Bring autumn to life with these chewy, chunky cinnamon-spiced blondies. The brown butter adds an extra layer of nuttiness and takes these blondies to a whole new level, and the caramel sauce perfectly ties all the flavors together. It’s the perfect sweet treat to accompany your cup of coffee, chai, or hot chocolate and is made with the simplest pantry ingredients.
Blondies have always been a little bit of a mystery. They’re often seen as a “less popular, not as nice sibling of the brownie”. We’ve all surely eaten or heard of a blondie at some point, but we still don’t know what it exactly is. Is it a brownie? A bar? A cookie? These delicious treats are sadly always overshadowed by brownies.
Fun fact: for the longest time, I thought blondies are just brownies made with white chocolate 😬, which is why I never tried them cause I thought – there is no way that white chocolate brownies could be as good as regular brownies. It was only when I realized how massively wrong I was about what blondies are, did I realize what I have been missing.
So, What Are Blondies?
As I said, contrary to popular belief, blondies are not brownies made with white chocolate. In fact, brownies are more similar to cookies in texture than brownies. They’re chewy and chunky, with crispy edges and a soft center.
I would say that blondies are the perfect mash-up of brownies and cookies. They are fudgy like brownies and chewy like cookies. And they taste absolutely delicious.
Like cookies and brownies, blondies are also made with basic pantry ingredients like butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, and salt, and require minimum baking skills and effort in the kitchen! They’re the perfect dessert to whip up when you don’t wanna spend hours in the kitchen and are craving something comforting.
The best part about blondies is that they are super versatile. Because the base of a blondie is made with neutral ingredients like butter, sugar, and eggs, it’s very easy to adapt blondies to any flavor of your choice. This blondie, for instance, uses cinnamon and brown butter to give you that perfect fall feeling.
What Is The Difference Between Brownies And Blondies?
If you are still confused about the difference between brownies and blondies, let me help you out.
Brownies are all about chocolate. They are made with a base of melted chocolate and butter and also use cocoa powder to build a rich chocolate flavor. Brownies are also well-known for their crackly crust.
Blondies, on the other hand, are made with a butter and brown sugar base and don’t feature chocolate in the batter as brownies do. Instead, blondies are flavored with added chocolate chips, essences, and spices.
Brownies and blondies both have a similar texture, however, brownies are fudgier than blondies and blondies have a softer, more dense texture with a crispy exterior.
Check out my ultimate fudgy brownie recipe for your next bake.
The Salted Caramel Sauce
These cinnamon brown butter blondies are absolutely incomplete without a drizzle of this delicious salted caramel sauce. The salted caramel sauce perfectly ties the cinnamon, brown butter, and white chocolate flavor and gives a refreshing, salty kick that cuts through the sweetness of the blondie.
Now, caramel has always been a very feared thing in the baking world. I remember when I initially started baking, I did not attempt a caramel sauce for a long, long time because I was always scared of it. But you know what? There is absolutely nothing to be scared of.
With the right recipe, caramel is actually very simple to make. Yes, you have to be a little careful and make sure you don’t burn the sugar, but apart from that, this caramel sauce uses only 4 basic pantry staple ingredients and comes together in 15-20 minutes. And believe me when I say this, no store-bought caramel could ever come CLOSE to a homemade one.
You can make a big batch of this caramel sauce and store it for up to 2 weeks in the fridge and use it on ice cream, tarts, granola, oats, and anything you can imagine!
A few tips for making the salted caramel sauce
- Keep the pan on medium heat. It will take some time to melt the sugar, but keeping the heat on medium ensures that all the sugar melts evenly and does not burn.
- Keep moving the sugar around in the pan often to ensure that the sugar melts evenly and there are no sugar lumps in the final mixture.
- Use cold butter that has been cut into cubes, this helps the butter incorporate more easily into the sugar.
- Be careful when adding the cream to the sugar as the mixture will bubble up. There is nothing worse than sugar burns!
- Let the mixture simmer for a few minutes after adding the cream to help thicken the sauce.
- Add 1/2 tsp of salt to the finished caramel to bring out the flavor.
- Let the caramel cool and thicken before using.
These blondies are the perfect evening dessert to have in your fridge this fall! Are you ready to whip them up? Let’s get started.
PS: I always measure ingredients in grams, never in cups. Using a measuring scale is the only way to bake accurately. Cups are very unreliable and can give different measurements, so I would suggest you buy a measuring scale before you start baking! If you can’t get your hands on one, you can use the online tools for converting grams into cups, however, I do not guarantee their accuracy.
PPS: if you notice a * after any word, it means that there are additional tips about it after the recipe.
Cinnamon Brown Butter Blondies With Caramel Sauce
Equipment
- Stand or electric mixer
- Silicone spatula
- 7" square baking pan or 9×11" rectangle baking pan
Ingredients
Cinnamon Brown Butter Blondies
- 250 gs all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 200 gs unsalted butter
- 300 gs packed brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 100 gs white chocolate chips
Salted Caramel Sauce
- 100 gs sugar
- 45 gs unsalted butter
- 60 ml liquid whipping cream/heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
Cinnamon Brown Butter Blondies
- Preheat the oven to 170 degrees celsius and prepare your pan by lining it with baking paper. Leave an overhang of baking paper on the sides to make it easier to lift the blondies after baking.
- In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt, and set aside.250 gs all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp cinnamon powder, 1/2 tsp salt
- Brown the butter – Add the butter in a saucepan and melt it on medium heat. Keep mixing the butter with a spatula until it's completely melted and comes to a boil. After a few minutes, the butter will start to foam up, keep mixing until you see streaks of brown in the foam. This means that the butter has started browning, and you will also be able to smell a nutty aroma. Once the brown streaks appear, cook for 1-2 more minutes and take it off the heat. Keep a close eye on the butter once it starts foaming as it can burn very easily. Transfer the butter to a heat-proof bowl immediately to stop the cooking process. Let it cool to room temperature.200 gs unsalted butter
- In the bowl with the brown butter, add the brown sugar and whisk for 3-5 minutes on medium speed, until combined.300 gs packed brown sugar
- Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and whisk again for 2 minutes until the egg is properly combined in the batter.1 egg, 1 egg yolk, 1 tsp vanilla essence
- Add the dry ingredients to the batter in two increments. folding them into the batter gently with a silicone spatula after each addition until there are no streaks of flour left. Then, fold the white chocolate chips into the batter with a silicone spatula in a similar manner.100 gs white chocolate chips
- Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out mostly clean from the center of the blondies. The batter should be completely set from the sides but slightly soft from the center. Make sure not to overcook the blondies or they will become hard. Let the blondies cool before cutting into them.
- Top with caramel sauce and enjoy!
Caramel Sauce
- Heat the sugar in a pan on medium heat. Keep mixing it often to ensure that the sugar melts evenly. Once the sugar has completely melted and reached n amber color, add the butter and whisk until it's well combined with the sugar.100 gs sugar, 45 gs unsalted butter
- Let the sauce cook for a minute, then add the liquid cream while whisking. Be careful as the sauce will bubble at this step. Let the sauce simmer on low heat for another 1-2 minutes, then take it off the heat and add the salt. Let it cool and thicken before serving.60 ml liquid whipping cream/heavy cream, 1/2 tsp salt
Notes
Storage:
These cinnamon brown butter blondies can be stored for up to a week in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Make sure to heat them before serving. The caramel sauce can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.If you are looking for more fall desserts, check out these fall-inspired recipes that will definitely love!
- Easy Apple Crumble Recipe
- Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake
- Apple Galette
- Carrot Cake With Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cinnamon Brown Butter Cookies
If you give this recipe a try, don’t forget to let me know how you liked it in the comments! And of course, share it with me on Instagram.
Until next time!
