These perfect Lemon Blondies: AKA "Lemon Brownies" are tangy, chewy and addictive. For those who love a bit of extra zing, there's an option to swirl in bits of crystallized ginger too. Make them with regular or gluten-free four, and expect rave reviews!
Lemon Blondies vs. Lemon Brownies: a debate
Baking purists will tell you that blondies contain vanilla and brown sugar for flavor, and absolutely no cocoa powder, and that brownies must be both brown + chocolatey to qualify for their name. When it comes to a lemon version of either it becomes a tough call, due to the white sugar + chewy texture + not being a lemon bar, which requires a crust. No matter what you call it, this Lemon Blondies recipe (see what we did there?) is practically perfect.
Article and recipe courtesy of Mary Fran Wiley
What do you do when life hands you a whole bag of lemons? (Really, this is not some thinly veiled metaphor for bad days, horrible dates or other woes, it is truly about an excess of lemons).
You bake.
When it hands you the metaphorical sort, you stop, gather up some friends and look towards your center.
The second city is my center. My happy refuge. Home.
You see, Chicago is a magic sort of place. The air here is always humming with energy to a bluesy tune. Moving forward at a pace just this side of hectic.
Summer in this city is special. I fill my weekends with neighborhood festivals and nights just a little too late on a friend’s patio. And it is the time of year when you can gather up some friends and head to the park for a concert.
You have to make sure that you come armed with wine, plastic cups and munchies (like the lemon blondies at the bottom of this post – they travel well). And maybe some SPF 80 to keep your pale skin safe from the setting sun.
You’ve gotta roll with the rhythm of the season.
Chicago has quite the rhythm.
I gathered up some new friends (the metaphorical lemonade from last year’s life-lemons), and dragged them out to play on a school night. We listened while my friend Pete and his band played music that hung on the breeze. We giggled while catching up on the unending exploits from lives that fall somewhere on the spectrum of bonkers and ridiculous.
There was talk of boys and work. New beginnings and broken hearts. And most importantly, shoes. If I can give you some life advice, it would be to talk about shoes with the girls you don’t know when at a spy-themed birthday party for the guy you are sort of seeing and don’t know any of his friends. While it will probably never work with you and that dude (he will dump you over a pair of shoes), you might just find someone you can talk into splitting a bottle of wine with while soaking up a concert in the park.
That is some excellent metaphorical lemonade.
Now back to that bag of actual lemons. Since you have leftovers hanging out from the bag of lemons you bought to make gluten-free lemon raspberry cupcakes, you need to make something that is equal parts lemon and summer delight.
Enter: chewy delicious lemon blondies.
Enter some chewy lemon bars dotted with crystallized ginger. Oh yes, I think that you will win the next party you bring these to (and yes, there is such a thing as winning a party and these will help you do exactly that)
Whether you call them lemon blondies or lemon brownies, they'll be your lemony favorite.
Perfect Lemon Blondies
Ingredients
- 1½ cups gluten-free all-purpose flour OR conventional AP flour
- ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum **OMIT if you blend already contains it
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 4 ounces butter softened
- 1½ cups sugar
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
- 3 eggs
- 3 tablespoon lemon zest
- ½ cup ginger chips/chopped crystalized ginger optional
- Powdered sugar for dusting optional
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 Celsius).
- Grease & flour a 9×13″ (23 x 33-cm) pan. Or use parchment paper to line the pan and flour it.
- Whisk together the flour, xanthan gum (if using), salt and baking powder.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light and creamy.
- Scrape down the sides and add the lemon juice and one egg. Beat until combined. Scrape down the sides and add ⅓ of the dry ingredients. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and eggs until you have incorporated all of it.
- Scrape down the sides and stir in the lemon zest and ginger chips (if using). Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes.
- Let cool. Dust with powdered sugar and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Love these lemon brownies? We do too. Try these next:
Chewy Lemon Sugar Cookies: Gluten-Free too!
These chewy lemon sugar cookies have such perfect texture you'd never now they are gluten-free, and vegan too!
Gluten-Free Red Velvet Brownies. Yum.
I don't know about you, but I love me some red velvet. Red Velvet Cake, Red Velvet Cupcakes, and especially these gluten-free Red Velvet Brownies. It's like having the best of both worlds. A vanilla base with a touch of cocoa and then that bold red hue. What's not to love?
Lemon Lavender Mini Tarts
Alison's Lemon Lavender Mini Tarts are full of flavor and pretty to look at too!
Jackie Revard says
How much sugar do I out into the recipe? It’s not listed in ingredients just the powdered sugar for dusting.
K.C. Cornwell says
Jackie - this recipe calls for 1.5 cups or 300g of cane sugar.