Pumpkin Pecan Blondies

Pumpkin Pecan Blondies are the perfect fall spiced sweet treat. This recipe is a one bowl, no mixer required and they bake up in around half an hour! Cut into squares for easy serving.

There’s nothing wrong with a traditional and classic fudgy chocolate brownie. But blondies are brownie’s more interesting and sophisticated cousin, especially when you start adding mix-ins to the batter.

If you’re especially in love with pumpkin flavors, check out some of my other popular pumpkin recipes!

Ingredients

Blondies are similar to brownies in that they contain a majority of the same key ingredients - (brown) sugar, butter, eggs, a little bit of flour and a leavening agent for a little bit of lift.

The only thing noticeably absent from the recipe in comparison to a brownie recipe is cocoa powder or chopped chocolate/chocolate chips. Blondies are a little sweeter and gooey and will take on the flavors of whatever else you add into the batter.

These pumpkin pecan blondies are the perfect fall treat. A little bit of canned pumpkin puree is added to a classic blondie base, and pumpkin spice provides a little extra pumpkin “oomph” in the flavor department. I find pecans to be a lovely, buttery type of nut that still provides a good amount of crunch when you bite into a square of these pumpkin pecan blondies.

These pumpkin pecan blondies come together in one bowl and don’t need any fancy equipment. A handful of common pantry ingredients make up the blondie base, and pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice bring these blondies to a whole new pumpkin level. Pecans add a delightful little crunch to otherwise gooey blondie. For this recipe you will need:

• Brown sugar
• Butter
• Eggs
• Pumpkin puree
• Vanilla extract
• Flour
• Pumpkin spice
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Pecans

Please see the recipe card below for quantities.

Customizing Your Blondies

The sky's the limit here with a classic blondie base. I added pumpkin, pumpkin spice and pecans to the Better Homes and Gardens blondies recipe on page 259 of the 16th edition of the cookbook. Some fun options I’d think would be fun flavor pairings:

• Chocolate, coconut and walnut - adding semisweet chocolate chips, coconut flakes and some walnuts for texture would make a perfectly interesting blondie. I had a version of this when I was out to dinner and it was perfect served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
• Cookies and cream - chopped Oreo cookies added to the batter and on top of the blondies would make an awesome flavor combination.
• White chocolate, macadamia nut and craisin - a nod to the Starbucks favorite, cranberry bliss bars, I think that this combination would be delicious, especially around the holidays.

Equipment

For this recipe you’ll need very little equipment, but I like to make sure that the equipment I do use is of a good quality so that the recipe turns out properly.

A mixing bowl and rubber spatula are all you’ll really need to mix up the ingredients here. I contemplated using my Kitchenaid stand mixer, but that just meant I’d have to lug the 25 pound monster out and then have to do more dishes.

For baking, you’ll need a 9”x13” pan. I have had success with both metal pans as well as ceramic pans, but glass pans always give me a little bit of trouble. I’ve found that my glass pan will overbake the edges and the center will still be uncooked. Metal pans and ceramic 9”x13” pans usually provide better even heat.

For this particular recipe, I used my ceramic pan and found the edges to be slightly crunchy but the center of the pan was perfectly gooey. When I pulled the pumpkin pecan blondies out of the oven they had that barely-set but still baked through quality to them.

Storage

Regular baked good storage rules apply here. The better of an airtight seal you can manage, the fresher your blondies are going to be over time. Full disclosure, I baked these on a Sunday night and left them covered in the pan with only a piece of foil over them. I cut them Wednesday morning at daybreak and shot photos for the blog, and then brought the remainder to work for my coworkers to taste test.

The pan was empty by the end of the day and I received some very positive reviews on the blondies, so I’ll consider that a success, and a testament to how well they keep fresh even when they aren’t perfectly stored. My favorite containers for keeping things sealed and fresh are the Snapware containers. The food never leaches a plastic taste because the bottoms are made of glass.

Top tip

Blondies should be fun. If pumpkin isn't your thing, omit the pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice and pecans. Feel free to add your own mix ins that equal out to about 1 ½ cups. Any of the suggestions I provided above should be perfect.

If you make another fun blondie with different mix-ins, I'd love to hear about it in the comments below or on Instagram! Follow me on Instagram @citruanddelicious and send me a DM, it's the best way to get in contact with me quickly.