The best high altitude recipe for butter pecan blondies, made with browned butter and a hint of bourbon. These soft and chewy butter pecan cookie bars are easy to make, with no mixer needed.
You might also love these recipes for butter pecan biscotti, butter pecan cake, and nutty brown butter cookies.

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Easy to Make. You don’t even need a mixer to make the dough, and you can stir it up completely by hand.
Thick, Soft and Chewy. These are really chewy cookie bars that stay moist and soft for days after baking.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.

See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Butter. By browning the melted butter first, you’ll add a wonderful nutty flavor to these blondies that’s so good with the pecans.
- Granulated Sugar + Brown Sugar.
- Vanilla Extract.
- Bourbon. You don’t have to add the bourbon, but it’s a really delicious hint of flavor.
- Eggs.
- All Purpose Flour.
- Baking Powder.
- Salt.
- Pecans.

Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Lightly spray a 9×9 inch square baking pan with non-stick baking spray, or line it with parchment paper.
- In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter for about 4-5 minutes, swirling occasionally to see the bottom of the pan, until the butter is very fragrant, and nutty, golden brown solids have formed on the bottom of the pan.
- Pour the brown butter, scraping up all of the browned bits, too, into a medium-sized mixing bowl, and let cool at room temperature for 10 minutes.
- To the butter, add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, bourbon, and eggs, and whisk vigorously for 2 minutes, until smooth and lightened in color.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture and the chopped pecans to the butter mixture, and stir together with a spatula until all the flour is incorporated.






- Spread the cookie dough evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until puffed and golden brown on top. Note: If you like your blondies more gooey and under-cooked in the middle, bake them for 30 minutes. In testing the recipe, 30 minutes was a bit too underdone for me, though, and I prefer the 35 minute bake.
- Cool the blondies completely, at least 4-6 hours, before cutting into 16 squares. If you want to serve them warm with ice cream, that’s fine too, but they may not cut into neat squares while warm.



Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Store leftover blondies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 3-6 months.
To make these without the bourbon, you can leave out the bourbon, and reduce the flour by 1 tablespoon.
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High Altitude Brown Butter Bourbon Pecan Blondies
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.

Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- â…” cup granulated sugar
- â…” cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp bourbon
- 2 large eggs
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 ¼ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Lightly spray a 9×9 inch square baking pan with non-stick baking spray, or line it with parchment paper.
- In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter for about 4-5 minutes, swirling occasionally to see the bottom of the pan, until the butter is very fragrant, and nutty, golden brown solids have formed on the bottom of the pan.
- Pour the brown butter, scraping up all of the browned bits, too, into a medium-sized mixing bowl, and let cool at room temperature for 10 minutes.
- To the butter, add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, bourbon, and eggs, and whisk vigorously for 2 minutes, until smooth and lightened in color.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture and the chopped pecans to the butter mixture, and stir together with a spatula until all the flour is incorporated.
- Spread the cookie dough evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until puffed and golden brown on top.Note: If you like your blondies more gooey and under-cooked in the middle, bake them for 30 minutes. In testing the recipe, 30 minutes was a bit too underdone for me, though, and I prefer the 35 minute bake.
- Cool the blondies completely, at least 4-6 hours, before cutting into 16 squares. If you want to serve them warm with ice cream, that's fine too, but they may not cut into neat squares while warm.

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