Next Post
The 24 Most Popular Thanksgiving Drinks.
This post may contain affiliate links, please see our privacy policy for details.
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
These came out amazing and got rave reviews from friends!! I used salted caramel since I didn’t have apple butter and they baked up just fine. I did use an 8×8 dish so I increased the bake time to about 25 minutes. I’ll be making this one again very soon!
Hey Alaina,
Amazing!! So glad to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, I appreciate you making it! xT
Tiegan,
We loved this!! My daughter said it’s “was phenomenal ” and is now her all time favorite dessert. Easy to follow recipe.
Keep up the good work
Kathy
Hey Kathy,
Happy Sunday!!🍂 Thanks a bunch for making this recipe and your review, so glad it was enjoyed:) xx
What altitude are your recipes set at? I know you are in Colorado, so I’m just wondering if I need to make adjustments for my altitude?
These were delicious! Made them exactly as instructed and they baked in 22 minutes.
The frozen sugar really makes them special. Thanks for a great recipe! Very easy to follow.
Hey Alicia,
Happy Friday!! Thanks so much for trying this recipe and sharing your review, so glad it was a hit! xT
Hi! I don’t have any apple butter at the moment, and was wondering if the recipe called for maple syrup or maple butter as a substitute?
I used the AI chat bot and it said that the recipe can use Maple Syrup. I also remember her talking about it somewhere that Maple Syrup is ok to use.
Hi Kayla,
You can use maple syrup in place of the apple butter, I also have a homemade apple butter recipe if you want to give that a try:)
https://fett-weg.today/homemade-slow-cooker-maple-apple-butter/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions! xT
My husband LOVED these and they were much easier to make than I thought they would be. The frozen sugar really makes them special, you were right! They are gooey in all the right ways and went over very well in my house.
Thanks so much Kristen!! I am thrilled to hear that these blondies were such a hit, thanks for making them! xT
Hello! Does this recipe use baking soda or baking powder? It says both in the recipe/description.
Hi John,
You are going to use baking powder in this recipe:) Please let me know if you have any other questions, I hope you love these blondies! xx
These were so good! They will definietly be part of my Thanksgiving dessert table.
Just a note–the “details” part of the recipe says baking soda and the recipe itself says baking powder. Went with the powder.
Made these tonight with homemade apple butter and dark chocolate chips. I love that you can taste hints of apple butter. These bars won’t bake up like classic cookie bars likely due to the higher liquid content from the apple butter/maple syrup, but I like slightly gooey cookies so that was fine by me. 🙂
Thank you so much Kristen! So glad you’re loving this recipe! xT
Do you maple syrup or maple butter to substitute for the apple butter? Thank you!
This is what I would like to know too
Um, you seem very unstable and scary.
These were delicious, brought them to a pumpkin carving party. Made them exactly as instructed and they baked in 22 minutes. I did also use a glass baking dish, that may be why some are having to bake them for longer.
Thank you so much for trying out this recipe! So glad you enjoyed it! Have a great Halloween 🙂 xT
Everyone loved these. 5 stars. 10/10. Soooo good. I liked how they were a soft consistency. And the flavors – we could not control ourselves.
Thanks so much for trying out the recipe! 🙂 xT
These were delicious. I don’t understand the negative comments as I baked these for 30 minutes and they were perfect. I used to bake for a living and now I bake for volunteers at a soup kitchen so I bake at least 5 times a week. I followed the directions exactly and no glitches at all. Thanks for a great recipe!
Thank you so much Mary Jean! So sweet of you! xT
Delish! I didn’t have apple butter and thought I had maple syrup but didn’t. I just added 1/4 more salted butter, bc why not?? It didn’t rise very much, a little flat, could it be all the butter?
I didn’t use all the cinnamon crunch and wished I would have topped with with more cinnamon sugar mixture.
These are the perfect mixture of sweet and salty.
Hi Jennifer! Thanks for giving this recipe a try! 🙂 xT