Blondies Secrets

Published July 1, 2005.

Cooks Illustrated

Had a chewy, full-flavored blondie lately? No? Well, neither had we.

The Problem

Blondies are often greasy, cakey, cloyingly sweet, and bland--an inferior cousin to the brownie.

The Goal

We wanted our blondies to be chewy but not dense, sweet but not cloying, and loaded with nuts and chocolate.

The Solution

Trial and error produced the best texture. We started by testing several traditional recipes, keeping equal parts of light brown sugar and flour but reducing the usual amounts of butter and eggs. We also added baking powder for extra lift. We boosted flavor by adding several stiff shots of vanilla, oven-toasting the nuts, and using a mixture of white chocolate and semisweet chocolate chips. We found the baking time was crucial and learned to disregard the usual signifiers of an adequately baked bar cookie (the cooked dough pulls away from the sides of the pan, a toothpick comes out clean), using color and textural indicators instead: Our blondies were done when they had a light golden brown top that appeared shiny and cracked.