According to Half Baked Harvest, apple is for September and pumpkin is for October. I'm not one to follow rules, aka I always where white after Labor Day, but after making these sweet treats, I'm ready to follow her advice.
Ah yes. Another blog post where I talk about fall stereotypes. I'm back with another cliche fall moment. Can we all take a moment to enjoy the time of year where you can crack open your windows and let the crisp autumn air filter into your living space? Perhaps you can rest your freshly baked apple pie on the window sill and allow the cool breeze to lower the temperature of your piping hot pie. Well here I am in Connecticut and I had to crank my AC today on September 28th because it was reaching 80 degrees at 2pm. Here are just a few other things I had to do this week. This weekend I unearthed my bathing suits out of storage because my outdoor pool is still open and why wouldn't I take the opportunity to tan up my pale skin again? I've taken my flip flops in and out, and in and out again, from the back of my closet because trust me, I'm not wearing fall booties in this heat. I learned the hard way that you cannot force your wardrobe to be fall, after I wore a sweater I couldn't take off the other day on a walk. The one thing that I will not give up is fall eating. I'm making stews, soups, and all the other cozy meals I can think of and gosh darn, I'm baking.
I baked until 8:30 on a Monday night, and if you know me I'm almost in bed by then, because I so desperately wanted to make these Half Baked Harvest Brown Butter Apple Blondies. Teighan is my forever queen and probably the reason that I had a blog to this day. I know that 9 out of 10 times her recipes are on my repeat list so I'm not even going to bother modifying this to make it my own because it's simple and delicious.
Another fall activity I refuse to do in the heat is go apple picking. Nope. Apple picking is so special to me that I cannot ruin the moment by wearing cut off jean shorts and a tee shirt. The last thing you want to happen on a hayride is have straw stick to your sweaty thighs. So what I have succumbed to doing instead is shlepping my butt over to a farm stand and buying a bushel of apples rather than picking them myself. I guess we will have to wait to October before I hit the orchards.
Brown butter just makes everything better. Who would have though that cooking down butter until it's just ready to burn could result in such a tasty flavor? This recipe uses brown butter in the bars themself and also in the delicious glaze. Another secret ingredient that makes this recipe so delicious is using salted butter. I basically only by salted butter because I definitely have a salt wisdom tooth (my counter to a sweet tooth). The combo of sweet apples and brown sugar that gets cut by the salty butter is what makes this recipe to die for. Additionally, if you a salty sweet lover like me, you can add in a pinch of sea salt to the top at the end.
Ingredients:
3/4 cup salted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup apple butter
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 cups apples (about 2 apples) diced
Maple Butter Glaze
3 tbs salt butter
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
flaky sea salt
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper
2. Add butter to a medium pan over medium high heat. Cook until butter becomes foamy and browned (2-3 minutes). Stir often. Remove from the heat and stir in 1 cup brown sugar and apple butter. Allow to cool for five minutes. Stir in eggs and vanilla extract.
3. Add in flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt into the mixture. Place dough into the baking dish so that it evenly covers the bottom.
4. Toss apples with 1/2 cup brown sugar and place on the top of the dough, evenly spread out. Transfer to the oven and bake for 25 - 30 minutes. Remove and set aside to cool.
5. To prepare the glaze, melt butter in a medium pan over medium high heat. Cook until butter becomes foamy and browned (2-3 minutes). Remove from heat and add in maple syrup, powdered sugar and cinnamon.
6. Drizzle the glaze over the cooked apple dough. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt if desired. Cut into bars and enjoy.
3/4 cup salted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup apple butter
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 cups apples (about 2 apples) diced
Maple Butter Glaze
3 tbs salt butter
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
flaky sea salt
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper
2. Add butter to a medium pan over medium high heat. Cook until butter becomes foamy and browned (2-3 minutes). Stir often. Remove from the heat and stir in 1 cup brown sugar and apple butter. Allow to cool for five minutes. Stir in eggs and vanilla extract.
3. Add in flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt into the mixture. Place dough into the baking dish so that it evenly covers the bottom.
4. Toss apples with 1/2 cup brown sugar and place on the top of the dough, evenly spread out. Transfer to the oven and bake for 25 - 30 minutes. Remove and set aside to cool.
5. To prepare the glaze, melt butter in a medium pan over medium high heat. Cook until butter becomes foamy and browned (2-3 minutes). Remove from heat and add in maple syrup, powdered sugar and cinnamon.
6. Drizzle the glaze over the cooked apple dough. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt if desired. Cut into bars and enjoy.
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