These sourdough pumpkin blondies are chewy and fudgy, with a crackly top and warm chai spice running through brown butter, toasted pecans and pools of white chocolate. It's an autumn dessert that needs one saucepan, one bowl and one 23cm (9 inch) square pan.
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The puree is blotted before it goes in, so you get a dense, chewy bake rather than pumpkin cake in a square tin. And 100g of sourdough discard does real work here, adding chew and a gentle tang that stops the white chocolate tasting flat.
They're also the sensible home for the half-used tin of pumpkin puree and the jar of discard that keep eyeing each other in the fridge every October. One bake uses up both. Best made on the first properly grim, wet weekend of the season.
Recipe Highlights
TASTE: Chai spice, brown butter, toasted pecans, mild sourdough tang
USES UP: Leftover pumpkin puree and 100g of discard in one bake
THE TRICK: Blotted puree, so chewy and fudgy, never cakey
SEB'S RATING: 9/10. Likes them better than Sourdough Brownies, for sure.
What the Discard Actually Does in BLONDIES
100g of unfed discard is roughly 50g flour and 50g water. The fermented flour adds extra chew, and the mild acidity gives all that sugar something to push against. White chocolate on its own can be flat and sugary. With a little tang behind it, it tastes rounder.
Do they taste sour? No. You'll notice a gentle tang on the finish, a bit like buttermilk in a cake, and the pumpkin, brown sugar and chai spice cover the rest. If you want the unspiced classic, my Sourdough Blondies are white chocolate and pecan with no pumpkin in sight.
Ingredient Notes
- Pumpkin puree. Plain puree only. Pumpkin pie filling is already sweetened and spiced, which throws the sugar and spice balance off completely. The bigger issue is moisture. Pumpkin is mostly water, and water is what turns blondies cakey, so the puree is blotted down to 100g. For fresh pumpkin or butternut squash, roast or steam it, mash until smooth and blot to the same 100g.
- Chai spice. Cardamom and black pepper are what make it taste like chai rather than standard pumpkin pie spice, with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves behind them. The pepper adds warmth, not heat. You can replace the spices with a pre-made, shop-bought blend.
- Unsalted butter, browned. Browned butter starts as melted butter, then loses water as it cooks, which is why you begin with 140g and end up with about 115g of nutty, golden fat. It suits cardamom well. Plain melted butter works if you can't be bothered, but you lose the depth.
- Dark brown sugar. The molasses gives chew and a toffee note. Light brown sugar works with slightly less depth.
- One egg and one yolk. The whole egg gives structure. The extra yolk adds richness without adding more water.
- Plain flour (all-purpose flour). Not bread flour, which makes blondies tough.
- Bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and baking powder. Both are kept low for a dense crumb. The soda balances the acidity of the discard.
- White chocolate chips or a chopped bar. Chips hold their shape. A chopped bar melts into pools. Both work.
- Pecans and pure vanilla extract. Toast the pecans, because it takes 8 minutes and makes them taste of something. Use pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste rather than flavouring for the best results.
You'll find the full ingredient quantities and method in the recipe card below.
METHOD and TIPS
The recipe card has the full method. These are the things to look for at each stage.
Blot the puree
Spread the puree on kitchen paper, lay more paper on top and press down. The paper turns visibly wet, and the puree goes from glossy and loose to matte and thick enough to hold the shape of the spoon. Swap the paper and repeat until it weighs about 100g, which means losing roughly 30g from the 130g you started with.
Skip this and the batter is wetter than it should be, which is how you end up with a domed, cakey tray.
Brown the butter
Melt the butter over a medium heat in a light-coloured saucepan so you can see what's happening, and stir. It will foam, then crackle as the water cooks off, then go quiet. That quiet is your cue. Look for golden-brown flecks on the bottom of the pan and a nutty smell.
It goes from brown to burnt in about 30 seconds, so take it off the heat as soon as you see the flecks. Pour everything into the bowl, flecks included, because they carry most of the flavour. Leave it for 10 minutes until warm, not hot. Hot butter melts the white chocolate and starts cooking the egg.
Mix the batter
Whisk the sugar into the butter first, for about a minute, until glossy and thick. This is where the crackly top starts. Then whisk in the egg and yolk until paler, followed by the vanilla, discard and blotted puree.
Fold in the dry ingredients until a few streaks of flour remain, then the pecans and white chocolate. The batter should be thick, like soft cookie dough. Spread it into the pan with a damp spatula and push it right into the corners.
Bake until the edges are set and the centre just wobbles
Bake in the oven at 175°C (350°F) for 30-35 minutes, checking from 28. You want set, golden edges, a crackly top and a centre with a slight wobble. A skewer should come out with a few moist crumbs on it, not wet batter.
Blondies keep cooking in the hot pan, so a slightly soft centre when they come out is right. Wait until the middle looks fully set and you've already overbaked them.
Cool, chill and cut
Cool in the pan for 30 minutes, lift the blondies out using the baking paper, then cool on a wire rack for at least an hour. Chill for 30 minutes before cutting. Cut warm and the white chocolate drags and smears across the squares.
Use a sharp knife, run it under hot water and wipe it between cuts. You'll get 16 clean squares.
Troubleshooting
Almost every problem comes back to moisture. Too much water turns to steam in the oven, which lifts the batter into a cake. Too little bake time and the middle never sets. Here's how to tell which one you've got.
| Problem | Likely cause | Fix next time |
|---|---|---|
| Cakey, pale, domed | Too much moisture or flour, or overbaked | Blot the puree harder, weigh the flour (try 160g), check at 28 minutes |
| Gummy or underset after cooling | Underbaked, or too much puree | Bake 3-5 minutes longer, or reduce the puree to 90g |
| Greasy | Butter too hot when the sugar went in | Cool the butter for 10 minutes first |
| Too tangy | Older discard | Use discard under a week old, with no hooch forming on top |
| Chai too faint | Old spices, or too little | Use fresh spices and raise the blend to 3 teaspoon in total |
Variations
- Dark chocolate and pecan. Swap the white chocolate for dark chocolate. It's less sweet and leans harder into the spice.
- Walnut. Swap the pecans. Toast them the same way.
- Chai glaze. Whisk icing sugar with a little milk and a pinch of the chai spices, then drizzle it over the cooled blondies if you have a particularly sweet tooth.
Recipe FAQ
You can, but the bake changes. An 8 inch (20cm) tin gives thicker blondies that need longer, and a 9 x 13 inch (23 x 33cm) tin spreads the batter thinner so they bake faster and come out flatter. Go by the doneness cues rather than the clock: set edges, crackly top, a few moist crumbs on a skewer.
Metal is best. Glass and ceramic conduct heat more slowly, so expect a few extra minutes in the oven and a paler base. Check the centre with a skewer before you pull them out.
Storage, Freezing and Make-Ahead
Keep the blondies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. They'll keep in the fridge for up to 5 days, but let them come back to room temperature before eating, because cold butter makes them firm.
To freeze, wrap the squares individually and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw at room temperature. They also make a good bake-ahead dessert. Make them the day before and the spices settle, and the squares cut more cleanly.
More Sourdough Dessert Recipes
If there's puree left in the tin, Sourdough Pumpkin Cookies With Chocolate Chips and Sourdough Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies will use it up, and Sourdough Pumpkin Scones With Maple Glaze after that. For a loaf, there's Sourdough Discard Pumpkin Bread With Streusel Topping or Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Rolls if you want something savoury on the table. For fall sourdough recipes below:
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Sourdough Pumpkin Blondies (Chai Spiced, With Pecans and White Chocolate)
Equipment
- Digital kitchen scale
- Light-coloured saucepan (so you can see the butter browning)
- Kitchen paper
- Wire rack
Ingredients
- 100 g (3.5 oz (scant 1 cup)) pecans roughly chopped
- 130 g (½ cup + 1 tbsp) canned pumpkin puree blotted to about 100g
- 140 g (10 tbsp (1¼ sticks)) unsalted butter
- 220 g (1 cup) dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 100 g (½ cup) sourdough discard 100% hydration
- 170 g (1⅓ cups) all-purpose flour (plain flour)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
Chai Spice Blend (replace with 2½ teaspoon of pre-made mix):
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- ⅛ teaspoon finely ground black pepper
Other:
- 100 g (⅔ cup) white chocolate chips or chopped white chocolate
- Pinch of flaky sea salt
Instructions
Prep
- Toast the pecans in a dry frying pan for 3-4 minutes, until fragrant and slightly darker. Take them out of the pan immediately to prevent burning and leave them to cool down. You need 80g for the batter and 20g for the top.
- Blot the pumpkin puree. Spread the 130g of puree on a plate lined with kitchen paper, lay more paper on top and press down. Swap the paper and repeat until the puree weighs about 100g. This is the step that stops the blondies turning out cakey.
- Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Line the pan with baking paper, leaving an overhang on two sides so you can lift the blondies out.
Brown the butter
- Melt the butter in a light-coloured saucepan over a medium heat, stirring. It will foam, then crackle, then go quiet. After 5-8 minutes golden-brown flecks will appear on the bottom of the pan and it will smell nutty. Pour everything, flecks included, into a large bowl. Leave it for 10 minutes, until warm rather than hot. Too hot and it will melt the white chocolate and scramble the egg.
Make the batter
- Whisk the sugar into the butter for 1 minute, until glossy and thick. This is where the crackly top starts.
- Whisk in the egg and yolk until paler and thick, then the vanilla, discard and blotted puree until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, fine sea salt and all the chai spices. Tip it onto the wet mixture and fold with a spatula until a few streaks of flour remain.
- Fold in 80g of the pecans and 80g of the white chocolate. The batter will be thick, like a soft cookie dough.
Bake
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan with a damp spatula, pushing it into the corners. Scatter over the remaining pecans and white chocolate, press in lightly and finish with the flaky sea salt.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, checking from 28 minutes. The edges should be set and golden, the top crackly and the centre barely set with a slight wobble. A skewer should come out with a few moist crumbs, not wet batter.
Cool and cut
- Cool in the pan for 30 minutes. Lift out using the baking paper onto a wire rack and cool for at least 1 hour more.
- Chill for 30 minutes, then cut into 16 squares with a sharp knife, wiping it clean and warming it in hot water between cuts.
Notes
Nutrition
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