugar.
• Flour: I used all purpose and have not tried any substitutes. I'm sure Gluten Free 1:1 baking flour would be fine if you're looking to make these gluten free.
• Gingerbread Seasoning: A classic holiday spice that gives these bars a festive feel.
• White Chocolate Chips: We'll melt this down and use it to decorate the blondies.

See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.

How to Make This Recipe

1. Begin by browning our butter. Heat a sauce pot to medium-heat and add butter. Stir consistently for 4-6 minutes or until the butter begins to bubble and thicken. NOTE: You do not want to burn the butter. I provide more tips for achieving the best brown butter below!

2. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 8x8 baking sheet with parchment paper.

3. Add the brown butter to a mixing bowl with brown and white sugar. Beat together.

4. Then, add an egg, egg whites, and vanilla extract. Mix.

5. Fold in all purpose flour, baking soda, salt, and gingerbread seasoning.

6. Pour blondie batter into your prepared baking dish and bake for 15 - 18 minutes or until the blondies have an even gold color.

7. Let the blondies cool to room temperature. You can pop them in the refrigerator if you need to accelerate the process.

8. While the blondies are baking / chilling, melt the white chocolate melting chips by placing them in a microwave safe bowl and heating in 30 second intervals. Stir between each interval.

9. Pour the white chocolate into a sandwich baggie and snip off one corner with a scissor. Use to make fun and festive shapes like Christmas trees or snowflakes on a piece of parchment paper. Let the chocolate shapes chill in the fridge or outside (up away from animals!), which will only take a few minutes.

10. Add the chocolate shapes on top of the blondies, slice and enjoy!

How to Brown Butter

Browning butter is the process of taking regular butter just past its melting point to toast the milk solids. Doing this brings out the nuttier, richer, and caramel flavors of butter and really takes this recipe up a notch! Here’s the details on how to do it: 

1. You’ll need a small saucepan and whisk or spoon. I suggest a stainless steel or lighter color pan so you can see when the butter begins to change in color.
2. Heat your pan over medium-high heat. Cut your butter into slices and add it to the heated pan. It’s best to use unsalted butter for this. 
3. Allow your butter to melt, stirring frequently to keep milk solids from sticking to the bottom of your pan. 
4. After a couple of minutes, your butter should begin to foam and browned specks should appear. Watch your butter closely! It should turn from yellow to a golden brown. 
5. Once the butter becomes a deep golden brown, transfer to a heat-proof bowl. This will stop the cooking process.  

Burnt butter, which will leave black bits on the bottom of your pan, will have a very bitter flavor. If this happens, unfortunately, you'll need to toss it and try again. If you are nervous about this process, I recommend following the same steps on a lower heat to slow down the cooking process.

Here’s a video on how to brown butter if you’re looking for a visual, too.

Note that some of the butter evaporates while it’s browning, so you end up with slightly less brown butter compared to the amount of butter you started with. A good rule of thumb is for every stick (8 tablespoons) of browned butter, you need an extra tablespoon of solid butter to make it. For this recipe, I used 10 tablespoons of solid butter (1¼ stick) and ended up with just just over 8 tablespoons, or 1 stick. So, if you do decide not to brown your butter, you’ll only need ~8.25 tablespoons.