Blondies vs Brownies: What’s the difference + Recipes
We will take a look at the question, “Blondies vs Brownies: What’s the real difference?” and go over my favorite low carb gluten free recipes that celebrate both of these bar cookies!
Here is where we will set the record straight that blondies and brownies are indeed different although they are both similar!
These two bar desserts are the perfect choice when you want a small batch of chewy gems that will please any crowd!
A few similarities are obvious like how a chewy blondie and a chewy brownie have their wonderful chew, but the main difference is that one has cocoa, and one does not.
It actually goes a bit deeper than that on how the sugars work together and how the combination of butter plus other ingredients create each of these unique desserts presented in bar shapes!
What are Low Carb Brownies?
Out of all of the brownies I have made, wether fudgy brownies, or thicker cakey brownies, they all start with cocoa powder.
This ingredient is what has brownie fans raving as the chocolate is the best part of this dessert treat!
Brownies are made with the basic ingredients of chocolate, butter, flour and a granulated sweetener.
The trick though is to get all of the wet ingredients whisked up well before you add in the dry ingredients.
The fudgy texture is maintained when you do not overmix them.
Of course my flour of choice is almond flour, so I stay gluten free and low carb, and this helps to hold all of the richness together.
For example my recipe for Little Melissa’s Fudge Brownies give you a semi-cakey base with the combination of almond flour and a little arrowroot powder.
Its fudgy ganache topping really adds a flair to the more cakey base.
Then in my Low Carb Fudge Brownies recipe I use only a small amount of almond flour and extra butter to keep it extra fudgy without needing a topping!
Its important to use room temperature butter so the brownie batter ends up smooth.
You could even add in an extra egg yolk to bump up the fudgy texture that would have any brownie lover raving!
These are the most delicious brownies ever that I have used in many different recipes like my Samoas Brownies, or use as a base in my Keto Brownie Pudding Delight!
So when you want a chewy cookie with the texture like a chocolate cake square, reach for a rich brownie made with chocolate!
Out of all of my brownie recipes, my easy recipe for Low Carb Fudge Brownies is the most popular and quickest to make when a craving strikes!
What are Low Carb Blondies?
They have a chewy texture, but they do not contain chocolate and have a caramel butterscotch flavor to them.
They could be mistaken for aย butterscotch brownie, but I always thought of them as having a chocolate chip cookies base without the chocolate chips and loads of butter!
My easy blondie recipe features the main ingredients of nut butter and brown butter in combination with brown sugar to create the perfect chewy golden brown blondies.
Granulated sweetener, like white sugar or monk fruit, is not in this Keto Chocolate Chip Blondie in order to keep the texture chewy and not cakey.
The best way to maintain the gooey blondie layer is to add melted butter with the light brown sugar creating the thick blondie batter.
You can of course go with a dark brown sugar or my recipe for Keto Copycat Brown Sugar.
The notes of brown sugar are very prominent in traditional blondies as it is in this low carb version as it is the mostย important ingredientย that MAKES a blondie.
Take my Keto Blondies a step further and created my Keto Bananas Foster Chocolate Chip Blondies and swirled my keto caramel sauce into the batter!
Don’t forget to add in the vanilla extract as this pairs well with the brown sugar and ample amounts of butter!
The key to making sure the blondies hold together and do not turn into a smooshy mess is to cool them for at least an hour on a wire rack so they mold themselves.
Otherwise, you will have a hard time eating them as they will be too gooey to even pick up!
You may usually find blondies plain without any additions, but to tell the truth, I love adding in extras!
My favorite additions to jazz up these Low Carb Blondies are: butterscotch chips, white chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, milk chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit and many other ones your imagination can come up with!
Here is my most popular version of my Keto Blondies that has set the stage for many other recipe creations!
You can also go wild and combine a batch of my Keto Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies with my Low Carb Fudge Brownie Recipe to make some Keto Gluten Free Cast Iron Skillet Brookies!
Tips, Substitutions and FAQs
- Make sure you use an 8×8 inch pan for any of these recipes so you maintain the thickness and fudginess.
- If you happen to have any leftover, make sure you store them in an airtight container up to 1 week. They will stay fresh this way and are great for lunchboxes! Maintain freshness on-the-go when you wrap them individually with plastic wrap.
- Whether you are making the brownies or the blondies, make sure you have a prepared pan handy that is lined with parchment paper so you can lift out the cookie bars to cut on your cutting board. This helps to maintain their shape and make cutting into the gooey texture easier without making a mess of them.
- Go crazy and make both a batch of my Keto Blondies and a batch of my Low Carb Fudge Brownies and combine them to make brownie blondie bars! You can either layer them and swirl, or spread the brownie batter in the bottom of a square baking pan and then plop the keto blondie batter in a cobblestone pattern on top by using a cookie scoop.
- You can turn the Keto Blondies recipe into a White Chocolate Blondies recipe when you add in white chocolate chips instead of the regular chocolate chips.
- Both of these recipes make the perfect treats for any bake sales you have coming up! These cookie bars whether with chocolate or not are the love language of many people!
- You can freeze them too if you want to make them ahead for meal prep or a special occasion coming up. Just cut individually, flash freeze flat on a baking sheet for an hour, then transfer to a freezer bag. You can also wrap each individually with plastic wrap to further prevent possible freezer burn.
- Add in a unique crunch and salty flavor when you stir in crushedย potato chipsย into theย blondie batterย orย brownie batter. Before spreading the batter into yourย prepared pan, add the crushedย potato chipsย to aย large bowlย and stir everything together with a large spoon. Mixing them in with aย stand mixerย will crush them too fine and the results may be too salty.
Can I freeze the raw batter of the blondie brownie recipe or brownie blondie recipe instead of baking them?
Yes, you can freeze the raw batter and then bake later. This works with blondies or brownies equally. My post onย How to Freeze Homemade Brownie Batterย goes over all of the tips, and information you need to successfully freeze raw brownie batter without any special equipment. These instructions also work on prepared brownie batter from a brownie mix too!
Is there a way to make a white chocolate brownie that does not use cocoa powder?
Yes, there is! You would replace some of the butter with cocoa butter and add in a few tablespoons more of gluten free all purpose flour to help replace the absorbency of the cocoa powder that is missing.
How can you combine the flavors of a blonde brownies recipe with a brownie blondies recipe?
This combination would be commonly called a Brookie. It is a brownie with cookie dough, or blondies dough added together. You can do this in layers or scoop the dough of one and put it on top of the other. In the case of the Keto Cast Iron Skillet Brookies I made, I spread the brownie dough with a rubber spatula to keep the layer even, then I used a cookie scoop to plop balls of blondie dough on top. I baked it until the toothpick tested clean.
Can you incorporate peanut butter into the blondie recipe instead of the neutral nut butter in the recipe listed?
Switch out the neutral cashew butter in my Keto Blondies recipe with peanut butter to create a peanut butter brownie. The results will be like chewy peanut butter cookie bars. Think about adding in some sugar free dark chocolate chips to give it a peanut butter cup flavor.ย
Can I use egg replacement in either recipe for brownies or blondies?
You will find that using an egg replacement in a recipe works best when the recipe calls for 1 large egg versus 2ย large eggsย or more.
In myย Low Carb Fudge Brownie Recipeย the egg acts as a simple binder for the other ingredients. Bob’s Red Mill makes an egg replacer that would work in this instance.
When you have a recipe like myย Keto Chocolate Chip Blondiesย that uses 2ย large eggs, it gets a little more complicated as the egg acts as a binder and as liquid in the recipe. Your blondies may end up a bit more cakey versus chewy but should turn out fine.
Is there a way to make the brownies have a cream cheese swirl in them?
Yes! It is easy to add in a cream cheese swirl to your brownies to make them ultra decadent!
Theย next timeย you make my Low Carb Brownies, add 2 oz ofย room temperatureย cream cheese to aย medium bowlย and mix with 1 egg plus 1 tablespoon of tapioca starch.
If you are going to use a hand mixer, then aย large mixing bowlย would be better to get the cream cheese incorporated well with the other ingredients. Once this mixture is mixed smooth, you will swirl it into the preparedย brownie batterย before baking.
Theย best wayย to do this is to plop the cream cheese mixture into a cobblestone pattern, then run a butter knife through it swirling. The less you swirl, the better, as you want to make sure theย brownie batterย surrounds the cream cheese addition but does not touch the bottom. If you have too many swirls, then the brownies will fall apart at the cream cheese swirl.
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