These salted butterscotch apple bars have the texture of a rich, fudgy brownie, but with the flavor of salted butterscotch, with lovely little bits of apple throughout. And of course cinnamon, because you have to have cinnamon with apples, don’t you?
Yes, they’re brown, but they are definitely NOT chocolate. If you’ve been around me very long, you know I’m usually all about the chocolate. But when I saw this Apple Brownie recipe from That Skinny Chick Can Bake, I was immediately smitten. I wanted to make them right away. But our biggest apple eater was off for a couple weeks visiting their friend. My son advised me to hold off. After all, the two of us don’t eat desserts all that much.
I didn’t make very many adjustments to the recipe, other than to use white whole wheat flour and all brown sugar for deeper flavor. And add vanilla. Because vanilla just makes everything better. Well, okay, not QUITE everything. But it definitely has its place in baked goods. Oh, also, a tiny bit more salt. I was thinking salted caramel. But since I’d used brown sugar in place of white sugar, that would make these salted BUTTERSCOTCH. Not caramel. You see, caramel is made with white sugar. But you make butterscotch with brown sugar.
Technically, these bars should be called Blondies because they are the texture of a brownie, but there is no chocolate. But they certainly are NOT blonde. You can’t argue the definite brown-ness of color.
Besides, we kind of just don’t like the word “Blondie” in our house. It seems a little discriminatory against people with blonde hair. (Or perhaps the other way around?) Either way, it just sounds wrong to us. So ha! Salted Butterscotch Apple bars they are.
I wouldn’t exactly call these health food because yeah, lots of butter and sugar, but they’re only 140 calories each, which isn’t bad for a splurge. I seriously love the sweet salty apple-y butterscotch dance going on in these little babies. But I’m freezing the rest to bring with us at Christmas-time when we will have more help eating. And I know my family is anxious to taste them already because I couldn’t help but mention them last time we talked!
Print
Salted Butterscotch Apple Bars (Apple Brownies)
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 50 min
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 16 servings 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter (preferably grass fed)
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- a pinch of cardamom (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 – 1 1/2 cups apples, peeled & diced into 1/4 inch pieces (1 1/2 – 2 apples)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a 8×8 or 9×9 inch square pan with cooking spray or lightly brush with oil.
- Cream together the butter and sugar, then stir in the egg and vanilla until well mixed. Mix in the dry ingredients, then add the apples.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan, then bake at 350 F. for 30 – 45 minutes or until nicely browned on top but puffy in the middle. The middle will fall, but that just makes them more brownie-esque.
Notes
RECIPE SOURCE: Sumptuous Spoonfuls – https://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/ … © Copyright 2022, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.
Keywords: Apple, Butterscotch, Brown Sugar, Blondies, Brownies
7 comments
These apple brownies sound incredible!
Nettie
Thanks Nettie! You need to try them … they are SO good. 🙂
Great recipe 😋. The “nicely browned” threw me. It’s more like “milk chocolate brownie brown” Other than that….YUMMY and quick and easy to make. Can’t wait to try more sumptuousspoonfuls recipes!
★★★★★
Okay, you’ve got a point, Marta! They are almost chocolate brown. Thank you so much for your kind review!
I made these apple bars last night and they came out great! I will definitely make this recipe again. Thanks.
Hurrah! I’m so happy you liked them. Thanks for commenting. 🙂
[…] Salted Butterscotch Apple Bars […]