Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Blondies
These salted caramel blondies are soft, tender, slightly chewy, the caramel oozes with every bite, there is an abundance of rich dark chocolate, and the perfect amount of sea salt that I want to lick off before I bite into my blondie. Sort of like licking the rim of a salted margarita before taking a sip. The nuttiness of the browned butter is so comforting and rich-tasting. If you’ve never browned butter, it’s super easy. I outlined it in the recipe below and it only takes about five minutes, but it’s a step that elevates your baked goods to truly the next level. The browned butter can stand up to other powerful flavors like salted caramel sauce and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt, such as Maldon, complements and accentuates the salted caramel as well. This is the rare dessert (after blogging since 2009 and I’ve made thousands) that I hid for myself in the freezer and was sad when they were gone.
What’s in Salted Caramel Blondies?
To make these caramel chocolate chip blondies, all you’ll need is:
Unsalted butter Egg Dark brown sugar Vanilla extract All-purpose flour Kosher salt Chocolate chunks Salted caramel sauce Sea salt flakes
How to Make Chocolate Chip Caramel Blondies
First, brown the butter. After it’s cooled slightly, add it to your standard blondie ingredients (I have 30+ variations of blondies) including an egg, brown sugar (I used dark for a richer flavor), vanilla, and flour before stirring in the chocolate chunks. It’s an easy no-mixer recipe and aside from the sauté pan used for browning the butter, there is just one mixing bowl used, which is sure nice when you’re doing dishes later. Spread 60% of the dough into the bottom pan, bake for 10 minutes, and drizzle with the salted caramel sauce. Top with the remaining 40% of the batter, bake for 15 minutes, and then you need to let this hot, heavy, scorchingly hot pan of caramel and chocolate and everything delicious chill for at least 3 hours, or overnight, before slicing and serving. If you dig in beforehand, you will have a big mess on your hands and there will be nothing neat about how they look.
What Kind of Caramel Sauce Should I Use?
You can use store bought salted caramel sauce and half of one 1o-ounce jar of Trader Joe’s works well. Or you can make Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce in 15 minutes using my scratch recipe. Either are great options.
Can I Use Chocolate Chips Instead of Chunks?
Chocolate chunks melt into the dough as the blondies bake and the chocolate is literally interwoven into every bite. Chocolate chips will remain much more intact and will not become nearly as dispersed into the dough like chunks will. For this recipe, I was going for a melted, dispersed chocolate effect, and used Trader Joe’s Chocolate Chunks but use what you prefer.
Tips for Making Salted Caramel Blondies
When adding the salted caramel sauce to the pan, make sure not to get too close to the edges of the pan, preserve at least 1/2-inch margins, because this is what will cause extreme sticking if the caramel bakes into the edges of your pan. Also, I also highly recommend lining your baking pan with heavy duty non-stick aluminum foil for easier cleanup. Make sure to use a heavy duty non-stick foil or the foil could stick to your dessert. But if you don’t use foil, the dessert could stick really terribly to your pan. Note that these salted caramel bars will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 4 months.
More Blondie Bar Recipes:
ALL OF MY BLONDIES RECIPES! Tried this recipe? Leave a review! Consider leaving a 5 star rating if you’ve made and loved one of my recipes! Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies — Super soft, slightly chewy, loaded with chocolate chips, and the browned butter takes them to the next level!! Fast, easy, no-mixer recipe that you HAVE to try!!
Chocolate Chip and Cherry Blondies — These cherry bars use my favorite blondie base and turn out perfectly every single time! These bars are seriously so good and are a reader favorite!
Nutella-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Blondies — The blondies are super soft, slightly chewy, buttery, and the Nutella in the middle is gooey, decadent, and wonderful with the texture of a perfect crackly brownie-like top.
Vanilla Bean Caramel Blondies — It’s an easy, fuss-free, one-bowl, no-mixer recipe everyone loves. The glaze is caramely from the brown sugar, buttery, creamy, slightly salty and reminiscent of salted caramel, and flavored with vanilla bean paste.
Peanut Butter Cup Peanut Butter Bars — An easy, fuss-free recipe that everyone will love. There’s peanut butter, peanut butter cups, and chocolate chips!
Espresso Chocolate Chip Blondies with Brown Sugar Frosting – EASY, chewy, super SOFT blondies infused with espresso and chocolate!! ENJOY your espresso in dessert form from now on! The brown sugar frosting is simply AMAZING!!
Salted Caramel Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars — The bars are made with salted caramel peanut butter and they’re super soft, slightly chewy, easy, and you don’t need a mixer.
