These soft and chewy brown butter apple blondies combine cinnamon-spiced apples, brown sugar, and flavorful brown butter. We’ll top them with brown butter icing, a reader favorite icing that I also use for peach Bundt cake and pistachio cookies. If you love apple desserts like I do, these are a must-make!
Alternate title for this recipe: Butter
Let’s celebrate apples with immensely buttery blondies. The good news is that this recipe makes a large 9×13-inch pan, so there’s plenty to share.
But the bad news is… you have to share them.
These Brown Butter Apple Blondies Are:
- Cinnamon-spiced
- Soft and sweet
- Chewy, not cakey
- Flavored with brown sugar and brown butter
- Bursting with apples
How to Make Brown Butter Apple Blondies
Listen up because there’s a few steps to conquer before we take that first bite.
- Brown the butter first. We’ll use brown butter in the blondies and in the icing. Pour the browned butter into a heat-safe bowl, then return the pan to the stove. No need to clean the pan because we’re using it in the next step.
- Peel, chop, and gently cook the apples. You *could* stir the apples right into the blondie batter, but the apples taste much better if they’re slightly softened first. Cook the chopped apples on the stove for only 3–5 minutes. We’ll cook them with a little maple syrup (or brown sugar) and cinnamon. IT’S ALL SO GOOD!
- Make the blondie batter. There’s no electric mixer required for this recipe! Whisk the brown butter with brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients, and the pre-cooked apples, then spread the batter into a lined 9×13-inch pan.
- Bake until lightly browned on top. The blondies take about 35 minutes.
- As the blondies cool, prepare the icing. Mix a little more brown butter with confectioners’ sugar, milk, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt.
Here are the gently cooked apples and the blondie batter:
Success Tip: Lining the pan with parchment paper makes it much easier to remove the apple blondies before slicing and serving. I use the same tip when making rice krispie treats and M&M cookie bars, too.
Best Apples for Brown Butter Apple Blondies
You can use your favorite variety of apples. I prefer tart Granny Smith apples because the blondies are pretty sweet. For a complete list of my favorite apple varieties to bake with, with a description of each, you can visit my post, The Best Apples for Baking.
The Magic of Brown Butter
Let’s talk about brown butter. I actually created a page for all things brown butter including the quick process, success tips, and a video tutorial. Brown butter is a one-ingredient wonder and vasty improves the flavor in any dish where it’s used, including these blondies and these marshmallow crispy cookies. Brown butter by gently cooking and stirring it on the stove until its milk solids toast and it has a nutty aroma. This takes anywhere between 5–8 minutes, so it’s a pretty quick step.
And well worth every single second. In less than 10 minutes, you’ll have liquid gold:
Brown Butter Icing
The blondies don’t *need* icing, just like we don’t *need* to binge-watch Netflix on a Sunday night. But we want it, so we’ll do it.
This is the same brown butter icing we use for pistachio cookies, skillet cornmeal cake, pecan sugar cookies, and brown butter pumpkin oatmeal cookies. It’s remarkable and readers have been raving about it on my peach Bundt cake. Try it on scones and cinnamon rolls too. (You won’t regret this icing, unlike the 4 hours of Netflix binge-watching.)
More Apple Treats
- Classic Apple Pie
- Homemade Apple Cider
- Apple Cinnamon Bread
- Apple Cinnamon Rolls
- Caramel Apple Scones
- Apple Hand Pies
- Apple Bundt Cake
- Fresh Apple Cake
- Honeycrisp Apple Sangria
Brown Butter Apple Blondies
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 24 blondies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These soft and chewy brown butter apple blondies combine cinnamon-spiced apples, brown sugar, and flavorful brown butter. For extra flavor, top with brown butter icing. Read recipe Notes prior to beginning.
Ingredients
Apples
- 2 cups (240g) peeled chopped apples (about 2 medium apples)
- 2 Tablespoons (30g/ml) pure maple syrup (or brown sugar)
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Blondies
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces
- 2 and 1/3 cups (291g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 and 2/3 cups (330g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Brown Butter Icing
- 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp; 56g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
- 1 and 1/2 cups (180g) confectioners’ sugar
- 2 Tablespoons (30g/ml) milk
- 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Brown the butter for the blondies and the icing: Place all 20 Tablespoons of butter in a light-colored skillet over medium heat. (Light-colored helps you determine when the butter begins browning.) Stir or whisk the butter constantly as it melts. Once melted, the butter will begin to foam. Keep stirring. After 5–8 minutes, the butter will begin browning—you’ll notice lightly browned specks begin to form at the bottom of the pan and it will have a nutty aroma. As soon as the butter has browned, immediately remove from heat and pour it into a heat-safe glass bowl or liquid measuring cup. Be sure to scrape out all the browned solids at the bottom of the skillet and include them as well. Transfer 3 Tbsp (43g) of the browned butter to a small bowl and reserve for the icing in step 7. The rest will go into the blondie batter in step 5. Because of moisture lost during the browning process, you will now have less butter than you started with—this is expected. Allow brown butter to slightly cool while you continue.
- Prepare the apples: Meanwhile, return the pan to the stove. (No need to rinse out!) Add the apples, maple syrup/brown sugar, and cinnamon. Stir and cook over medium heat until apples have slightly softened, about 3–5 minutes. Set apples aside.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line the bottom and sides of a 9×13-inch baking pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the sides to lift out the cooled blondies (makes cutting easier!). Set aside.
- Make the blondies: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the brown butter, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Fold in the apples. Batter will be thick.
- Spread batter evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for about 35 minutes or until the top is lightly browned and a toothpick comes out *mostly* clean. Remove from the oven and allow the blondies to cool completely in the pan set on a cooling rack.
- Make the icing: If the brown butter you set aside for the icing has solidified, warm it in the microwave for a few seconds to melt it back into liquid, then whisk together with the confectioners’ sugar, milk, vanilla extract, and salt. If needed, add more confectioners’ sugar to thicken, or more milk to thin out. Drizzle or spread over cooled blondies.
- Lift the blondies out of the pan by gripping the parchment paper overhang; transfer to a cutting board and cut into squares. Store tightly covered at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Iced or plain blondies freeze well up to 3 months. Arrange in even layers in a large freezer container between sheets of parchment. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then allow to come to room temperature before icing and/or serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Light-Colored Skillet or Stainless Steel Skillet (for browning butter) | 9×13-inch Baking Pan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Rubber Spatula
- Apples: Use your favorite variety of apples. I prefer tart Granny Smith apples because the blondies are pretty sweet. Peel and chop into bite-sized pieces before using.
Reader Comments and Reviews
These were delicious! For any gluten free readers I used King Arthur gluten free measure for measure and worked great in this recipe
Thank you Sally for your prompt and helpful reply. Just in case any of your readers wish to know – yes it’s possible to half this recipe successfully! I made half in a 8×8 inch pan for 25 mins (texture was nice and chewy – check after 22 mins just in case) and yes I browned my butter for less time – I just don’t time it just watch and smell it. These tasted amazing – really good plain too and I subbed in your chai spices mix blend (from your chai cinnamon swirl bundt cake) in place of the nutmeg and added chai spices to the apples. And reduced the brown sugar due to personal preference. Thanks again!
These are so, so delicious! It’s a good thing I’m bringing them to a party because it would be dangerous to keep them all in my house. The icing is amazing and should be put on everything. Another winner Sally – thanks!
I followed the recipe to a T (except I halved the icing recipe) and took them out of the oven after 35 mins of baking. The top was browned, even starting to crack a bit, and a toothpick came out clean. I waited almost two hours for them to cool before icing and cutting them, but unfortunately they came out very gooey and had a raw taste and texture. Such a bummer!!
It was incredibly tasty! I didn’t burn the brown butter . I really loved that the apple was not too intense at all. I also didn’t skip the frosting…My sister demolished half the batch within 3 hours! We are definitely adding this to our fav list
These are great. I made them a couple days ago and the flavor get even better after sitting. Thanks for sharing another perfect recipe.
Loved these! However, I would use less frosting as others mentioned. I ended up scraping most of it off. Even so, they were delicious! Maybe drizzle with a powdered sugar glaze – one that hardens
I think the amount of frosting was perfect. Enough to lightly coat the bars plus a couple tablespoons for the chef
Soo good!! And even better the next day… only change would be I will use less frosting next time….
THESE ARE MY NEW FAVOURITE DESSERT! These Blondies have the best ever apple flavour( I used a Crispen and Idared) and Wow! My hubby and I think these may be a new all the time fav. The crumb is so moist and dense like a perfect brownie with all the best flavours. That browned butter! Thanks again, Sally! These should be illegal!
Made this recipe for my husband who loves apple desserts , turned out delicious!! Taking the time to make the brown butter was worth it, so yummy!
Sally,
This morning, I had to bring my boyfriend to the airport. He’s Canadian, I’m Belgian and we’ve been in a long distance for over 4 year. You get it, I needed to bake to distract myself and needed some food for emo-eating throughout the day.
This recipe was everything I needed, fall comfort food at its very best. Thank you for another wonderful recipe. Your blog means more than you know.
These are absolutely delicious! They have jumped up to the #1 spot on my favorite SBA recipe. They are fall heaven in a pan. I halved the recipe and baked for 25 min. in an 8×8 pan and they were gone the same day.
Made these yesterday and they are delectably delightful! Most of them went into the freezer. I like to have goodies at the ready in my freezer for unexpected events at church, work and home. I always appreciate the tips given for freezing for later in Sally’s recipes. I keep sharing sallysbakingaddiction.com with my coworkers and friends at church, I should probably just have it printed on my business cards. 😉
Warning- make these and you may wind up eating half the pan in one sitting!!! DELICIOUS!! The brown butter frosting on these apple cinnamon moist blondies is a pure treat!! Thank you Sally for yet another great recipe
I reduced this recipe by 2/3 since it’s just me and my husband, but went ahead and included almost 1 1/2 cups of diced apple (fresh from our own tree!). It was just enough to fit nicely into a standard size loaf pan. Absolutely DELICIOUS! VERY rich. I didn’t make the frosting since I was out of powdered sugar, and I thought that it was plenty sweet enough as is. 🙂 We loved it and I’m making it again later this week!
Sally, I’ve enjoyed your recipes and each one is awesome. I’m not a fan of apples, but something about this jumped out at me. Holy cow…this has to be my new favorite recipe! I had 3 kids home last night for dinner, and luckily they each took some back to school with them, so I didn’t have to finish them off. Thank you so much for your recipes and tips.
Hi Sally. I made these yesterday. They were DELICIOUS. The brown butter icing almost didn’t make it on the blondies. I thought about keeping it for myself. The entire family loved them. I did have one issue….they didn’t rise. My kitchen was humid and hot from my using the oven prior to baking. I also whisked the dry ingredients ahead of time and set them aside. I know my baking powder was good. Could it have been the temp in my kitchen?
Hi Ann! It wouldn’t be the temperature in your kitchen. These blondies don’t rise much with all the moisture inside. They’re supposed to be dense– not light and airy like cake. 🙂
I made these today….mostly 🙂 I didn’t have apples, so I used Asian Pears instead and, taking the suggestion of an earlier commenter, I used Boiled Apple Cider instead of milk. They are delicious! Thanks so much!!
I don’t want to sound like a negative Nancy, I really don’t, I’m sorry. I made these day before yesterday, late, made the icing yesterday morning. We didn’t have one until last night. I’m not sure we’ll eat the whole pan, or if I’ll eat anymore. These are way too rich for my liking. The taste is nice with the brown butter, I love brown butter. However, 2 sticks and 330 g of brown sugar, puts them over the top for me. I’m really sorry Sally, I always love your recipes. Sadly, I won’t make this one again.
I just made these. They are delicious. My whole family loved them! Thanks for such a unique and easy recipe.
I just made these, and OH MY GOODNESS are they good. I’ve never worked with brown butter before and I was nervous about it, but that nutty, rich flavor is so worth it. Thank you, Sally, for another amazing recipe!
WOW these blondies look so delicious and perfect for Fall ♥
Made these tonight – delicious! They are for a tailgate tomorrow and I’m worried they won’t make it to the tailgate with my entire family fighting for them! Definitely do the granny smith – the tart bites inside are SO good!
Sally, you are on a roll with your fall recipes this year! I couldn’t resist making these tonight – they just cooled enough to frost and eat and they are amazing! I cut the brown sugar down to 1 cup and was worried it might affect the way the blondies set up but they turned out perfectly. They were ever so slightly dry, assuming because the loss of moisture that the extra brown sugar would have provided – but the brown butter icing made up for it! I would definitely make these again. I honestly love them!
This is an amazing recipe!! The blondie turned out moist and crisp at the same time. I was worried the apples might make the blondie gummy, but no! Next time I might use apple cider on the icing instead of milk, a realization I made afterwards. I also added a heavy pinch of cinnamon to the icing. Love this outside the box blondie recipe! Thanks!
Sally, these are one of the best things I’ve ever baked. I always mess up brown butter! Thank you for that video and explanation, I think I’ve got it down
For those who want to cut the recipe in half it totally works. I made them in a 9×9 pan and had just halved every ingredient listed. (They are a little bit thinner)
It came out really nice! Would definitely make it again.
I had planned to make an apple cake today, but I saw these bars and decided to make them instead. They came out great! The batter itself was awesome (not that I licked the spoon….) and everyone in my family loved the bars. Personally, I think they would be better without the glaze, but I was definitely in the minority on that in my house.
Can I grease the pan with butter instead of lining with parchment paper? Thank you
Absolutely. They’re just a little easier to cut outside of the pan, so that’s why I suggest parchment.
Sally, do you mix your wet ingredients with melted butter? Or do you let it resolidify and then mix? I just made my first cookie recipe with brown butter and it is so very good! But it is hard to describe exactly how to use it. So I wanted to ask! Mom bought apples and I need to use them, and this looks perfect. Thank you!
Use the melted brown butter. No need to wait for it to solidify. 🙂
Hi Sally,
Does the icing harden or does it remain soft and/or sticky?
Thanks.
It will set so that you can stack them!