These warm and gooey Gingerbread Blondies are a great dessert option instead of Christmas cookies. Made with brown butter, they're full of rich nutty caramel flavor and are also decorated with fun and festive white chocolate designs!
This post may contain affiliate links; please read my disclosure policy.
The perfect amount of gingerbread spice
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 *chef’s kiss* and will get you in the Christmas spirit in no time. You can even serve them chilled, which is actually how I prefer them. 😜
The secret ingredient in these Gingerbread Blondies 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.
Trust me—everyone will love them!
Ingredients for Gingerbread Blondies
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.
Eggs: To help provide some structure to our blondies. We'll utilize both the yolk and egg white.
Vanilla Extract: This will help enhance all of the yummy flavors already present in this recipe.
Baking Soda: One heaping teaspoon to help our blondies rise.
Salt: Just a pinch balances out our flavors.
Gingerbread Seasoning: A classic holiday spice! **If you're looking to make gingerbread seasoning from scratch, here is a helpful recipe link**
Flour: I used all purpose flour in this recipe.
White Chocolate Chips: We'll melt this down and use it to decorate the Gingerbread Blondies!
Kitchen equipment & tools needed
To make these Gingerbread Blondies, you'll need a sauce pot, handheld mixer, mixing bowl, measuring cups and spoons, rubber spatula, 8x8 baking dish, parchment paper, plastic bag for piping, and scissors.
How to make these Gingerbread Blondies
- Let's 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!
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 8x8 baking sheet with parchment paper. I highly recommend using the parchment paper. It makes the blondies so easy to remove.
- Add the brown butter to a mixing bowl with brown and white sugar. Beat together.
- Then, add an egg, egg whites, and vanilla extract. Mix.
- Fold in all purpose flour, baking soda, salt, and gingerbread seasoning.
- Pour blondie batter into your prepared baking dish and bake for 15 - 18 minutes or until the blondies have an even gold color.
- Chill the blondies until they come to room temperature. You can pop them in the refrigerator if you need to accelerate the process.
- While the blondies are chilling or baking, melt the white chocolate melting chips by placing them in a microwave safe bowl and microwaving in 30 second intervals. Stir until melted.
- 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 your white chocolate shapes chill outside or on a metal pan. TIP: You can chill a metal pan outside, layer the parchment paper on the pan, and then pipe. The chocolate will harden immediately.
- Then, add the white chocolate decorations to the blondies.
- Enjoy!
Wet Batter with dry ingredients Fold Together Before Baking After Baking Add White Chocolate Ready to serve!
How do you 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:
- 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.
- 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.
- Allow your butter to melt, stirring frequently to keep milk solids from sticking to the bottom of your pan.
- 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.
- 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 quick video if you’re looking for a visual on how to brown butter.
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.
Gingerbread Blondies FAQs
How do I store these Gingerbread Blondies?
I like to store these in the refrigerator. When chilled, they have the best doughy texture! You can also store them in an airtight cookie container. Whatever way you choose, they'll be good for up to 5 days.
Do you have any tips for success?
Let the blondies cool completely before adding white chocolate or slicing.
Can I freeze these blondies?
These blondies are definitely better fresh, but you could freeze in an airtight container after cooling and slicing. The texture isn’t as great after freezing, but I like to pop a frozen blondie in the microwave and eat with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for a quick yet decadent dessert.
Do I need to brown the butter?
You don’t HAVE to brown the butter, but I highly suggest it. It has a much bolder and richer flavor compared to regular butter. Plus, it only takes a few minutes!
Can I add white chocolate chips to the blondies, too?
This would be delicious! Not to mention, very beautiful with the white chips against the caramel color of your blondie.
What if I don’t want to use white chocolate at all?
If you aren’t a white chocolate fan, you can totally leave out the white chocolate topping. Instead, you could top with a dusting of powdered sugar or a cream cheese frosting.
What if I make too much brown butter?
Just keep it in the refrigerator to use in another meal. Brown butter is delicious with meats, in sauces, on potatoes, or even just a good piece of bread.
Other sweet treats you might like
Peanut Butter Monster Cookie Recipe
Shortbread Christmas Cookies with Icing
White Chocolate Dipped Peppermint Cookies
Gingerbread Blondies Recipe
Equipment
- Sauce pot
- Handheld mixer
- Mixing Bowl
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Rubber Spatula
- 8x8 baking dish
- parchment paper
- Small plastic baggie
- Scissor
Ingredients
- 10 tbsp butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp egg white
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp Gingerbread spice
- 1 heaping tsp baking soda
- pinch salt
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup white chocolate melting chips
Instructions
- Let's 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 in the post above!
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 8x8 baking sheet with parchment paper. I highly recommend using the parchment paper. It makes the blondies so easy to remove.
- Add the brown butter to a mixing bowl with brown and white sugar. Beat together.
- Then, add an egg, egg whites, and vanilla extract. Mix.
- Fold in all purpose flour, baking soda, salt, and gingerbread seasoning.
- Pour blondie batter into your prepared baking dish and bake for 15 - 18 minutes or until the blondies have an even gold color.
- Chill the blondies until they come to room temperature.
- While the blondies are chilling or baking, melt the white chocolate melting chips by placing them in a microwave safe bowl and microwaving in 30 second intervals. Stir until melted.
- 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 your white chocolate shapes chill outside or on a metal pan. TIP: You can chill a metal pan outside, layer the parchment paper on the pan, and then pipe. The chocolate will harden immediately.
- Then, add the white chocolate decorations to the blondies.
- Enjoy!
Notes
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. It’s my passion to create dishes that can be shared with others. Tell me something you loved, something that you think it might need, or just say hi!
Looking for this in MyFitnessPal?
If you're using MyFitnessPal, search 'A Paige Of Positivity' and find Gingerbread Blondies
**Disclaimer: for most accurate macronutrients and caloric breakdown, it is recommended that you input each ingredient into your MyFitnessPal food diary.
SHOP THIS POST!
Note: The links above will open in Amazon.com
Amazing!! I did a quick Google search to make my own gingerbread seasoning; so simple. Take the time to brown the butter! Absolutely delicious. Thanks again, Courtney!
This is lovely to hear!! I love seeing your creation 🙂
These blondies are absolutely insane. Such a good holiday dessert and pretty easy to make considering I had almost all of the ingredients already. I used powdered sugar instead of white chocolate on top and they were so delicious.
These are incredible!! They are a perfect spin on the classic gingerbread cookie. My family beat enjoyed them chilled. Can’t wait for more cookie week recipes to try!
SOO yummy!! Made them with oat flour as a substitute for my GF friend and still so delicious! These are a must-make for the holidays.
We wanted to make these a little more macro friendly, so we substituted Stevia white and brown sugar. This cut about 40 calories from the macros. We also made the DIY gingerbread spice. They are so yummy! Perfect gingerbread flavor without being overpowering. They also have the perfect soft texture. We ate them a little warm and they are the perfect comfort snack to eat while cuddled on the couch watching your favorite Christmas movie with the family!
So delicious! My photo doesn’t do them justice!
WOW WOW WOW!! These are insanely delicious!! I love gingerbread anything— these will definitely be on regular rotation!
I’m making 2 more batches of these to my cookie swap at work on Friday! Clearly I forgot to even take a picture because I was so excited to try them. They are “Christmas” in a cookie! LOVE them.
Truly don't have words for the perfect balance of sweet and gingerbread-spicy that these buttery blondies give. They're thick, chewy, and just quite perfect. Couldn't give a higher rating - made my own Gingerbread spice!! Yum Yum YUM!
Courtney has outdone herself with this one. The brown butter in this recipe CHANGES THE GAME. You may want to make a double batch right off the bat because these will not last long if you're sharing
I was not expecting to like these as much as I did! It's such a creative recipe and was so easy to make. My batter turned into more of a dough but it still turned out amazing. These will definitely become a holiday staple in my house!
Omg- these are AMAZING! I’m a sucker for ANYTHING gingerbread, but the texture of these blondies takes them to a whole new level. So decadent and soft. Will definitely be making again and again!
These. Are. Incredible. The texture, the taste… everything about them are delicious. I literally had to put them in the fridge so I stopped eating them, they are addictive!
these are absolutely delicious!! soft, gooey, and a perfect amount of gingerbread flavor. they were a huge hit with the fam. thanks, courtney!!
LOVE this recipe!! I made these gingerbread blondes for Christmas and they are amazing! I used cream cheese frosting instead of melted white chocolate and they were super easy to make. Will definitely be making these every year!
Made them twice in 5 days! The entire family went nuts for these. I knew the minute I added the browned butter to the sugar these would be amazing! I followed the recipe exactly both times. Very quick to put together and delicious!
I want to be buried in these blondies.
YES PLEASE. Made our own gingerbread spice & made these twice in a week. We found it was easier to put the icing right on the blondies as it stayed on better. But, we loved creating fun designs too. I love the crispy edge pieces best!!! These are dense and rich and festive and delicious!!!