Maple Apple Blondies

Flour – Use all-purpose flour here for the base and structure of the blondies.

Leavener – Baking powder gives these apple blondies the boost they need to puff up in the oven.

Spices – Keeping things simple, here we use just a mix of ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg. Alternatively, you could also replace this with apple pie spice or pumpkin pie spice.

Butter – These blondies use a good amount of butter in the recipe, and to really boost the flavor you’re going to brown it first. It only takes about 6-8 minutes, and you can reuse the same pan to cook the apples. If you use salted butter, omit the added salt listed with the recipe.

Apple Butter – I love the addition of apple butter here for the boost in flavor, but this is optional. It’s easy to make homemade apple butter and you can use it for lots of recipes or as a spread. If you want to skip this ingredient, however, just increase the butter in the batter by a ¼ cup.

Sugar – I use all brown sugar here because it helps boost the flavors of the browned butter and the blondies in general.

Eggs – Two large eggs at room temperature help smooth out the batter and help with the rising.

Vanilla – Just a bit of vanilla extract helps to balance the flavors overall.

Maple Icing

Butter – The icing for the blondies is a browned butter icing flavored with maple syrup. Since you’re going to brown the butter here as well, simply brown it together with the butter in the batter and reserve the ¼ cup needed for the icing.

Sugar – As usual for icing or frosting, use powdered sugar here for the base.

Maple – Use real maple syrup here for a great boost in flavor for the icing. Avoid sugary “pancake syrups.”

Milk – Using all maple syrup can work, but milk helps to make it more spreadable and creamier. Whole milk works best, but any milk you have is fine.

Spices – Just a pinch of vanilla extract and ground cinnamon help to boost the flavors and reinforce the cinnamon apple taste from the blondies.

🍏 Best Apples for Maple Apple Blondies

Like with apple pie and most baked apple recipes, avoid apples that are a bit too soft or mealy when cooked. Slightly firmer apples hold their shape and texture better when baked in desserts. Otherwise, most apples work fine and go with your preference. A mix of both sweet and tart works well here.

Close up view of the side of maple apple blondie squares on a red plate with an apple behind them.

Because the apples are cooked inside of a batter for blondies, pre-cooking them for a few minutes helps to draw out some of their moisture. Skipping this step can keep them a bit too firm and when they release liquid while cooking it also creates steam and creates pockets of space around the apples. I use the same method in my cinnamon apple cider muffins.

Good options for both sweet and tart include the following:

Granny Smith
Braeburn
Jonathan
Jazz
Golden Delicious
Fuji
Honeycrisp
Pink Lady

🍳 How to Brown Butter

If you’re unfamiliar with the process, browning butter is pretty simple but requires constant attention because the magic happens quickly. The difference between beautifully browned butter and burnt, unusable butter can be a matter of seconds, so don’t walk away from the stove.

Don’t use frozen or cold butter here. It doesn’t need to be 100% room temperature, but let the butter sit out for a good 20-30 minutes before browning it. If it’s too cold, it tends to splatter a lot more as it heats up. Another tip is to slice the butter before adding it to the pan. Cut the butter into roughly 1 tablespoon slices, this helps to melt and cook the butter evenly.

Another recommendation is to use a lightly colored pan. A white or light-colored enameled pan or stainless-steel works best. You can make browned butter in non-stick, but they tend to be quite dark. The reason for using those pans is there are visual cues to when the butter is perfectly browned, and a lighter colored pan makes this easier to see.

Angled view of maple apple blondie squares on a red plate with a cinnamon stick next to them.

Melt the butter gently over medium to medium-low heat, stirring constantly. Once melted, the butter will begin to foam a lot. Keep stirring and around the 4–5-minute mark the butter should begin browning and you’ll see small brown specks on the bottom of the pan. Continue cooking and stirring for a few more minutes and the foam should start to subside slightly.

When the butter gives off a strong, nutty aroma and there’s lots of small specks forming in the pan, you’re good to go. Immediately remove the pan from the heat and pour the browned butter into a heat-proof container to stop the cooking process. The browned specks you see are the milk solids in the butter getting toasted, so definitely include them when you transfer the butter, don’t strain them out.

Again, this whole process should take between 5-8 minutes on average, so don’t walk away from the butter and keep stirring. If the small brown specks become lots of black specks, the butter was burned, and you shouldn’t use it.

🔪 How to Make

Start by peeling and dicing the apples into small pieces, about a ½” or smaller. Set them aside.

Two pictures of melting butter in a stainless-steel skillet and slowly making browned butter.

Next, brown the butter. Because you’ll be browning butter for both the maple apple blondies and the maple icing, brown all of it at the same time. Cook the butter over medium to medium-low heat in a light-colored skillet or stainless-steel pan, stirring constantly for 5-8 minutes. Once browned, set aside in a heatproof container. For more detailed information, read “How to Brown Butter” above.

Two pictures of diced apples in a skillet. Adding maple and cinnamon to them and the right image is after cooking them.

Add the apples to the same pan you browned the butter in and add the maple syrup and cinnamon. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened and cooked down slightly. This should only take about 5 minutes or so. Set the pan aside while you make the batter.

Preheat your oven to 350°F / 180°C. Prepare a 13x9 baking pan by buttering the sides or spraying with non-stick spray. Line the long side with parchment paper that hangs over the side to create a sling. This makes removal and cutting easier later. Set it aside.

On the left: dry ingredients for apple blondies in a mixing bowl. On the right: the wet ingredients for apple blondies in a different bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg and whisk together. In another mixing bowl combine the browned butter, apple butter (if using), brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract. Whisk until fully combined.

On the left: mixing the wet ingredients for blondies into the dry ingredients. On the right: folding in the apples.

Pour the wet mixture into the larger mixing bowl with the dry ingredients. Whisk until just combined, then add the apples and any juices remaining in the pan. Fold together gently and immediately add the batter to the prepared 13x9 baking pan.

On the left: maple apple blondie poured and spread evening into a 13x9 pan. On the right: the baked blondies.

Spread the batter as evenly as possible throughout the pan. Place into the oven and cook for 30-40 minutes. The top should be lightly browned, and a toothpick or cake tester should come out mostly clean. Set it on a cooling rack and allow it to cool completely in the pan.

On the left: making maple icing. On the right: drizzling the icing over the cooled apple blondies.

Once cooled, prepare the maple icing. By now the reserved browned butter has probably resolidified, so microwave it for a few seconds until it liquifies again. In a small mixing bowl, combine the reserved browned butter, powdered sugar, milk, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and cinnamon. Whisk until the icing is smooth and thick, but somewhat pourable. If it’s too thin, add more sugar, and if it’s too thick, add a bit more milk.

Using a spoon or squeeze bottle, drizzle the maple icing across the top of the cooled apple blondies. Remove from the pan and slice into squares for serving.

📖 Variations

While there are several variations possible here, most will change the recipe from maple apple blondies into a completely different end product. There’s nothing wrong with that though, and if you like the base blondie recipe here, you can change things up for your own tastes or create something totally different.

No Apples

If you want to remove or change the apples in the recipe, here’s a few variations. Keep in mind that if you remove the apples, remove the apple butter as well and increase the butter in the blondies by a ¼ cup.

Maple Pear Blondies – Swap out the apples with pears. Peel and dice them into the same size and cook them the same as the apples would have been. I’d suggest Bartlett or Bosc pears for this.

Browned Butter Blondies – For a simply flavored blondie that removes the apples and/or maple, make a browned butter blondie. Remove the apple butter and replace with an extra ¼ cup of butter in the blondie batter. Increase the brown sugar by at least another ¼ cup and remove the maple syrup from the icing if you want just a pure browned butter icing.

Maple Blondies – Remove the apples and apple butter, increase the browned butter by a ¼ cup and add a ¼ cup of maple syrup to the batter. In the frosting, replace 1 tablespoon of milk with another tablespoon of maple syrup. If you have it, consider replacing the vanilla extract in the batter with maple extract as well.

Sliced squares of apple blondies on crumpled parchment paper.

Other Mix-Ins

Not Browned Butter – Don’t feel like browning the butter? No problem, just skip that step. It adds a really nice, toasted flavor similar to butterscotch, but if you don’t want to brown the butter, just melt the same amount in a heatproof bowl in the microwave.

Bourbon Apple Blondies – Another great option is to add some bourbon or whiskey to the recipe for a boozy, adults only apple blondie recipe. When cooking the apples, reduce the maple syrup to 1 tablespoon and add 2 tablespoons of your favorite bourbon. In the icing, reduce the maple syrup by 1 tablespoon and replace it with 1 tablespoon of bourbon. For even more flavor, try an apple or maple bourbon as well.

Nuts – If you want to add some nuts for flavor and texture into the batter, you can. I would suggest coarsely chopping and toasting about a ½ cup of walnuts, pecans, macadamia nuts, or sliced almonds. Fold them into the batter when you fold in the apples.

Chocolate – Chocolate also makes a great mix-in for blondies. I don’t think I would use regular chocolate chips in a maple apple blondie, but white chocolate could work. Even better though, consider adding caramel, toffee, or butterscotch baking chips.

Different Toppings

Browned Butter Icing – If you’d prefer to remove the maple flavor from the blondies, it’s an easy switch. When cooking the apples, replace the maple with equal parts brown sugar or even honey. In the icing, simply omit the maple syrup and add some more milk until you have the right consistency.

Caramel Apple Blondies – Another great option for a topping is replacing the icing altogether and simply drizzle on some salted caramel sauce, or regular caramel sauce and sprinkle with some flaky sea salt.

Thick Frosting – The maple icing is meant to make just enough to drizzle across the tops of the apple blondies. If you want a thicker and whole layer however, you can achieve that with just a few tweaks. Up the amount of powdered sugar in the recipe by an extra ½ to ¾ cups with just enough milk to keep it thick and spreadable instead of pourable. Add to the top of the cooled blondie and spread over evenly with a knife or offset spatula for maple frosted apple blondies.

Plain – In the opposite direction, if you want to omit the topping altogether, you can. This is a good way to reduce the sugar if you need to. If you still want some of that maple flavor though, you can pour a little maple syrup on top of the blondies while still warm (not hot!) and spread it evenly over the top with a pastry brush. When I say a little, I mean about 2 tablespoons just to make a very light glaze on top.

💭 Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the difference between a blondie and a brownie?

The recipes and finished textures in blondies and brownies are like one another, but the flavors are much different. Getting their flavor from vanilla extract and plenty of brown sugar, blondies have a lighter flavor, while brownies use cocoa powder and chocolate to achieve their fudgy, chocolatey flavor. The original blondie recipes were even referred to as “blonde brownies.”

What makes brown butter different?

Browning butter toasts the milk solids in the butter, which are the small, brown specks you see in it. This gives brown butter a toasty, nutty flavor, and aroma that it imparts to whatever recipe you use it in. It can add a lot of flavors to recipes like cookies, blondies, and other recipes where melted butter is mixed into the batter.

Why is a maple blondie not as chewy as normal blondies?

In a recipe like this, the small addition of maple syrup and apple butter keeps the batter moister while baking and gives the finished blondies a bit more of a cake-like texture than regular blondies.

🍽 Equipment

Nothing special required here for maple apple blondies, but for browning butter, I highly suggest a white enameled pan or stainless-steel skillet.

Peeler – Having a good set of fruit or vegetable peelers makes quick work peeling the apples here. This set of vegetable peelers from OXO is great and is what I used here. I love this set because it comes with a straight, serrated, and julienne peeler to meet any needs you may have.

Stainless-Steel Skillet – While you can make browned butter in a non-stick skillet, I highly recommend using either an enameled or ceramic coated pan or a stainless-steel skillet. The nutty aroma is one indicator that the butter is browned, but the visual cues from the toasted milk fat on the bottom of the pan is better. Non-stick pans are typically black or very dark and can make this much more difficult to determine when the butter is browned correctly or burnt.

Baking Pan – In a lot of recipes involving fruit being baked, I would recommend against metal pans. In a blondie recipe however, I would recommend one over glass baking dishes. A 13x9 baking pan has sides that are mostly straight, which gives you cleaner cuts, and they heat more quickly than glass.

❄️ Storage

Once cooled and frosted, you can store maple apple blondies at room temperature for 2-3 days. You can move them to an airtight container or place them back into the baking pan and cover with plastic wrap.

For longer storage than a few days, I would move to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to one week. If you wish to keep even longer, or make ahead, you can also freeze them. Slice and store in layers separated by wax paper in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months.

If making ahead and freezing them, I suggest waiting to add the icing when ready to serve. Thaw overnight in the fridge and make the icing shortly before serving.

Maple Apple Blondies

🥘 Ingredients

The Apples