Soft and chewy blondies infused with brown butter, swirled with pockets of buttery brown sugar cinnamon filling, and slathered in a luscious brown butter icing!
It’s definitely no secret that I’m a bit of a cinnamon roll fanatic. There’s just something so magical about that combination of fluffy dough, brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla icing. In fact, I’ve been so obsessed with this combination of flavors that I’m constantly dreaming up various ways to incorporate it into other desserts.
So today, I’ve combined my favorite breakfast pastry into a soft and chewy blondie!
Why You’ll Love These Blondies
Brimming with Brown Butter: Not only does the blondie batter contain a full cup of brown butter, but the icing is infused with it as well. These blondies are literally loaded with the nutty, toasty toffee-like flavor of brown butter.
Soft and Exquisitely Chewy: These blondies are soft, chewy, and deliciously fudgy. Whether you sink your teeth into a corner piece or a center piece, you definitely won’t be disappointed because every part of this blondie is texture perfection.
Cinnamon Roll in Blondie Form: With heavenly swirls of brown sugar cinnamon filling and luscious icing, every single bite is reminiscent of a buttery cinnamon roll. These blondies, however, contain the added blissfulness of brown butter.
Tips For Browning Butter
Use a Light-Colored Pan: When it comes to brown butter, visibility is key. A light-colored or stainless steel pan will allow you to see the milk solids go from pale yellow to golden brown. Dark pans make it difficult to see this transformation, often leading to burnt butter.
Use Unsalted Butter: Due to its higher water content, salted butter has the tendency to foam up more, making it difficult to see the color of the butter as it browns. As the butter melts, this excess water turns to steam. The salt also interacts with the milk proteins, creating more bubbles. If all you have is salted butter, that’s totally fine. Just make sure to leave out the added salt
NEVER Leave the Butter: If left unattended, the butter can brown unevenly and potentially burn. That’s why it’s crucial to keep an eye on your butter and stir it constantly. Also, resist the urge to turn the heat up to high. Keeping the heat at medium to medium-low will ensure even browning and prevent burning.
Trust Your Nose: When butter is done browning, it should smell nutty, toasty, and caramelized. If it smells bitter, pungent, or similar to overcooked popcorn, the butter is burnt.
Remove Butter Immediately: Once the butter is perfectly browned, immediately pour it into another dish or bowl. Even if you remove the pan from the stove, the residual heat from the pan will continue to cook the butter, causing it to burn.
Tips For Making These Blondies
Don’t Over-Mix: When it’s time to stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, only stir until JUST combined. Everything should be mostly incorporated, and you shouldn’t see any white streaks of dry flour. I also use more of a folding action, rather than a stirring motion to prevent overworking the gluten.
Line the Pan: For easy removal and clean-up, I always line my pans with parchment paper. I also leave extra overhang on the sides, so that I can simply lift the blondies up and out of the pan. This tip also makes for cleaner cuts since you can cut the entire slab of blondies on a cutting board.
Layer the Filling: To get an even distribution of brown sugar cinnamon filling throughout the blondies, I used a layering technique. First, I spread half of the blondie batter evenly into the bottom of the pan. Then I dropped dollops of half the filling evenly over the batter. I repeated these steps once more before using a butterknife to swirl the filling into the batter.
Don’t Over-bake: The key to soft and fudgy blondies is to err on the side of underbaking. That’s because the blondies will continue to bake from the residual heat once they’re out of the oven. My blondies took exactly 35 minutes to bake. To test for doneness, I stuck a skewer into a section that didn’t have any brown sugar filling, and it came out with just a few moist crumbs attached. If the toothpick comes out with raw batter, the blondies need more time in the oven.
Allow To Cool: Not only does the blondie need time to firm up and set, but the brown sugar cinnamon filling also needs to cool so that it doesn’t run everywhere. I would recommend allowing the blondies to cool for at least one hour before you ice and slice into them. It’ll still be plenty soft and warm, and you’ll end up with cleaner cuts.
Cinnamon Roll Blondies
Ingredients
Brown Sugar Cinnamon Filling:
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Brown Butter Blondies:
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 ¾ cups brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Brown Butter Icing:
- 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- Pinch salt
- 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
- 3-5 Tablespoons heavy cream
Instructions
Make the Filling:
- In a medium bowl combine the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon until smooth; set aside.
Make the Blondies:
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF degrees. Line an 8-inch square baking dish with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. As the butter melts, it’ll start to foam, then turn a clear golden color. Continue to stir the butter, scraping up any browned specks from the bottom of the pan as it starts to brown. It should have a nutty aroma.
- Once browned and nutty, turn off the heat and immediately pour into a large mixing bowl. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.
- Whisk the sugar, eggs, and vanilla into the brown butter until smooth. Switch to a wooden spoon, add the flour, baking powder and salt, and stir until just combined.
- Pour half of the batter into the baking pan. Dollop half of the filling evenly on top, then swirl with a knife. Pour the rest of the batter on top, followed by dollops of the rest of the filling, and swirl once again with a knife.
- Bake for about 35-40 minutes, or until edges are golden brown and the top of the blondies looks set. The center will still be jiggly, but the blondies will continue to bake as they cool. Allow blondies to cool completely before cutting into squares.
Make the Icing:
- In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. As the butter melts, it’ll start to foam, then turn a clear golden color. Continue to stir the butter, scraping up any browned specks from the bottom of the pan as it starts to brown. Immediately pour into a medium mixing bowl.
- Add the salt and 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar, whisking until combined. Mixture will be very dry. Add 2 tablespoons of heavy cream, whisking until smooth. Stir in the remaining 3/4 cup powdered sugar. Add more heavy cream, if desired.
- Spread icing evenly on top of the blondies. Slice into squares, serve, and enjoy!