Happy Easter
I’ve said it before, and I stand by my statement: Easter food beats all other holiday food (yes, including Thanksgiving food), for several reasons:
- Spring delivers some of my favorite seasonal produce–strawberries, artichokes, mushrooms, leeks, sweet peas, carrots, greens, lemon, herbs…
- Brunch is often the main meal.
- Chocolate plays a major role.
- A feast is welcomed but less pressured compared to the other feast holidays.
- Soft colors, sunny themes, and pastel decorations brighten the atmosphere and reflect the joy of the holiday.
Malted Browned Butter blondies
These mini egg blondies are just the thing to complete your Easter spread, graduation tea, spring picnic, or potluck. They’re super easy to package, transport, and store, so they are ideal for gifting (or stashing away in the freezer for yourself). You can also easily adapt them for other seasons by replacing the mini eggs with other mix-ins (chopped chocolate of any kind, m&ms, peanut butter m&ms, nuts, toffee, etc.) and/or use the dough to make individual cookies. No matter how you use it, get ready for this malted browned butter cookie dough to be your new favorite for all the cookie occasions.
I actually hesitated to use the term “blondies” for these bars because so much about them is toasty and nutty and caramely and, well, brown. But unfortunately the term “brownies” is already taken and would just confuse people.
There are two big secrets to the unbelievable flavor of this dough (although not the best-kept secrets, as I put them in the title):
- Malted milk powder
- Browned butter
They both work together to create deep levels of nutty, toasty, caramely, earthy yet pleasantly sweet flavors and aromas that will warm your soul.
For the dough, I brown half of the butter for flavor and leave the remaining half softened. It’s important to cool the browned butter to room temp and soften the remaining butter to slightly cooler than room temp so the butter and sugar properly cream together.
The magic sugar ratio here is 2:1 brown sugar to granulated sugar. The exact effect of each type of sugar on the final product involves a lot of science (this is a good summary from Serious Eats). But generally speaking, brown sugar develops rich and complex flavors from its molasses content, reacts with baking soda to make the cookies puffy and soft, and acts as a tenderizer to make the cookies thick and chewy. White sugar creams with butter to aerate the dough and contributes to the tender inside/crispy outside effect. Working together, they create blondies that are thick, soft and chewy in the center, extra moist, crispy-crumbly on the edges, and super rich in flavor.
Our featured mix-in is Cadbury mini eggs–hunks of smooth and creamy milk chocolate coated in a crunchy pastel shell, roughly chopped for chocolatey goodness in every bite. Not only do they add rich chocolate and festive color, but the crunch of the sugar shell makes the texture so fun and satisfying. Besides Cadbury mini eggs, another favorite of mine is m&m’s peanut butter chocolate eggs.
If mini egg season has passed, the mix-in possibilities are nearly endless. You can load them up with chocolate chips/chunks of choice, seasonal m&ms, toffee, nuts, coconut, or pieces of your favorite chocolate candy.
If using the dough for cookies rather than blondies, make sure to chill the dough for at least an hour before baking. This will keep the cookies from spreading too quickly and keep them thick, soft, and chewy.
After cooling inside the pan, transfer the uncut blondies to a wire rack to finish cooling completely before cutting. Baking them longer will create crispy edges for the crunchy cookie fans (above), but the centers will stay chewy and soft. I prefer to lean on the shorter baking time to get that irresistible melt-in-your-mouth texture all throughout (below). They will finish setting up as they cool.
Mini Egg Malted Browned Butter Blondies
Sweet & nutty malted milk powder and toasty browned butter give these chewy blondies an unmistakable rich flavor. Loaded with the smooth chocolate of mini Cadbury eggs, these blondies make the perfect festive Easter treat.
Notes
This recipe can easily be adapted for individual cookies. See alternative instructions in the recipe below.
Outside mini egg season, try any of these mix-ins: chocolate chips/chunks, m&ms, peanut butter m&ms, butterscotch chips, shredded coconut, toffee, chopped chocolate candy of choice
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temp
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 3/8 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/3 cups (165g) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup (24g) malted milk powder (if omitting malted milk powder, increase flour to 1.5 cups)
- 1/2 cup (~3.5 oz) roughly chopped mini eggs (Cadbury or M&M peanut butter eggs), plus extra (halved) for the top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line an 8x8-inch nonstick brownie pan with parchment paper. (Or line a cookie sheet with parchment paper if making individual cookies).
- Add half of the stick of butter (1/4 cup) to a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir to melt, then bring to a light bubble. Allow the butter to foam about 3-4 minutes, until browned bits form at the bottom. (The aroma will become toasty and nutty.) Remove from heat and transfer the browned butter (including the browned bits at the bottom!) to a measuring cup to cool completely to room temp. (When slightly warm, you may place it in the fridge to cool faster.)
- Leave the remaining 1/2 stick of butter out to soften to room temperature.
- In a large mixing bowl (for hand mixer) or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the cooled browned butter, softened butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Cream together about 3 minutes, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl, until light in color and fluffy.
- Beat in the egg until incorporated. Add the vanilla, sea salt, and baking soda, and mix until combined.
- Add the flour and malted milk powder, and mix just until the dough starts to come together. Switch to a wooden spoon and stir to finish combining.
- Use the wooden spoon to fold in chopped mini eggs (or substitutes ~ see notes and post above).
- If making individual cookies: Chill the dough at least 2 hours before baking. Scoop out balls of dough and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, leaving space in between. Bake 8 minutes. Finish with a pinch of flakey sea salt, if desired. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
- For blondies: Pour dough into the prepared brownie pan and spread evenly. Top with extra mini eggs (halved). Bake 18-20 minutes, until just beginning to set on the edges and still jiggly in the center. Remove from oven and cool in the pan about 30 minutes. Lift the parchment paper and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling completely before slicing. Slice into 12 or 16 bars. Enjoy!
- To store: Keep in an air-tight container at room temperature up to 3 days (for max freshness). Or, seal in a freezer baggy and store frozen up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature, or heat in the microwave 30-40 seconds and enjoy warm.