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
My family and I LOVE these blondies! As it gets warmer, I was wondering if I could replace the apples with peaches? I know you have a peach bundt cake recipe with the same icing but bars would be easier to serve for a crowd.
Thanks!
Hi Brooke, We haven’t tested it ourselves, but you could certainly give it a try. Peaches tend to give off quite a bit of moisture, so it may be beneficial to drain them a bit after cooking them in step 3. Let us know what you try!
Hi Sally, I appreciate your site and all your recipes. Step #6 of the instruction includes brown sugar and perhaps that should not be there?
Hi Bob, that is correct. There is 1 and 2/3 cups (330g) packed light or dark brown sugar in the blondies batter.
Hi! Can I make this in a 9x9inch pan?
Hi Sandy, you can definitely halve this recipe for an 8×8 or 9×9 inch baking pan. We’re unsure of the exact bake time. Hope you enjoy them!
So deliciously gooey! Especially if you eat them while they are still a little warm from the oven. We will absolutely be making these again!
We did notice that we lost some butter during the browning process, so I would recommend starting with a cup and a half so you still have a cup for the batter and quarter cup for the icing after browning.
These were delicious! I threw in an extra egg yolk to make them more like a chewy brownie and added a splash of Apple Cider Vinegar to make it even more “appely.”
Best thing I’ve ever made.
Family loved it! I made one change. When I browned the butter I did it in two batches.
In the batch for the blondies I bloomed the spices at the end when the butter was nearly done.
These are delish! I’m wondering if they would work as a cookie vs a bar? Do you think it’s worth a shot trying it out?
Hi Emily, the batter doesn’t translate well into cookies. It’s quite thin, and works better as bars. You could absolutely bake the batter in lined or greased muffin cups, though! I’m unsure of the best bake time.
Since my family loves caramel, where can I add to this recipe, and how much
Hi Terri, these would be fantastic with some salted caramel drizzled on top in lieu of the icing.
So these have really good flavor. Mine came out really cake like and I only baked them for 30 min in a metal pan, which was almost too much. My question is: when I weighed out my flour, 291g was just barely over 2 C (Bobs Red Mill) and according to the bag of flour, 2 1/3 c would be 317g. So I wasn’t sure which way to go, but decided to go with the bag measurements. I think maybe that’s why it was a little drier/cake-like than I expected?
Hi Jauné, it sounds like the additional flour likely caused the dry texture. When in doubt, the weight measurements are always the most accurate, so we’d stick with 291g all-purpose flour as written for the next batch. Hope this helps and thank you so much for giving these a try!
Can I make these blondies without the brown butter icing?
Absolutely.
These were very good but beware, anytime you use pumpkin, banana or apple, there will be a cakier texture. The blondie batter REALLY looked like blondie batter, but once baked, it was a little more caky. Still delicious.
I weighed my butter in ounces after I browned it and the butter for the FROSTING and the blondies was 8oz, so I didn’t have leftover butter for the frosting, but you don’t need frosting on these. They are so good without.
Added white chocolate. No regrets on that.
This sounds delicious! Could apple cider be substituted for the actual apples? Looking for an apple taste without the chunks of apple.
Hi Abby, the apples are needed not only for taste but for the texture and structure of these blondies, too. You might enjoy these apple spice whoopie pies or apple cider donuts for an apple treat using apple cider and not actual apple chunks or slices.
Sally- sorry if this has already been addressed, but are there any issues if halving the recipe? What pan size would work & how long would it take to bake? Thanks!
Hi L, you can definitely halve this recipe for an 8×8 or 9×9 inch baking pan. We’re unsure of the exact bake time. Hope you enjoy them!
These bars are so full of flavor and are delicious! The bars baked perfectly and came out of the pan easily using the parchment paper suggestion. I found another keeper recipe! Thank you!
Delicious fall treat! Do not skip the icing! I was worried it’d be too sweet so I left out the half a cup of powdered sugar. It was amazing! Baked for 32 mins and I thought it was better the next day 🙂
My o my… these blondies are absolutely amazing… ive made and made and made this recipe and friends goo and gaaa over it every time I give some away!! It works perfectly with gluten free flour as well… would rate 10⭐️ if I could!!!
Since we don’t get much of a fall season in California I try to substitute it by making as many fall recipes as I can find and was delighted when I saw this one. I’ve been making recipes from Sally since I first got into baking over lockdown and I think this is the best recipe I’ve ever made from this website. It’s perfect in every way. Sweet but not too sweet, moist and chewy but not undercooked, and the brown butter makes the entire dish. Thank you so much for this recipe!
This is the second time I’m making these. But the 1.25 cups of butter only seem to yield 8oz of browned butter. Once I put the 2oz aside for icing, I’m only left with 6oz for the bars… is that normal?
Hi Cynthia, yes, this is expected! Browning the butter causes some moisture to evaporate, and the recipe takes that into account. Hope they turn out great for you!
Hi looks like a delicious apple bar! I was wondering if I could double and bake in a 12x 18 pan? Also would these be good warm with ice cream ? Thank you
Hi Anita, yes, you can double this recipe. Just make sure your pans and mixing bowls are big enough to hold the doubled ingredients. They’re delicious with ice cream. Enjoy!
Fantastic. Straightforward recipe and incredible fall blondies.
Planning to make these for office Halloween party. Can I add salted caramel chips, and if so, how much?
Hi Katie, you could add anywhere from 1/2 cup to 1 cup of salted caramel chips. Enjoy!
This recipe smells amazing! Where’d I go wrong though! Toothpick came out clean but when I cut my brownies the entire middle of the pan is gooey. If I would have cooked any longer the edges would be as hard as a rock.
Hi Jessica, I wonder if you were using a glass baking dish? Typically metal is a better heat conductor and helps with even baking so that you don’t get the overdone edges and underdone center.
Simply delicious!
The icing is literally the chewy on top. Such awesome flavor and texture and simple to make. It’s worth the time!(which isn’t a lot)
Thank you Sally for this awesome recipe!!
Meant to say *cherry on top***
Hi! Is it best to use a glass or metal pan? Testing these for fall treat boxes for neighbors – thanks!!
Hi AP, either will work just fine here!
Made this recipe today. These bars are fantastic. Super moist. Sweet but not too sweet. My husband even called them the best apple bars he has ever had. High praise from a man that has always loved a good apple bar. Thank you for the recipe.
Question about the brown butter amount –
I added 282g of butter to the pan. After browning, I removed 56g and set aside for the icing. When I weighed the remainder, it wasn’t enough for the batter (expected). But then I wasn’t sure, should the final amount of butter mixed into the batter be 226g or should that be the amount before browning? I ended up having to go back and make more for the icing, which was wasted time. Thanks!
Hi Elle, yes, this is expected! Browning the butter causes some moisture to evaporate, and the recipe takes that into account. Hope they turn out great for you!
Everyone loved these bars! Brown butter makes the dish!! I made 1 1/2 times the recipes for a half sheet pan for a party! Delicious! Will definitely make these again!
I really like this recipe but my apple sunk after the blondies cooled, what do you suggest?
Hi Kelly! The apple chunks will sink a bit because they shrink as they bake. Do the bars seem cooked through?
Can you use frozen apples in these? I have a ton from my tree and would like to chop and freeze to use in these all year.
Hi Allison! Fresh apples are best, but frozen should work. Thaw and drain before using (you want to get rid of the excess liquid).