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Day 1 of Cookiemas 2025
Caramel Cuts are more commonly referred to as “blondies” but this recipe is a bit extra “caramel-y” since it uses a LOT of brown sugar.
Hey everyone! Doug here. I’m writing this recipe because caramel cuts were a staple of my childhood and is my mom’s recipe. She said the recipe originated from her Hawai’i high school cookbook. I would always get so excited when she made these and always preferred them over brownies.
Jeanelle has a fond memory of these treats since I did bake them for her before we started dating. She claims she was impressed that I could bake but really, this recipe is a super simple and asks for ingredients easily found in any pantry. Since we are recently married, she thought it would be a great way to kick off 2025’s Cookiemas.
I must warn you though, the recipe calls for an unhealthy amount of brown sugar. This results in a batter (if you can call it that) that is extremely thick and tiring to mix by hand. It is so thick that my mom thought it broke the stand mixer one time. Turns out it didn’t since Jeanelle is using the exact mixer 20 years later.
I hope you try this and enjoy it as much as I do!
What Are Caramel Cuts?
Caramel Cuts are a baked sweet treat with a rich brown color that is made with very simple ingredients. Contrary to their name, they contain no caramel at all but get a caramel-y flavor from the absurd amount of brown sugar.
Above all, caramel cuts are pure nostalgia for me and the first thing I learned to bake. They’ve been a hit amongst my childhood friends and helped me bag my wife.
The texture of caramel cuts is not like a traditional blondie or brownie. Because of the large amount of brown sugar, it is chewy and soft with a bit of texture on the edges. Don’t expect it to crumb.
Ingredients
Caramel cuts have a very simple ingredients list: all-purpose flour, brown sugar, butter, eggs, baking powder, salt, and vanilla extract.
As I mentioned above, it actually contains no caramel. The caramel flavor comes from the loads of brown sugar.
On that note, this recipe calls for brown sugar without specifying light or dark. You can use either! If you do you dark, you can expect a richer caramel flavor than if you used light.
The difference between light and dark brown sugar is the amount of added molasses. The photos on this page used light brown sugar for reference. I actually think dark brown sugar is the way to go.
How to make step-by-step
For full list of ingredients and detailed steps, check out the bottom of this page.
Making caramel cuts is super easy: mix together all the ingredients and bake until golden brown.
Mix together the brown sugar and the butter until it is one color.
Then add in the eggs and vanilla sugar. Mix again until it is one color.
Finally, add the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and salt.
Bake in the oven until golden brown.
Slice and enjoy!
FAQs
They do not contain caramel. The caramel flavor comes from the brown sugar
Yes! Dark brown sugar has more molasses than light brown sugar and can make the caramel cuts taste richer.
Yes! Just mix up all the ingredients and bake! No special technique required!
Recipe
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Preheat oven to 350℉
- If you haven't yet, melt your butter. My favorite way is to microwave it in 15 second increments and stirring it when it just starts to melt.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together melted butter and brown sugar. Mix until it is all one color.
- Then add the eggs and vanilla extract. Mix again until it is all one color making sure any clumps are crushed and integrated.
- Finally, add the dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. This is where things will get tough if mixing by hand. Just keep going and trust the process.
- Once the batter is all one uniform color, pour it out into a greased or parchment lined 9"x13" baking pan.
- Bake in the oven at 350℉ for 25 – 30 minutes until golden brown. The mixture will deflate when it begins to cool.
- Let it cool a little bit before slicing into bars.
Tools and Equipment
Ozeri Food Scale
Especially with baking, a food scale is extremely helpful as it measures weight, not volume, which is more accurate. You should use weight measurements if a recipe provides them.
KitchenAid Stand Mixer
I absolutely LOVE my tilt head stand mixer. I can’t imagine baking without it.
Diamond Kosher Salt
When you need salt, this is the one.
Other Recipes You’ll Love
This is the first recipe for 2025’s Cookiemas!
- We have recipes for 2024’s Cookiemas as well as 2023’s Cookiemas.
- Ube Crinkle Cookies. Jeanelleats’ famous purple show stopping cookies that turns people into ube-truthers.
- Vanillekipferl. This is a classic European holiday cookie made with walnuts.
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies. Classic chocolate cookies rolled in powdered sugar.