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Soft and gooey, Cinnamon Swirl Snickerdoodle Blondies. Made with nutty browned butter, salted apple butter, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Then mixed with chunks of cinnamon that melt into wonderful swirls. Just before baking, sprinkle the blondies with a little cinnamon sugar for that classic Snickerdoodle finish. And the true secret here? Sweet apple butter. It’s what keeps these blondies incredibly flavorful, soft, gooey, salty, and so delicious. Great to bake throughout the holiday season!
I’m probably about to annoy many of you, but I’ve entered into my happy, excited holiday cooking and baking zone. These are the recipes I LOVE the most all year long. I work so hard to share only the most special ones each and every season. So I’m jumping up and down with excitement to share these!
And these cookies! Or blondies!! I love them. A mix between a chewy, sweet Snickerdoodle and a thick blondie bar.
Perfect for Thanksgiving, or for packing up to fill this year’s holiday cookie boxes!
Ingredients
- Salted butter
- Apple butter or maple syrup
- Brown sugar
- Large egg
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Cinnamon
- Nutmeg
- Kosher salt
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Cinnamon sugar
The details
Step 1: make the cinnamon swirl
This swirl is what makes these blondies so special. It’s just brown sugar mixed with butter and cinnamon. Exactly what you’d roll a cinnamon roll up with.
Now crumble the cinnamon into chunks and then freeze. It’s not fancy at all, but adds a sweetness that’s unique and special to this cookie.
Step 2: make the cookie dough
While the chunks freeze, make the cookies.
Start by browning the butter. This gives you the flavor of browned butter and leaves you with a cookie that has great texture too. Shocker, I know, I added browned butter, but it makes the cookies just that much better.
It’s worth the extra step.
Then add brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix together, and add the dry ingredients – flour, baking soda, and salt.
Step 3: swirl and bake.
At this point, the cinnamon chunks should be frozen and ready to use. Mix them into the cookie dough and spread the dough out into a baking dish. In classic Snickerdoodle form, sprinkle the top of the dough with cinnamon sugar.
I do a light sprinkle. I didn’t want the bars to be overly sweet. Bake them up until they are barely set on the edges and gooey in the center. A little underdone is best!
Step 4: slice, eat, and enjoy!
Not a traditional blondie bar, but so much better! The result is a perfectly chewy, gingery, blondie with rich notes of cinnamon and vanilla.
We couldn’t love these easy snickerdoodles more. The cinnamon swirl really makes them special. Hope you guys love these just as much as I do!
Looking for Christmas cookie recipes? Here are a few ideas:
Chewy Frosted Cinnamon Swirl Snickerdoodles
Easy Slice ‘n’ Bake Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies
Chewy Brown Butter Pretzel Pecan Cookies
Soft Gingerbread Latte Cookies with Brown Butter Icing
Lastly, if you make these Cinnamon Swirl Snickerdoodle Blondies be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Brown Butter Cinnamon Swirl Snickerdoodle Blondies
Servings: 24 bars
Calories Per Serving: 217 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Watch the How-To Reel
Ingredients
Cinnamon Swirl
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons salted butter, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
blondies
- 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup ) salted butter
- 1/4 cup apple butter or maple
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup cinnamon sugar
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a 9×13 inch baking dish with parchment paper.2. To make the cinnamon swirl. In a bowl, mix the butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Line a small baking sheet with parchment. Crumble/tear the cinnamon mix over the baking sheet, creating small chunks. Freeze for 10 minutes, until firm.3. To make the snickerdoodles. Add the butter to a skillet set over medium heat. Allow the butter to brown until it smells toasted, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat. Pour the brown butter into a mixing bowl. 4. To the butter, add the brown sugar, apple butter, egg, and vanilla, Beat until combined. Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Fold in the chocolate chips and 2/3 rds of the cinnamon chunks. 5. Spread the dough into the prepared dish. Press the remaining cinnamon chunks into the dough. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over. Bake for 20-22 minutes, until the edges are just setting and the center is still doughy. Let cool6. Cut into bars, snack, and enjoy!
This post was originally published on October 27, 2023
I made these bars for Thanksgiving and my family was OBSESSED with them! They all ate multiple bars, and then jokingly asked me why I made something so delicious that they can’t stop eating. Needless to say, I will be making these again for Christmas!
Lol yay! Love to hear this, Haley! Thanks for making this recipe and your feedback!
Merry Christmas!
Planning to try these this weekend, but I really like the tang of cream of tartar in my snickerdoodles. If I add cream of tartar, would you recommend adjusting any of the other ingredients?
Hi Lynne,
I would keep everything else the same as I have not tested this:) Please let me know if I can help in any other way!
Hi. I’m getting ready to make these today, but i noticed the video and recipe have 2 different measurements for the eggs. It’s it 1 egg or 2?? Thanks ☺️ can’t wait to see how these turn out!
Hi Erin,
You will want to use 1 egg for this recipe. Please let me know if you have any other questions!
These snickerdoodle blondies turned out great! Recipe is a keeper. I get a lot of request to bake more. I find measurements in grams are easier & more exact.
Thanks so much:) Love to hear you enjoyed this recipe, I appreciate you making it! Happy Sunday!
These look incredible! Haven’t made them yet. I’m wondering how PUMPKIN BUTTER would substitute.
Thanks so much, Katie!!
If you want to use pumpkin butter, I would use one of these recipes:
https://fett-weg.today/brown-sugar-maple-pumpkin-butter-cookies/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> https://fett-weg.today/pumpkin-butter-bars/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Please let me know if you have any other questions!
I made these and they were amazing! The cinnamon sugar too was delicious! Could this recipe be used to make in cookie form too?
Hi Molly,
Fantastic! Thanks a bunch for making this recipe and your feedback, I’m so glad to hear it turned out well!
So sorry, I have never tried that before!
Hi, I wanted to give this recipe a try but everything is in ounces. Is there a way you can covert this to cups/tablesoons/ teaspoons? Thank you!
Hi Alli,
So sorry about that! If you click “metric” under the ingredient list the cups will appear. There must be a glitch on this recipe. So sorry!
It seems that the metric measurements are not correct. Ie 3/4 cup butter is not 18 oz. This is a great recipe but frustrating to have to figure it out every time. It would be nice if Half Baked Harvest would kindly fix it as it really is a good snickerdoodle recipe.
Hi Anna,
So sorry about that! I will look into this! I always recommend that if the metric information is important to you, you use your own personal calculator. Ours is automatic and controlled by google. It’s not something we’d prefer to be using. We are required to. I’m sorry for the trouble, we do our best!
I love all your recipes! I definitely did something wrong though, they came out so underdone. I stuck them back in but couldn’t get it right. Any clue what I did wrong? I didn’t get the thickness or consistency in your videos. Any tips would be appreciated! Still giving 5 stars since the flavor was fabulous and it was definitely a me problem 🙂
Hi Jenna,
Oh no, so sorry to hear this! Did you use a metal pan for baking? Sometimes glass or ceramic takes longer to bake in. Let me know:)
Hi! The recipe says apple butter or maple – is that maple syrup?
Hi Rachel,
Yes, maple syrup is correct. Please let me know if you have any other questions!
I used pumpkin butter instead of apple and they turned out delicious!!! Thank you!
Hey Megan,
Happy Sunday! Thanks a bunch for giving this recipe a try, I love to hear it turned out well for you!