I’m one of those people that will make a pained expression at the notion of blondies, or non-chocolate brownies, devoted as I am to simple deep chocolate “real” brownies. I’ve never even made a batch of blondies. My understanding is that blondies are not so much non-chocolate brownies as brownies which contain butterscotch instead of chocolate, otherwise I probably would have called these a variation of blondie. So in my choice between misnomers, I went with apple brownies instead of apple blondies, my thought being that two wrongs don’t make a right.
But two apples do make a fantastic brownie, even if it isn’t a brownie at all. In fact, it is slightly more sheet cake than brownie. But, it is to be picked up and popped in the mouth…so brownie is still the family. Food semantics. And count on me to add a streusel topping where none is really necessary. Consider it optional, but strongly suggested.
There are three apples in these photos because I was prepared to pack them all in there, but as you will see, this batter is extraordinarily thick with apples at two cups of chopped apples, and I didn’t dare go on with the third. I used one Granny Smith and one Braeburn, I think. And I ate the Fuji.
Preparation: (yields 16 servings)
Brownies:
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 medium apples, peeled and diced
⅔ cup chopped pecans
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Streusel:
⅓ cup sugar
⅓ cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons flour
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare your 9” x 9” baking dish by spraying it with non-stick cooking spray.
2) For the brownies, in a medium bowl, combine the butter and the sugar. Whisk for 3 minutes. Add the egg and whisk until it is fully incorporated. Fold in the diced apples and the chopped pecans.
3) In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Add the flour mixture to the apple mixture. Mix gently to combine. This creates a very thick batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it around the pan with a spatula or the backside of a spoon.
4) To prepare the streusel, mix together the granulated sugar, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Add the melted butter and stir to combine. The streusel will have the consistency of sand. Distribute the topping evenly on top of the brownie batter.
5) Place the brownies in the oven and bake for 42 to 45 minutes.
6) Remove the brownies from the oven and allow them to rest for 30 minutes before cutting them into squares.
Notes:
For brownies and desserts like this one that I plan to remove from the pan to serve, I will create a “sling” made out of parchment paper. Simply place the pan on top of the parchment paper and mark the width of the bottom of the pan with a pencil. Then fold the sides of the parchment so that there is a strip of parchment that fits snugly in the bottom of the pan. Let the long edges hang out of the pan by two or three inches. Spray the parchment and the inside walls of the pan with non-stick cooking spray. When the brownies come out of the oven and have cooled a little, simply lift the dessert out of the pan by lifting with the parchment edges. Hold the parchment taut so that the dessert doesn’t crack and fold in the middle as you lift. Move the brownies to a cutting surface or a serving dish.
Well don’t shoot me I am one that isn’t big on chocolate brownies, cakes. I love milk chocolate and love white chocolate chips in cookies. This recipe sounds so yummy I guess I will have to make me some apple brownies today. I love apple pie and this is almost like a pie to me in a brownie…I can’t imagine eating just one of these Kelly. I love the parchment fold to get out the brownies and transfer them to a plate. This can be used for so many recipes. What a great idea you had there Kelly.
Hi, this looks great and I will try it this rainy afternoon!
There might be a tiny typo in the directions? The eggs are added twice, but no mention of the sugar….
I will add the sugar at the second mention “eggs” — that will probably work :-)
Thank you for the recipe!
-j
Janice, THANK YOU! All fixed. Combine the butter and sugar…mix…then add the eggs and mix again. I sincerely don’t know where I would be without all the extra eyeballs. Sometimes I make the silliest errors. This one is not so big, thankfully, but I would so hate to waste anyone’s time or ingredients…so I am always grateful to hear back when I have posted a confusing instruction.
These sound yummy. Can’t wait to try them.
I always have a few apples from the week that don’t end up in my lunch. What a great way to use them! Thanks for the post! Gorgeous!
I am in love! I can sliced apples in the fall and make an occasional apple cake or apple topping for waffles, but I just don’t like to make pie. I like pie, but I don’t love to make it. So now I can use up all those bottled apples! I’m going to try it today with them and let you know how it turns out. Anything with streusel is delicious in my book though! Thank heavens for Foodgawker for getting me here! I can’t wait to subscribe and see what you have up your sleeve!
So nice to meet you, Melissa! If you need to use up apples, you are going to want to try this one too: Gravenstein Apple Cake. It is very similar in nature, but a big proud, rustic, bundt cake. It is making me hungry just thinking about it.
Made these last night. They taste good but are still too crumbly today to cut into neat squares or eat with anything but a spoon. And they are very sweet. I used two Granny Smiths. Any ideas on making them hang together a little better?
Bebe, well you are right on the two counts…they are sweet, and they are a bit crumbly. My best tip for helping them stay together a little bit better is to cut the apples a tiny bit smaller. I think sometimes big apple chunks make it a little more difficult to hold together. That being said, “brownie” is not the perfect name for these. They do tend to be a little more sheet cake like. But, this line of recipes has always been called apple brownies and I stuck with that. It might give the impression that these will be dense and well behaved and perfectly cut-able like a traditional chocolate brownie, and they just aren’t/don’t. I could have been more clear about that. I’m sorry. I hope they firm up a little for you because they definitely should be cut-able, though.
There could be an additional factor, though. Different apples definitely cook up differently. I think one of the reason’s people like to make pies with Granny Smiths is that they keep their shape a little bit. My apples may well have reduced into the batter as it baked down more than yours did. Did you find that they stayed in perfect little cubes once baked? I’d be curious to know that just from a “getting to know my apples” perspective. It could be that indestructible GS apples are just indestructible. My friend, Jon, once did an experiment by getting 9 or so different types of apples and putting them in the oven to roast, to observe how they behaved. Some melted into apple sauce and some stayed as perfectly formed apples (and every state of mush and firmness in between). Do you have thoughts on that possibility? I’d love to know what you think. It would be a help to everyone.
I have removed the cookie for your site and will repost my response to your comment that went missing. If the same post shows up again, please remove it. Thank you.
The stuff is good, so we are working our calorie-filled way through it. I put the pan in the refrigerator last night and, voila!, the stuff firmed up. It wasn’t the apples. I had cut them quite small, and they nearly disappeared. The streusel layer seemed to take over and stay crumbly. A night in the fridge and the whole thing has sort of melted together, though there is still nice streusel on top.
I think of them as streusel apple bars. The brownie name is saved for my favorite chocolate. If I were making them to serve to guests, I’d make them a day ahead (or two) and refrigerate them so that they’d firm up.
There is one possibility – that another egg in the “batter” would cause it all to stick together. But then it might end up a streusel apple frittata!
i made them this afternoon, they were DELICOUS!
These look perfect, I’m pretty sure you and I have the same love of all things apple!
Made these last night and had to come by and comment on how AMAZING they are. I for some reason called them “apple blondies” when emailing the recipe to myself, if that helps anyone with the name. ;) Thank you for this delicious recipe!!
I made these, and they were so delicious! The cinnamon, butter, sugar and apples are always a heavenly combination, and they were so moist and flavourful. Thanks for posting this recipe.
I also posted them on my blog, so feel free to check it out :) http://aroundleglobe.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/apple-brownies.html