Celebrating Pride and Sweet Traditions: Hummingbird Blondies from Justin Burke’s Potluck Desserts: Joyful Recipes to Share with Pride
Serving Southern sweetness with a side of queerness and joy 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Justin’s twist on a Southern classic brings the tropical warmth of Jamaica straight to your baking pan. Inspired by the beloved hummingbird cake—rich with banana, pineapple, pecans and spice—these blondies pack all that flavor into a chewy, buttery bar with a tangy cream cheese swirl. It’s a modern take on tradition, baked with Pride and perfect for sharing. —Stone
June is here, and that means it’s time to celebrate Pride Month with recipes that are as vibrant, heartfelt, and joyful as the community itself. Today, I’m showcasing a special dessert that I stumbled upon while reading Martin Sorge’s Great Bakes newsletter, in which he profiled Justin Burke’s of Taste This new cookbook Potluck Desserts: Joyful Recipes to Share with Pride. These Hummingbird Blondies are a Southern-inspired twist on the classic cake—rich with banana, pineapple, pecans, and a generous swirl of cream cheese that ties everything together. They’re nostalgic, comforting, and exactly the kind of dessert you want to bring to a gathering of chosen family.
Welcome to the Mountaintop Kitchen. It’s time to bake up some joyful Pride!
Featured Products: KitchenAid electric hand mixer & 8x8” baking tin & Justin Burke’s Potluck Desserts-Joyful Recipes to Share with Pride
To purchase equipment that we used in this recipe, see our recommended products page. Disclaimer: I make a small commission, you pay the same. Thanks!
In the early 1990s, I started the first gay men’s potluck group in Santa Fe—we called it Lambda Eldorado. It began as a way to build connections, share meals, and create joy during a time when community truly meant everything. Those evenings were filled with homemade food, laughter, and the quiet strength of showing up for one another. When I read through Justin’s cookbook, it brought me right back to those nights—where dessert was always the last thing enjoyed, but the first thing everyone talked about. These potlucks also served as a platform to share and test my bakes! 👨🏼🍳
So in that spirit, I’m thrilled to bake and share these Hummingbird Blondies with you. Whether you’re headed to a Pride potluck, hosting friends at home, or simply baking for yourself, this recipe is a little slice of love on a plate. Watch the full YouTube tutorial above, and let’s keep celebrating with sweetness, history, and pride. Justin’s step-by-step recipe instructions are published online in Southern Living magazine.
The Recipe:
On Measuring Ingredients: My preferred method of measuring is weight by grams. Baking by volume rather than weight can lead to varied and unexpected results. Flour is especially problematic when measured by volume (sifted, not sifted, spooned, not spooned, fluffed or not … you get the point). Grams are always the same; they are your friend as a baker. King Arthur Baking Company’s Ingredients Weight Chart is helpful for converting recipe weights.
On Altitude Adjustments: Before measuring ingredients, preheating your oven, or setting your timer; it’s important to consider any necessary adjustments for baking at higher altitudes, which is generally considered to be 3,500ft and above. Most recipes are written for sea level up to 3,500ft. Take at look at our baking at High-Altitude Baking Adjustments page for guidance.
Note: For this recipe at 7,000ft., I reduced sugar, increased flour, and increased liquids (egg whites). If you are baking below 3,500ft, no adjustments are needed. See guidance above for your elevation.
Yield: 9-12 bars (9x9” or 8x8” baking tin)
Prep time: 20 minutes
Bake time: 30-35 minutes
Chill time: 1 hour to overnight
Total time: 1 hour or so👨🏼🍳 Tips: 1. If using an 8x8-inch baking tin, increase bake time by 5-10 minutes and cover loosely with tin foil last 10-15 minutes. 2. Chill baked blondies in the fridge overnight so the flavors can get groovy together.
*as published online by Southern Living magazine.
👨🏼🍳For the Cream Cheese Swirl:
One 8-ounce block cream cheese, room temperature
¼ cup (28 g) powdered sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
👨🏼🍳For the Blondies:
¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs
1¾ cups (218 g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup (120 g) pecans, chopped
1 banana, very ripe
One 8-ounce can crushed pineapple, juices drained
1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter
1½ cups (330 g) light brown sugar
To purchase Justin’s book, just click the cover image below. His full recipe for Hummingbird Blondies is published online in Southern Living magazine.
The Mountaintop Kitchen recipe newsletter is available to everyone. If you like it, please subscribe and/or share it with someone else you think will also like it. Stone—The Mountaintop Baker👨🏼🍳