These apple cinnamon blondies are chewy, buttery bars with tender spiced apples and finished with a sweet cinnamon icing drizzle. They bake up with soft, melt in your mouth texture, a warm spice background, and just the right amount of sweetness.
Think of these blondies as a cozy fall twist on a classic blondie, perfect to serve right alongside these biscoff blondies and brown butter blondies. The cinnamon sugar apples keep every bite moist and flavorful, while the icing adds the perfect finishing touch with an extra punch of cinnamon!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
Soft and chewy texture - these bars stays perfectly moist thanks to the brown sugar and apple chunks.
Cozy fall flavors - cinnamon, nutmeg, and caramelized dark brown sugar in every bite.
Quick and easy - no mixer needed! Just a mixing bowl, a whisk, and they're ready in under 45 minutes.
Ingredients
- Apple. Gala, braeburn, honeycrisp, or pink lady are the best sweet-tart options for this recipe.
- Spices. A mixture of cinnamon and nutmeg adds warmth and depth to the blondie batter.
- Dark brown sugar. I love to use dark brown for a rich molasses flavor and chewy batter.
- Baking powder. This adds just a touch of lift to the blondies and helps them bake up evenly.
- Powdered sugar. The base of the icing is mixed with a generous amount of cinnamon.
See recipe card for full ingredients list and quantities.
Substitutions and Variations
- Swap pears for apples for a softer, earthier flavor version.
- Add ½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans for crunch.
- Use apple pie spice in place of cinnamon and nutmeg for an extra kick of flavor.
- Replace the cinnamon icing with a drizzle of jarred salted caramel sauce.
How to Make This Recipe
One: Cook the apples, sugar, and cinnamon until the apples soften slightly.
Two: Whisk together the melted butter, eggs, dark brown sugar, and vanilla until smooth.
Three: Fold in the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices, then fold in the cooled apple chunks.
Four: Spread the batter into a prepared 8x8" pan, then bake.
Hot tip! Bake at the lowest time for chewier blondies. For more cakey brownies, go the higher amount or add even more time.
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Five: Whisk together the cinnamon icing until smooth.
Six: Cover the completely cooled bars with the icing, then slice and serve.
Expert Tips
- Cool the apples before adding them to the batter. Hot apples will make the blondies cook unevenly.
- Don't overbake; the edges should be slightly set, but the center should still be quite soft when you take it out of the oven.
- For clean cuts, wipe off the knife blade in between each cut.
- Adjust the consistency of the icing with extra milk or powdered sugar.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, any firm apple works. Sweeter apples like Gala or Fuji will also work and make for a sweeter blondie, while a Granny Smith will add more tartness.
Yes! Double the recipe (use the scaling function on the recipe card) and make the bars in a 9x13 inch pan.
Yes, freeze iced or un-iced cinnamon apple blondies for up to 2 months. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap, then foil and place into a zip top bag. Unwrap and thaw at room temperature before enjoying.
Storage
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 day, or in the fridge for up to 3 days. Enjoy at room temperature.
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What to Know When Cooking with The Cozy Plum
- All recipes are created with Diamond Crystal kosher salt, the least salty variety of kosher salt. If using Morton's, you'll need to cut the amount of salt in half as it's 2x as salty. This will be the same for sea salt. Please do not use table salt.
- Switch between Cups vs Metric using the toggle on the recipe card. Baking by weight using a digital scale will always produce the most accurate results.
- Scale the recipe using the '1X' '2X' '3X' buttons on the recipe card. Note that this does not make an adjustment for baking times, only quantities.
📖Recipe
Apple Cinnamon Blondies
Ingredients
Blondies
- 1 cup peeled cored, and chopped apples (½” pieces)
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted
- ¾ cups dark brown sugar packed
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cinnamon Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
Blondies
- Add the prepared apples, brown sugar, and cinnamon to a frying pan over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes until the apples soften. Transfer the apples to a plate to cool.1 cup peeled, ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease and parchment-line an 8x8” pan with overhangs (so they can be removed to cut).
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.1¼ cups all-purpose flour, ¾ teaspoons baking powder, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- In another bowl, whisk together the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth.½ cup unsalted butter, ¾ cups dark brown sugar, 1 large egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold it together with a rubber spatula until almost all of the flour has been combined. Add in the cooled apples (and their juices) and finish folding them in.
- Add the batter to the prepared pan and spread evenly, then bake for 18-22 minutes until the top is lightly browned. Don’t overbake!
- Cool on a wire rack completely before adding the icing.
Cinnamon Icing
- Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix until smooth. Add more milk if it needs to be thinner, or more powdered sugar if it needs to be thicker.1 cup powdered sugar, ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, 2 tablespoons milk
- Drizzle the icing over top of the cooled apple blondies, then remove them from the pan and cut into squares.
Callan Wenner says
Perfectly chewy with chunks of apple and SO easy to make. A fun recipe on repeat for fall.