I love blondies and I’ve wanted to make ones with apple that were capable of driving me crazy. You guys, I made it, lol! These caramel apple blondies are soft, gooey, sweet and really yummy. They’re perfect for a cup of coffee or tea and I’m completely in love with them.
A blondie, in case you’re not familiar with it, is like a brownie only without chocolate and it usually has a caramel-y taste from brown sugar. It goes really well with white chocolate, dark chocolate and even cinnamon. In this case, it’s a caramel apple blondie. This recipe came to me like divine inspiration, lol. I thought “what if I make a blondie but start with a caramel sauce”? And here we are! They are really spectacular, moist and with a very distinctive texture.
The first thing that we do in this recipe is turn butter into brown butter. Even if it doesn’t look like it makes much difference, it really transforms the flavour of the butter. When you melt the butter and let it sizzle for a while, the milk solids in it go golden. This is called “beurre noisette” in French because it has a flavour similar to toasted walnuts. This butter then becomes the base for our caramel with the brown sugar and apples.
Once we have the brown butter ready, we add the brown sugar, apples, cinnamon and salt. The apples cook in this mixture as well as let go of their juices and in the process a caramel sauce forms. Here you have to have a bit of patience as it takes a few minutes to get the sauce to thicken. Once cold, it will actually look like toffee! This is what gives that final chewy texture.
Ingredients
For the blondie
- 180 g unsalted butter
- 250 g brown sugar
- 270 g apple, peeled and cut in small cubes the weight is of the apples already cubed. I used Pink Lady but it could be Fuji or Royal Gala as well.
- ¾ tsp salt
- ¾ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 egg, cold, straight from the fridge
- 230 g all-purpose flour
For the glaze
- 6 tbs icing sugar
- Water as needed
Instructions
For the blondie
- Place the butter in a pot over medium heat. Let it melt and start to sizzle. You'll first see foam on top, then it will go away and finally, you will see brown specks in the butter and it will stop sizzling.
- Once the butter is ready, add the brown sugar, the apples, cinnamon, salt and mix.
- After 10-20 minutes of minutes of mixing over medium heat, the mix will thicken and look like a caramel sauce. Please be careful, this mix is extremely hot and it's best if there are no kids close by. It should look like this, coating the apples:
- Once ready, pour out the mix into a bowl. We need it to cool down enough so that it doesn't burn if you touch the outside of the bowl (please don't put your finger in the mix). It should cool down enough so that it's still hot, but not enough to burn you. As it cools down you will notice that it will thicken.
- Add the egg and quickly mix with a spatula.
- Add the flour and mix.
- Prepare a 20cm / 8in square pan with baking paper. You can stick it in place using a bit of oil, spread with a piece of kitchen paper.
- Pour the batter into the pan and spread it out.
- Bake the blondies in a preheated oven at 180°C/350°F for 15-20 or until a bit of cooked but gooey dough comes out if you stick a knife or skewer at the centre.
- Once cold, unstick the edges by running a thin knife and lift it off using the baking paper. Cut the blondies in 4-5cm squares.
For the glaze (do this once the blondies are cold)
- Add a bit of water at a time to the sugar and mix with a whisk. It should look viscous, not liquidy.
- Use a spoon to make the lines of glaze on the blondies.
