Chewy brown butter eggnog blondies with warm winter spices, white chocolate and pistachios. Bite-size, make-ahead and made for holiday cookie platters!
These eggnog blondies are what happens when a brown butter blondie puts on its holiday sweater. They’re chewy and glossy-topped, and they’re loaded with white chocolate chunks and toasted pistachios. The eggnog shows up twice: once in the batter and again in the glaze drizzled over the top. A warm winter spice blend of nutmeg, cardamom, cinnamon and ginger makes the whole kitchen smell like December.
Fair warning: these are rich. I tested a 9×13 pan first, and it was way too much of a good thing. So the final version bakes in an 8×8 and gets cut into 24 two-bite bars, which is exactly the size you want on a holiday cookie platter next to everything else competing for attention.
Why Eggnog Works in a Brown Butter Blondie
If you’re side-eyeing the idea of eggnog in a baked bar, fair. A lot of “eggnog” desserts are really just vanilla desserts with a sprinkle of nutmeg and a hopeful name. Here, the eggnog actually earns its spot.
When you brown butter, you cook off a good chunk of its water. That’s where all the toasty, nutty flavor comes from, but it also leaves the batter a little thirsty. A few tablespoons of eggnog put that moisture back, along with extra dairy fat and richness, so you get a chewy, tender bar instead of a dry one.
Eggnog flavor fades in the oven, so the batter relies on nutmeg, vanilla and a splash of rum (if you’re feeling it) to carry that classic eggnog taste. The glaze is where the eggnog really gets to shine. It’s uncooked, so you get the full, creamy, nutmeg-y hit right on top.
Use full-fat eggnog here. Light eggnog is thinner and will throw off the batter. (And if you’re an eggnog-in-everything person like me, my Overnight Gingerbread Eggnog French Toast Casserole takes care of holiday breakfast too.)
The Warm Winter Spice Blend
The spice blend is nutmeg (the eggnog anchor), cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, a pinch of cloves and a pinch of black pepper. It borrows a little from winter baking traditions around the world: Dutch speculaas cookies, Scandinavian cardamom buns and German lebkuchen. The black pepper is the speculaas trick. You won’t taste “pepper,” just a warmth that makes the other spices taste more like themselves.
If this warm spice flavor profile is your thing, it’s a close cousin to my Chai Spice Donuts and Apple Cider Bundt Cake.
3 Keys to Getting Them Right
You’ve probably made a blondie or two. These are the three moments specific to this recipe where things can still go sideways.
- Cool the brown butter to bathwater-warm. If you’ve made my Brown Butter Pumpkin Spice Cookies or Bourbon Brown Butter Mini Derby Pies, you already know the browning part. The catch here is temperature. You want it comfortably warm, around 100–110°F, before the sugar and egg go in. In testing, 10 minutes on the counter wasn’t enough, so I popped the bowl in the fridge for 3–5 minutes and it was perfect. Butter that’s too hot will cost you that glossy top and can scramble the egg.
- Whisk the egg like you mean it. About a full minute of vigorous whisking turns the batter glossy, thick and a shade lighter. That’s what gives you the shiny, crackly top. One egg is all it needs. An extra yolk in an earlier batch just made them dense.
- Pull them early. Start checking at 20 minutes. They’re done when the edges are golden and pulling away from the pan, and some moist crumbs stick to a pick when inserted in the center of the pan. It may look a little underdone. Trust it. They keep setting as they cool, and leaving them in for “just a few more minutes” is how you lose the chew.
Serve Them Chilled (Seriously)
This is my favorite way to eat them, and it’s a personal opinion: I store them in the fridge as soon as they’re cut, and enjoy them cold. Chilled, they get firmer and fudgier, and the cold tames the sweetness. That’s a big deal for anyone (hi) who doesn’t have an enormous sweet tooth.
Between the white chocolate and the glaze, these do lean sweet. A few other things help keep them in check:
- A generous pinch of flaky sea salt sprinkled over the batter before baking. It’s optional, but I think it makes a real difference.
- A thin zigzag of glaze rather than full coverage. You want accents, not a frosting blanket.
- Storage: They’ll keep at room temp for a day or two, in the fridge for 5–7 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Make-ahead for platters and gifting: Bake them up to a day ahead and glaze the day you serve. For the freezer, wrap them well unglazed, thaw, then glaze and finish. For clean, platter-worthy squares, chill the slab 20–30 minutes before cutting and wipe your knife between cuts.
Quick Questions
Spiked is great. Just skip the added rum. Homemade works too, as long as it’s made with pasteurized eggs. Skip light eggnog, since it’s too thin. I haven’t tested non-dairy.
Yes. Use 1/4 tsp rum extract instead, or just skip it.
Yes. Double everything and bake about 28–30 minutes, checking at 25. You’ll get 48 bars, which is a lot of blondie. Plan accordingly.
Pecans or macadamias work. If your pistachios are salted, cut the kosher salt in the batter in half.
That’s everything. Grab your eggnog and go make the kitchen smell amazing!
Eggnog Blondies with Warm Winter Spices
Equipment
Ingredients
Brown Butter Blondies:
- ½ cup unsalted butter, (1 stick) plus a little extra to grease the pan
- 6 tablespoons shelled raw unsalted pistachios, roughly chopped, divided
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons, all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt, (or 1/4 tsp table salt)
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 3 tablespoons full-fat eggnog, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ teaspoons rum or bourbon, (optional)
- 3 ounces white chocolate bar, chopped into chunks
- generous pinch flaky sea salt, like Maldon, for sprinkling before baking, (optional)
Warm Winter Spices:
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, (a heaping 1/4 tsp)
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom, (a heaping 1/4 tsp)
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 pinch ground cloves
- 1 pinch finely ground black pepper
Eggnog Glaze:
- ½ cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1½ teaspoons reserved brown butter, (see step 2)
- 1-2 tablespoons full-fat eggnog
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract, or 1/2 tsp dark rum
- 1 pinch grated nutmeg
- 1 pinch kosher salt
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 8×8-inch metal pan, and line with parchment, leaving an overhang on two sides for lifting. Lightly butter the parchment.
- Melt the butter in a light-colored saucepan over medium heat. Keep swirling as it foams, goes quiet, and the milk solids turn deep amber and smell nutty, 4-6 minutes. Pour it immediately into a medium mixing bowl, scraping in all the brown bits. Spoon 1-1/2 teaspoons into a small dish and reserve for the glaze.
- Let it cool 10 minutes until bathwater warm (about 100–110°F).
- Meanwhile, toast the pistachios in a dry skillet over medium-low heat, 3–4 minutes, until fragrant. Cool, then remove 2 tablespoons and finely crush for the topping.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and all the warm winter spices.
- Whisk both sugars into the warm brown butter until combined and grainy-looking.
- Add the egg and whisk vigorously for about 1 minute, until the mixture turns glossy, thick, and lighter in color. Whisk in the eggnog and vanilla (and optional rum or bourbon).
- Fold in the dry ingredients with a spatula just until a few streaks of flour remain, then fold in the white chocolate and the chopped pistachios until no dry flour is visible. Don't overmix or they may bake up cakey and tough.
- Spread the batter evenly into the pan, and sprinkle with flaky sea salt (if using). Bake 20-25 minutes, rotating once halfway, until the edges are golden and pulling slightly from the pan and the center looks set with just a slight wobble. A toothpick in the center should come out with moist crumbs, not wet batter. Start checking at 20 minutes.
- Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack, about 1 to 1-1/2 hours. (Warm blondies + glaze = a puddle situation.)
- Rewarm the reserved brown butter if it’s solidified. Whisk it with the powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon eggnog, vanilla or rum, nutmeg, and salt until smooth. Add more eggnog by the 1/4 tsp until it’s thick but drizzle-able.
- Lift the blondies out of the pan. Drizzle the glaze over the top in zigzags, then sprinkle with the crushed pistachios. Let set about 30 minutes.
- Slice into 24 bars (6 rows by 4) with a large knife, wiping it between cuts.
Notes
- Storage: Room temp for a day or two, fridge for 5–7 days, or freezer for up to 3 months. I store mine in the fridge as soon as they’re cut.
- Make ahead: Bake up to 1 day ahead and glaze the day you serve. To freeze, wrap well unglazed, thaw, then glaze.
- Eggnog: Full-fat store-bought, spiked (skip the added rum) or homemade with pasteurized eggs. Avoid light eggnog. Non-dairy is untested.
- Flaky salt: Optional, but it balances the sweetness.
- Doubling: Use a 9×13-inch metal pan and bake about 28–30 minutes, checking at 25. Makes 48 squares.
- Nut swap: Pecans or macadamias. If using salted pistachios, halve the kosher salt.
- Serve room temp or cold: My favorite way to enjoy them is straight from the fridge. The cold tempers the sweetness if you don’t have a strong sweet tooth.