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Brown Sugar Cashew Blondies

The nutty, caramel-like flavor of these Brown Sugar Cashew Blondies combined with how easy they are makes them a big winner!

Brown Sugar Cashew Blondies on a small white tray

Brown sugar is one of my favorite baking ingredients. Everything is way behind chocolate on that list, but brown sugar is pretty close to the top. Combine that with how much I like baking bars, and you get these beauties.

sliced Brown Sugar Cashew Blondies on a white tray

I’ve lamented before that cashews often get overlooked in baking. (If you agree, check out this or maybe this.) What better complement to all that brown sugar goodness than a big helping of cashews?

These blondies are bursting with brown sugar, creating a caramel-like flavor that is just fantastic. They’re simple to make and full of flavor. All of that together makes them pretty fabulous in my book.

Find more blondie recipes in the Recipe Index.

More Brown Sugar Treats

Brown Sugar Cashew Blondies

Yield 16 2-inch bars
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes

With their nutty, caramel-like flavor, Brown Sugar Cashew Blondies are sure to be a crowd-pleaser! These chewy blondies are perfect for any occasion!

Brown Sugar Cashew Blondies on a small white tray

Ingredients

  • 1 & 1/2 cups (180g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt*
  • 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 cups (400g) packed light brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup (150g) chopped unsalted roasted cashews*

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.
  2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  3. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until combined after each addition. Mix in the vanilla.
  4. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture, mixing until combined. Stir in the cashews.
  5. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan. Bake 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Notes

*If using salted cashews, you may want to reduce salt to 1/2 teaspoon.

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Brown Sugar Cashew Blondies

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    26 Comments on “Brown Sugar Cashew Blondies”

  1. I recently discovered my love for cashews and these bars look like they’ll sufficiently fill my cravings 🙂 I pinned this recipe!

  2. Oh WOW!! This combination sounds like a must do for sure 🙂 Delicious!

  3. Cashew and brown sugar are made for each other – yum!

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru
    Latest: Rich Sticky Date Pudding w/ Butterscotch Sauce

  4. brown sugar and brown butter – both so good! A lot of the dessert catering we have done lately requests that type of item. It’s the nuts and raisins that divide people. Most go without nuts out of consideration to potential allergies, but they seem evenly split on the raisins question.

  5. i love the smell of dark brown sugar.
    i know that sounds odd, but i just love it.
    have you tried those spicy thai cashews from trader joe’s? so good

  6. Gorgeous! I adore cashews — just recently made cashew and toffee cookies. These are next!

  7. Your recipes and baked goods look delicious. I believe you should have an online bakery…let me know when I can order!

    I have a question for you on storing brown sugar. Have you ever used one of those little brown clay bears? They are supposed to keep the brown sugar soft. I have never had any luck with that. I have never really had great success with ‘air tight’ containers either. How silly!
    I just find the best storage for brown sugar to be a large zip lock bag.
    What about you?

    You do an outstanding job…beautiful…certainly does not appear to be an Amateur at work here!

    • Victoria, as fast as I go through brown sugar, I never really have much need for those things. I keep mine in an airtight container. Ziploc works just as well, as it should be mostly airtight, too.

    • I just made these and my guests raved about them and wanted the recipe. I did make one addition – after I put the batter in the pan I took an additional cup of whole cashews and pressed them evenly into the top. They were wonderful! I did use salted cashews and halved the salt called for, as suggested. I’ll be making these again!

  8. i have a new found love of cashews so must try this recipe, not to mention I am a sucker for blondies!

  9. Looks great. Have you tried making your own vanilla?

    Rusty from makingvanilla.com

  10. I love cashews, these look amazing.

  11. I’ve baked two of your recipes now – this one, in particular, was delicious – but I’ve found that (in two separate ovens) they required significantly longer baking times than you’ve listed. This one took nearly an hour and a half at 350 degrees! In addition, both bar recipes I’ve tried ended up with a caved-in middle. Any ideas? Would more flour or switching to one egg help with this issue? We are at sea level, but perhaps you are in a high-altitude location?

  12. Just made these! WOW! Incredible raves and deservedly so! Thank you for the great recipe.

  13. Made these and everyone loved them. Chewy with a wonderful flavor. these would also be good with macadamia nuts. I agree with “Kate”; the ones I made caved in, but it didn’t seem to affect the taste.

  14. I made these last night and they had a really nice caramel-y flavor. I love how few ingredients they have, and I love cashews! But I had the same issues as Kate here. Mine required about an hour in the oven and were still quite gooey in the middle. I had to put foil around the edges so the corners wouldn’t burn while the middle stayed uncooked. I’d make this again, but maybe spread them thinner or cook them at a higher temperature?

  15. Hi! I “liked” your blog just a few days ago and I already have plans to make quite a few things that you’ve posted. I also had a question about brown sugar: Can I use dark instead of light? Where I live I can’t find light brown sugar. Thank you!

  16. Hey there! I made these yesterday for some friends and they were a hit! I used half dark and half light brown sugar. Yes, now I can find the light variety where I live. Superb recipe!

  17. Made these bloodies and they were amazing.  I also added about 1/4 cup of butterscotch chips. They were a big hit and I’d make them again – soon!!

  18. I love this recipe.  I did modify it by doing a “twice bake”.  After the first bake, I let it cool and then cut into bars and re-baked it.  Becomes crunchy/chewy!  

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