Applebee’s Maple Nut Blondie with Cream Sauce
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Thick and chewy pecan blondies served warm and topped with ice cream and rich cream sauce. Inspired by the famous Applebee’s restaurant dessert.
Sooooo Applebee’s. Love it, hate it, never been? Personally, I really like Applebee’s restaurant, they make a portobello chicken to die for and I’ve been known to order their massive appetizer sampler all for myself. I mean, it’s my entire meal, not a precursor to a regular entree, I’m not that nuts. But my husband, meh, doesn’t really love Applebee’s. He thinks the service is sub-par.
As with any restaurant (or anything for that matter) you’re gonna have lovers and haters, but I’ve never met anyone who didn’t enjoy Applebee’s blondie dessert.
Unless you don’t like super-rich and totally delicious desserts. In that case we might need to re-think our friendship.
Just joshin’! You know I heart you.
I think Applebee’s has changed the name a couple of times but the dessert is pretty much the same idea here, a thick and chewy warm blondie (has to be warm) topped with cold ice cream (cause warm ice cream, ewe) and then drizzled (or drowning) with rich rich rich maple cream sauce. That sauce. It’s addicting. But did I mention it is rich?
It’s the cream cheese + maple syrup. Real maple syrup. Not the fake stuff you buy to pour on your pancakes – and don’t get me wrong, I’m a big-time lover of fake maple syrup on my pancakes – but the real honest to goodness maple syrup. Sometimes it even says “real maple syrup” on the bottle. Just to make it really clear you know. Wouldn’t want to have any fake-real mixups.
Whether or not you’ve tried Applebee’s blondie dessert is not really an issue here. What is really important is that you make my maple nut blondie. The one you see in this picture. That thick, chewy, topped with ice cream and maple cream sauce blondie. Oh and the white chocolate chips are optional. Except, they’re totally not. You want those chocolate chips in there. And if you’re allergic to nuts (awww mannnn, I’m sorry) then skip them! You can still enjoy this dessert without the nuts.
But if you’re not allergic, do not skip the nuts. Okay? Okay.
What people are saying about this Applebee’s Maple Nut Blondie with Cream Sauce
“This recipe was really good. I just made this last night with a couple minor adjustments… The topping came out so smooth and creamy. This blondie came out so good it just might be our new favorite dessert in this house!” – Kayla
Applebee’s Maple Nut Blondie with Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- 10 tablespoons butter, melted
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
- 1 ½ cups white chocolate chips
- ice cream (butter pecan or vanilla)
Maple Cream Sauce
- ⅓ cup butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- ¼ cup real maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- ½ cup chopped walnuts , or pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 and grease an 8×8 inch baking dish. In a large bowl cream together melted butter and brown sugar. Add vanilla and eggs and mix well.
- In a medium bowl whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until combined. Stir in nuts and chocolate chips. Spread into prepared dish and bake for 20-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out mostly clean.
- While the blondies are baking, prepare the sauce. Combine butter, sugar, cream cheese, maple syrup, and brown sugar in a medium sauce pan and stir over medium heat until cream cheese and sugars are melted. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until ready to serve. (If needed, thin out with a bit of milk or heavy cream)
- Serve blondies warm and top with ice cream and cream sauce. Optional: sprinkle with chopped walnuts or pecans.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Sauce from Food.com.
To be fair, I should have used more critical thinking skills here…. But this recipe has some major issues. As others noted, it does not cook fully. I covered it with foil after 15 min, baked double the time, and gradually lowered the temperatre but it still basically collapsed. It does have a good taste, but I would put it in a bigger pan and omit some sugar. The sauce was okay but had some texture issues. To try to fix the clumps, I used an electric whisk and strained it. That fixed most of the issues.
In general, the cookie was not worthy to gift(its intended use). That said, the taste was perfect except for being too sweet. My family and I did munch on it as we like to live on edge and hope the egg cooked.
These took forever to bake almost an hour! 8×8 pan is so not the way to go next time ill do a 9×13! I also think they are a bit to sweet 1c of brown sugar would probably be just enough in my opinion. Other than that pretty decent blondies!
I can’t help but think the measurements are off? i followed exactly and have now put tinfoil on to cook 15-20 extra minutes and it’s still so wet? i’m so sad 😭 may have worked better in a bigger pan?
I’ve had mine in for almost 45 mins and middle still uncooked but bottom is getting to brown 😑
Tried one batch and it would not cook and the entire thing stayed raw with the top staying crispy. So made another batch thinking I may have gotten something wrong and still the same outcome. Tried the only suggestion to cover with foil and it burnt. Super disappointing but Maple Sauce came out good. Had that with ice cream but no Blondie underneath 😔
This was fantastic, but too tall and took much much longer to bake. Will use 13×9 next time. Blondies are usually brownie height in my experience. Sauce alone gets five stars!
Oh and I love that you used the “ just joshin ya” quote lol I remember my friends and I using that back in the 90’s so cool to hear again
Lol the good ‘ole days!
I am so excited to make this , Thank you for sharing I have been a fan of this awesome delicious ness for 15 + years it use to be called the white blondie and wow now I get to make a whole pan all to myself lol
No sharing ha ha Jk I just know this is going to be spot on and look fwd to licking my plate of all that creamy maple sauce
You’re so kind! Thank you so much for your comment 🙂 lol I’m so happy to hear how much you enjoy this recipe!
Dud anyone have issues with the cream cheese cuddling? Instead of a nice smooth sauce, it has little white specks. Tatess good but looks a little off.
Same and my stuff was even room temp.
Turned out delicious. Did take much longer to cook than the specified time. Next time I’m going to try a bigger pan than 8×8 as I think this is why.
Would not cook in the center. Very disappointing
I made this delicious blonde. Family tradition to get a blonde at Applebees. I made this today… Easter! The taste was Exceptional! However, what did I do wrong? I followed recipe to the T!
The middle was Goowy. And the edges were hard. But, we devoured it! Help
I’m sorry this happened! But I’m glad you guys were still able to enjoy it! If the center has not cooked through, you can cover the pan with foil and continue baking. These blondies will not be as dry as a brownie or a cookie in the middle when finished baking, they will be a dense, chewy bar. Hope this helps! 🙂
Took an extra 20 minutes to cook, and could have used half the sugar way too sweet.