I’ve always felt that blondies don’t get the attention they deserve. A cousin to decadent chocolate brownies, blondies embrace the wonderfully chewy texture of a bar and lean into the molasses notes of brown sugar for a base of flavor. They’re also the ideal blank canvas for dressing up with other mix-ins.
While cowboy cookies have never been very appealing to me, I was excited to try this recipe for Cowboy Blondies, bringing all the mix-ins typically found in cowboy cookies to a moist, chewy square. The end result? They’re definitely delicious, but I do have a few notes to make them that much better.
Get the recipe: Best Cowboy Blondies
How to Make Cowboy Blondies
My Honest Review of Cowboy Blondies
This is certainly a recipe for a crowd. While the ingredients are simple and easy to find, there are a lot of them, and you’ll end up with plenty of treats to share.
After mixing the batter, it took some effort to evenly spread it into the baking pan because it was pretty thick. I also baked these longer than the recipe stated, giving them an additional six minutes in the oven to make sure the center was fully baked. But when I first pulled the blondies out of the oven, I was so excited about how good they smelled. The brown sugar and buttery molasses scent was incredibly strong.
Every single chewy bite is chock-full of flavor, with pops of chocolate from the chocolate chips and nuttiness from the pecans. The addition of oats and coconut added great texture to make these treats all the more interesting. Overall, the flavor was fantastic, and the texture was hearty and filling while remaining moist and chewy.
The main issue I had with this recipe was the topping. I had envisioned a gooier caramel sauce, which is not what I ended up with even after two tries. The topping, while tasty, thickened and hardened quickly. It also didn’t seem to secure the crushed pecans to the top of the bars as well as I had hoped. I think mixing the pecans into the blondie batter might make more sense if I make these again. That way, the drizzle can simply be a pop of sweetness rather than needing to do a job like being the glue for the pecans. Or, I’d just omit the brown sugar topping altogether, because honestly, they’re sweet enough as-is.
