Bourbon Pecan Blondies are easy, buttery treats with rich bourbon flavor mixed with the brown sugar and vanilla base and topped with pecans
Blondies are a super easy Dessert Recipe that you can serve up after dinner, bring to a potluck, or a bake sale. There are lots of different flavors like Snickerdoodle Blondies, Cranberry Orange Blondies, Oreo Blondies, or these bourbon filled blondies all made with the same basic vanilla and brown sugar base.
Table of contents
- About our Bourbon Pecan Blondies Recipe
- Bourbon Pecan Blondies Ingredients
- Kitchen Tools & Equipment
- How to Make Bourbon Pecan Blondies
- Nutritional Facts
- Baking Bourbon Pecan Blondies Tips & Tricks
- What to Pair With Bourbon Pecan Blondies
- How to Store Bourbon Pecan Blondies
- FAQ for Bourbon Pecan Blondies
- Recipe Card
- Bourbon Pecan Blondies Variations
About our Bourbon Pecan Blondies Recipe
If you love the warm sweet and gooey texture of brownies but aren’t really in the mood for chocolate, then blondies are definitely the dessert to try! Classic blondies are made with butter, brown sugar, and vanilla for the same brownie texture without any chocolate. This blondie recipe gets an even richer flavor from a generous helping of bourbon. They are finished with lots of crunchy pecan pieces for a buttery, brown sugar brownie with southern flair!

Bourbon Pecan Blondies Ingredients
- Butter: For the most part, this recipe is made with the same basic ingredients as other blondies. Make sure to use softened and unsalted butter. The softened butter will more easily mix into a creamy mixture, which is the starting point for the rich, chewy Bourbon Pecan Blondies.
- Brown Sugar: When making blondies, it’s important to use brown sugar not white sugar or any other sweetener. The brown sugar creates a richer flavor that blends beautifully with the vanilla. Plus, it has more moisture and makes the bars perfectly tender.
- Bourbon: Adding whiskey to baked goods is a great way to give them a complex, smoky, and sweet flavor. Bourbon also tends to be sweeter than other whiskeys so it’s ideal for a dessert ingredient.
- Pecans: Chopped pecans make the perfect topping for Bourbon Pecan Blondies. The rest of the recipe is sweet, soft, and gooey. Adding crunchy pecans is the perfect way to add a little contrast to the texture. Plus brown sugar, bourbon, and pecans are a flavor trio made in heaven.
Kitchen Tools & Equipment
- Baking Dish: These blondies are cooked in a larger 9×13 inch baking dish so it makes more brownies that are thinner and chewier. You can use a smaller pan but you’ll need to increase the baking time or divide the batter between two pans.
- Nonstick Spray: You want to generously coat your baking dish with baking or non-stick spray because brownie batter is pretty sticky. You could also use parchment paper and lift the whole thing out. Using the parchment method is a good way to cut clean, even squares.
How to Make Bourbon Pecan Blondies
Time needed: 45 minutes.
- Prep Work
Preheat the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Prep a 9×13 inch baking dish with nonstick spray. Or, if you don’t have non-stick cooking spray, you can line the dish with parchment paper.
- Make the Wet Batter
Add softened butter to your stand mixer, and mix at medium-high speed until it’s light and creamy. Then add in the brown sugar. Continue mixing for another minute until fluffy. Add the eggs, 2 tablespoons bourbon, and vanilla extract, mixing until the wet ingredients are well blended.
- Combine the Dry Ingredients
Sift the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt into a mixing bowl. Set the stand mixer to its lowest speed so that you can slowly add the dry ingredients. Mix until well combined, but be careful not to overmix, or the blondies will turn out tough.
- Bake the Blondies
Use a rubber spatula to transfer the blondie dough to the prepared baking dish. Then press the mixture into an even surface. Scatter a layer of pecan pieces on top, and press them into the dough. Put the Pecan Bourbon Blondies in the oven for a 30-35 minute cook time. Take them out when they’re golden brown and the middle has set.
- Cool and Slice
Let the blondies cool in the pan on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before serving. If you used parchment paper, lift the blondies out in one piece before cutting. Slice into squares and serve with a scoop of ice cream after they have cooled slightly.
Nutritional Facts
Baking Bourbon Pecan Blondies Tips & Tricks
- Reserve these for Adults
- Though it’s only a trace amount of alcohol, you’ll still want to avoid serving Pecan Bourbon Blondies to kids. Make sure to let everyone know there’s bourbon in this dessert when you’re serving it, and have another option ready for anyone who doesn’t want any alcohol.
- Avoid Over-mixing Batter
- Blondies and brownies are naturally pretty chewy but you want to be careful not to over mix your batter or they can get too dense. Just stir them until there are no more dry flour streaks and bake the batter right away.
What to Pair With Bourbon Pecan Blondies
These warm, gooey buttery blondies go perfectly with a scoop of your favorite ice cream. Try classic flavors like Vanilla and Chocolate Ice Cream, or be adventurous with Cinnamon Ice Cream and Rocky Road. Bring out more pecan flavor with some butter pecan ice cream. For a full ice cream sundae, top everything with Whipped Cream, chocolate or caramel syrup, and chopped pecans.
How to Store Bourbon Pecan Blondies
Store: After baking Pecan Bourbon Blondies, they can stay good at room temperature for up to 5 days. Just cover them in plastic wrap or seal them in an airtight container to keep them soft and chewy. You can also seal them to keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Reheat: If you store your blondies in the fridge, get them warm again by heating them on low power in the microwave. Heat them in 20 second bursts so they don’t burn. You could also just bring them to room temperature to soften them.
Freeze: Cut the blondies into squares and put them in a freezer bag or airtight container with parchment paper between the layers so they don’t stick. They’ll stay good frozen for 3 months. Thaw at room temperature and enjoy!
FAQ for Bourbon Pecan Blondies
If you don’t have bourbon, or don’t like baking with alcohol, you can of course skip it. Without the bourbon taste mixed in, the blondie batter will have a much more mellow flavor. To make up for the missing ingredient, you can add a little bit of almond extract to complement the vanilla. Or, if you want another alcohol to swap out for the bourbon, you can use brandy or cognac.
Adding bourbon to the blondies batter makes the finished dessert slightly alcoholic. You may have heard that alcohol burns off during cooking. That’s partially true, but a lot of the time people assume that means all the alcohol bakes out. However, it takes a long cooking time to do that, and by the time all the alcohol baked out of this dessert, the blondies would be completely burnt.

Recipe Card


Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter , softened
- 2 cups brown sugar , packed
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons bourbon
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 2/3 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup pecans , roughly chopped
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9×13 baking pan with baking spray.
- To your stand mixer, add butter on medium-high speed until creamy.
- Add in brown sugar, until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.
- Add in eggs, bourbon, and vanilla until well blended.
- Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Turn on stand mixer on lowest speed setting and add in flour mixture. Stop mixing as soon as flour is combined.
- Press mixture into baking dish and press pecans gently into the top of the batter.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the top is just golden brown and the middle is set.
Nutrition
Bourbon Pecan Blondies Variations
Chocolate Chips: To add some sweet chocolate to the Pecan Bourbon Blondies, you can mix in 1 cup of chocolate chips with the blondie dough. Milk chocolate, dark chocolate, semisweet chocolate, or white chocolate chips would all taste amazing. Or, you can mix in roughly chopped chocolate pieces for bourbon pecan chocolate chunk blondies.
Chocolate Topping: If you don’t want chocolate chips mixed into the actual blondies, you can also drizzle some melted chocolate on top. Heat chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl for 30-second increments. Or, put the chocolate in a glass bowl over a pan of water over medium heat. It will melt as the water boils. Then drizzle the chocolate on top of the Bourbon Blondies. Let the chocolate harden before slicing and serving
Salted Caramel: Try adding a caramel layer over the blondies. You can use our recipe for Homemade Caramel Sauce and drizzle it over the top of baked blondies. Use an offset spatula to spread the caramel layer, and sprinkle flaky sea salt on top.
