Cinnamon Sugar Blondies

Last week after it was so hot in Seattle, the weather dropped overnight by 20 degrees. While the change in the weather was refreshing, it was downright chilly that next day! It made me think of fall and how excited I am for the weather to turn cooler. The first thing I could think of was how much I wanted to bake. I looked up some recipes and settled on these cinnamon sugar blondies, because little says fall more than cinnamon.

This is an extremely simple recipe, yet I thought I had messed it up. The dough/batter is very liquidy, which just didn’t seem right. They have no leavening, too, so I knew they wouldn’t rise. I baked them for the 22 minutes that the original recipe called for and they were nowhere near done. I baked for 5 more minutes, the 4 more, and I hoped they would be done. I was worried the edges would be dried out, and I figured they would probably set while cooling.

When I cut them into bars, they were decidedly gooey and at first I thought they were a loss. But when fully cooled, they were just a nice, chewy cookie. I think they were best the morning after I baked them, but they do tend to dry out fairly quickly. This is not usually something that I have to worry about, but I didn’t take them to work so the last few at home did get a little dry. They are a little different, and I am curious how it would work if you used softened rather than melted butter. They sure smelled divine while baking, as anything with cinnamon typically does!

Cinnamon Sugar Blondies

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup flour

¼ teaspoon salt

5 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8” square baking dish with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar on medium. Add the beaten egg and vanilla and stir to combine. Add the flour and salt and stir on low until the mixture comes together. Spread the mixture into the prepared pan.

In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar evenly over the dough in the pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a thin knife inserted in the center of the bars comes out almost clean.

Allow the cookies to cool on a wire rack. When cool, lift the bars from the pan and peel away the foil. Cut into squares.

Recipe from Buns in My Oven