Martha Stewart offers a “Cookie of the Day” email that I have been getting for over a year now.  I have made a few of these cookies, but rarely do the cookies just scream out and beg for me to make them.  These brown butter blondies, however, were something I just couldn’t resist.

Browned butter is something special.  You can smell the nuttiness as it begins to brown in the pan, and the rich flavor that it gives to baked goods is tremendous.  This brown butter frosting is delicious, and worth a try on the pumpkin cookies, on vanilla cupcakes, and especially nice on pumpkin cake or bread.

These blondies are rich, and so your sweet tooth can be satisfied with a small square.  But, if you’re like me, you justify having a second small square since you only had one small piece to begin with!  Make sure to let these cool completely before cutting and removing from the pan.  They will seem a bit gooey in the center after 40 minutes of baking, but resist the urge to keep baking.  Just let them sit and be patient.  I replaced the walnuts called for in the original recipe with pecans, but everything else in the recipe remained as written.  Here is the link to Martha’s recipe.

Brown Butter Toffee Blondies

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for pan
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 cups packed light-brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup toffee bits

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.
2. In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the butter until it turns golden brown; remove from heat, and let cool. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine browned butter and both sugars; stir with a wooden spoon until combined. Attach bowl to mixer; add eggs. Using the paddle attachment, beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add vanilla, and beat to combine. Add flour mixture, walnuts, and toffee bits. Mix until thoroughly combined, and pour into prepared pan.
4. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes (do not overbake). Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before turning out of pan onto a cutting board. Cut blondies into 3-inch squares. Blondies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.