These brown butter turtle blondies are filled with dark chocolate chips, crunchy pecans, and homemade salted caramel. They have crispy edges, are super gooey on the inside, and insanely good.
If you've ever had turtle candies, you know why this flavor combo is so good! With creamy caramel, smooth chocolate, and crunchy pecans, it's a perfect marriage of texture and flavor!
All week, Kyle and I have been arguing about the difference between a brownie and a blondie. He wants to call anything square a brownie and it's driving me crazy (have we been quarantined together for too long? maybe). But the one thing we agree on is that you NEED to make these brown butter turtle blondies with homemade salted caramel like yesterday!
You might also like these fudgy espresso brownies or these pecan pie cookie bars!
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Ingredient Notes
You only need a few ingredients to make these caramel pecan blondies!
Brown Butter - My favorite ingredient of all time is brown butter!! Brown butter is just unsalted butter that has been melted and gently cooked to bring out a toasty, nutty flavor. If you've never made brown butter before, you can check out this post with all my tips for how to make brown butter! But if you're trying to keep things simple, you can just use regular unsalted butter in the blondies!
Chocolate Chips - If you like dark chocolate, I highly recommend the Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate baking chips. The flavor is amazing and the baking chips are slightly larger and flatter than normal chocolate chips and melt beautifully inside your blondies. Trader Joe's chocolate chips are also some of my faves!
Pecans - Roughly chopped, unsalted pecans are best for this recipe. But you could also substitute walnuts, almonds, or just leave out the nuts if you prefer!
Flaky Sea Salt - This is completely optional, but I just love a little sprinkle of flaky sea salt on top of the turtle blondies!
Salted Caramel - I prefer to use my homemade salted caramel to fill the blondies! I've included how to make salted caramel in the recipe card below, but you can also check out my full post for how to make homemade caramel for more details and step by step photos!!
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
How to Make Blondies
Using a stand or hand mixer, cream together the brown butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar until smooth and creamy.
Add in the eggs and vanilla extract and beat until the texture is light and fluffy (about 3-5 minutes, it should look much paler than before).
Add in the flour, baking powder, and salt and mix until thoroughly combined. The dough should be wet and sticky.
Using a spoon or spatula, gently fold in the dark chocolate chips and pecans.
Cut a parchment paper sling slightly smaller than the width of the cake pan and make sure it fits flatly in the bottom. Then lightly spray the bottom and sides of the pan with a vegetable oil based spray (I love Bakers Joy or Everbake). Place you parchment paper sling in the bottom of the pan and smooth it out so that it sticks to the pan spray (you can use metal binder clips to secure it to the pan). After baking you’ll be able to just slide the turtle blondies right out of the pan!
I love all of my USA Pan cake pans because they are extremely sturdy and truly nonstick. However, I still like to prepare my pans to ensure the blondies come out easily.
Scoop half of the dough into the bottom of your prepared pan and press down into a nice even layer (you can wet the tips of your fingers to easily flatten out the dough).
Drizzle about ¼ cup of the cooled caramel sauce over top of the dough and smooth out into an even layer.
Scoop the remaining dough on top of the caramel layer and press down into an even layer. Sprinkle some extra pecans or chocolate chips on top.
Place in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to firm up slightly before baking.
While the blondies are chilling, preheat the oven to 350°F.
Bake blondies at 350°F for 30-35 minutes or until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean.
Remove from the oven and let fully cool in the pan. Then use the edges of the parchment paper to slide the turtle blondies out of the pan.
Slice into squares and drizzle with extra salted caramel and flaky sea salt!
Tips for the Best Brownies!
(and blondies too!)
Use room temperature ingredients! Always make sure ingredients like butter, eggs, milk, etc. are at room temperature before baking (unless the recipe indicates otherwise)! This ensures they'll incorporate into the batter more easily and leads to overall better texture. Remove all ingredients from the fridge 30 minutes to an hour before baking for best results.
Measure your flour correctly! It's most accurate to use a kitchen scale, but if you're measuring by volume you want to spoon and level! Fluff up the flour a bit with a spoon, and then spoon flour into the measuring cup. Once it's overflowing, use the back of a knife to level it off. Don't ever pack flour into the measuring cup or you'll end up with way too much! Improperly measured flour can lead to dry, dense baked goods. Same goes for cocoa powder!
Use an oven thermometer! Just because your oven says it's 350, doesn't mean it is! If you oven hasn't been calibrated recently, it can be as much as 30 degrees off, which will negatively affect all baked goods from cakes to macarons! An oven thermometer is the easiest/cheapest way to ensure your oven is always at the proper temperature.
Use a metal baking pan! Not all materials are created equal when it comes to baking. Metal cake pans conduct heat much better than other materials like glass or ceramic, so your baked goods will cook faster and more evenly!
It's better to undercook the brownies slightly, than overcook them! Brownies will dry out quick, so it's best to err on the side of caution when baking brownies! Bake just until an inserted toothpick comes out mostly clean but still a tad gooey. If you aren't sure, just go ahead and take them out because they'll continue to firm up as they cool. Note: the larger the pan, the less time the brownies will take to cook.
Be patient and let them cool. Warm brownies fresh out of the oven are delish, I know. But it's best to let them fully cool before digging in. The brownies will be less likely to crumble when you cut them and the center is more likely to be fully cooked while still being perfectly fudgy.
Recipe FAQ's
Store blondies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
"Turtle" flavor refers to a combination of chocolate, caramel, and pecans! Named for the chocolate, caramel, and pecan candies that are shaped like little turtles!
These blondies are best with homemade caramel, but you can use store-bought if you prefer. Just note that different brands of caramel sauce will have different consistencies and react to heat differently, so I cannot guarantee results.
No, you can use regular unsalted butter if you prefer!
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
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Recipe Card
Brown Butter Turtle Blondies with Homemade Salted Caramel
Special Equipment
Ingredients
Salted Caramel
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon flaky sea salt
Blondies
- 1 cup unsalted brown butter, room temperature
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup chocolate chips
- ½ cup pecans, chopped
- ¼ cup salted caramel
- flaky sea salt
Instructions
Salted Caramel
- I highly reccomend making the caramel the night before the blondies, so that it has time to fully cool to room temperature.
- In a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat, add the sugar and stir every 1-2 minutes or so until it begins to melt (the sugar will start to clump up before melting).
- Once the sugar is completely melted, immediately remove from the heat and stir in the butter until combined (don't be scared if it bubbles a lot).
- Add in the heavy cream and salt and mix until fully combined and smooth.
- Pour the caramel into a glass jar to cool. Can be stored in the fridge for up to a month!
- If you make the caramel the night before, it can sit covered at room temperature overnight so that it's a nice pourable consistency.
Blondies
- Using a stand or hand mixer, cream together the brown butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar until smooth and creamy.
- Add in the eggs and vanilla extract and beat until the texture is light and fluffy (about 3-5 minutes, it should look much paler than before).
- Add in the flour, baking powder, and salt and mix until thoroughly combined. The dough should be wet and sticky.
- Using a spoon or spatula, gently fold in the dark chocolate chips and pecans.
- Cut a parchment paper sling slightly smaller than the width of the cake pan and make sure it fits flatly in the bottom. Then lightly spray the bottom and sides of the pan with a vegetable oil based spray. Place you parchment paper sling in the bottom of the pan and smooth it out so that it sticks to the pan spray (you can use metal binder clips to secure it to the pan).
- Scoop half of the dough into the bottom of your prepared pan and press down into a nice even layer (you can wet the tips of your fingers to easily flatten out the dough).
- Drizzle about ¼ cup of the cooled caramel sauce over top of the dough and smooth out into an even layer.
- Scoop the remaining dough on top of the caramel layer and press down into an even layer. Sprinkle some extra pecans or chocolate chips on top.
- Place in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to firm up slightly before baking.
- While the blondies are chilling, preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Bake blondies at 350°F for 30-35 minutes or until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean.
- Remove from the oven and let fully cool in the pan. Then use the edges of the parchment paper to slide the turtle blondies out of the pan.
- Slice into squares and drizzle with extra salted caramel and flaky sea salt!
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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