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
I made these last night….seriously delicious!!! Sally, I completely agree with you on the brown butter drizzle holy smokes is that good stuff!!!!!
I made these yesterday. Easy and delicious!
B
This is my 3rd time making these and they are the best I have ever eaten. Mom asked for them instead of cake for Mother’s Day and I know we will eat every last one today. Followed the recipe except I used orange juice in the icing and wow the taste was out of this world.
So delicious! My husband and I finished the whole pan in 2 days…
Man, these were sooooooooo good! I made a batch on Tuesday (3/10/20)
We are having a luncheon today at work and I made 2 more batches. 1st batch I did like the recipe, the 2nd one I added pecans in the batter and sprinkled some on top. YUMMY!!
Absolute perfection… I love this dessert!! Per the recipe, I added additional milk to the glaze (which is to die for, by the way!!). I spread it over the entire thing instead of drizzling it like a frosting… brown butter is my new favorite!!
These were so incredibly delicious! So flavorful and moist and easy to make, too! can’t wait to make again!
These are incredible, I’ve made them a few times now and they never fail to get rave reviews.
I made this recipe twice this week and have to say it was a huge success both times. Super easy recipe to follow and totally worth it. Thanks for sharing it!
These blondies were amazing!!! Brown butter is one of my favorite ingredients, and it was delicious in these blondies!!! Thanks for the awesome recipe Sally! 🙂
My husband said these are the best thing I’ve ever made! And, I’ve made a lot of recipes (many from your website) that he’s loved. I baked mine in an 11 X 7 pan because I wanted them thicker, but I think they’d be just as good no matter the thickness… Thank you for yet another awesome recipe!! You’re always my go-to 🙂
So delicious! The Granny Smith apples perfectly components complimented the sweetness of the blondies. So good and perfect for the fall!
Hi! I plan to make this recipe soon–it looks absolutely delicious and perfect for fall weather. Two quick questions-can I use heavy cream instead of milk for the icing? And should I increase the ingredient amounts if I only have a 10×13 baking pan?
Thank you 🙂
Hi Kimberly, you can use cream for the icing if that’s what you have – it will just be slightly thicker. And for a 10×13 baking pan your blondies will be thinner overall but I wouldn’t change the ratio of ingredients. Enjoy!
Yum! Followed the recipe but instead of adding cooked apples I swirled in some homemade apple butter and it was SO GOOD!
I just baked these today for our office thanksgiving potluck tomorrow and they are DELISH! However, I guess I did sike thing wrong because mine is more like a moist sheet cake instead of a blondie! Do you know what I did wrong? Either way it is still realllllllyyy good but I definitely want to try and make it right next time. Thank you Sally!
Hi Kim! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the blondies! My guess is maybe they were under-baked if they’re tasting like cake. Though I will say, for blondies, they’re definitely on the cakier side from all the moisture from the apple.
Ridiculously delicious!! I just made my second batch! My son came in the living room stuffing them in his mouth and telling me how “horrible” they were! They were so horrible he finished them the next day!!!
These are super delicious and buttery! My husband loves apple flavor so I wanted to make him these treat. My whole family loved them, thank you!
Amazing! Sooo rich and delicious and easy to make! I made half the recipe in a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan, it turned out dense and moist. I also added 1/2 cup of chopped nuts (hazelnuts and walnuts), and sprinkled some toasted chopped walnuts on top – yum! Will definitely be making this again… thank you for the recipe!
Brown butter should be illegal it’s so good! I made these yesterday. I pulled them out of the oven around noon and this morning there were LITERALLY only four left. FOUR!!! This is one of those recipes that you lie about and claim it as a family secret.
Some of my go-to, holy grail recipes are Sally’s, but I won’t be adding this one to the list. I found them to be a little one note…super sweet and not the texture I expected. I expected more of a chewy blondie, and these were a super soft and super sweet cake. Could definitely be user error though!
These were amazing! Made them today for a party and couldn’t stop eating them. My husband who doesn’t really like sweets thought they were great. Thank you for this recipe and your detailed instructions and tips.
I made these using apple cider syrup in place of maple and put a little in the icing too. Wonderful! Keeper. I thought I messed up because the batter is not just thick, it’s stiff! Caramel like. But it baked beautifully.
Made these using apple cider syrup in place of maple and I put a little in the icing too. They are wonderful! Keeper. I thought I messed up because the batter isn’t just thick, it’s stiff! Caramel-like. But they baked beautifully.
I followed the recipe exactly but they came out way too thin, and therefore overbaked so they were very dry. They are at least half the size of the ones in the picture. The overbaking is my fault but when they looked done at only 23 minutes–nowhere near the suggested 35–I thought I must be mistaken so I baked them an extra 5 mins before I called it.
All of this could probably be resolved if the size pan changed. Instead of a 9×13, an 8×8 I suspect would be the perfect size for the thickness and baking time.
Hi Jaclyn! 8×8 inch would be too small and the blondies would cook unevenly. You can use 9×9 if you decide to try them again. Thanks!
Just made these and they’re sooo delicious! The brown butter flavor is special <3 They have come out very light and cakey though, not dense and chewy as expected. I’m not complaining because they’re incredible anyway! Just curious as to why. My apples were very sweet to begin with so I cut the sugar by 1/3 and they were ready to come out of the oven after 20 mins.
My whole family loved the blondies! Great recipe!
Loved this recipe! They’re moist and flavorful! Can’t wait to share these with my coworkers tomorrow (not sure I really want to though!)
My only recommendation is to make sure the batter is spread evenly in the pan because it is thick and not a runny batter. I didn’t spread it perfectly evenly and one section didn’t cook as well as the rest. Definitely making this again!
I added a tablespoon of boiled cider to the apples as they were cooking to amp up the apple flavor. Absolutely delicious!
I noticed afterwards that the ingredient list for the icing doesn’t include the pinch of salt that is mentioned in the post. As the blondies and the icing are quite sweet, I think the salt would have taken the icing up a notch. Still fantastic anyway!!
These were fantastic Sally! I love how all of your recipes are so well written. These were a hit with my Moms group and my family. Will definitely make them again!
Sally,
Can this recipe be made without browning the butter( to make it less rich)? Thanks
Yes, you can try it that way.