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
Sauce from Food.com.
Family was craving blondies and this was the most handsome recipe I saw on foodgawker 🙂
I only ran into 2 problems. 1.) The amount this recipe made was too much for my 8×8 pan so I had to bake it close to an hour and covered it with foil the last 30 min to prevent further goldening.
2.) When I tried making the maple cream sauce I cooked the ingredients over medium heat and the cream cheese curdled and gave an unpleasant lumpy texture TT__TT. Next time I will be patientand cook the sauce over low heat, or omit the cream cheese cause I think the flavor is great even without it!
Overall, I L♥ve the taste of these blondies (vs shortcut yellow cake batter blondies) and would make again! Cheers!
I admit, I didn’t let the cream cheese sit out very long on the counter before adding it to the pan. This article I read suggests I should ‘temper’ the cream cheese by not adding cold cream cheese directly into a pan, rather warming it up before adding it to the pan. Or I may omit the cream cheese next time and add heavy whipping cream instead. If one were to add heavy whipping cream, what amount would you suggest??
Sincerely,
Natalie
http://culinaryarts.about.com/od/sauces/fl/Prevent-Milk-from-Curdling-When-Cooking.htm
Icky Lumps + Mighty Stick Blender = Smooth and Tasty GOODNESS!
(or a blender)
Problem solved.
I think the brownies would have been good except for they took over an hour to cook in an 8×8 pan and were burnt on the outside but gooey in the middle. Next time I will use a 9×9 or 9×13 pan. Also my cream cheese was super lumpy in my sauce and made it a weird texture. How do I get my sauce smooth?
Hi Joy, not sure why your blondies took so long to cook – that’s strange! I’ve made these many times and never had an issue. With the sauce, if you put cold cream cheese into the sauce it can have that lumpy effect, putting it in at room temperature helps to make the sauce smooth!
If you used a glass pan vs. Metal they would take way longer to cook, my guess is your 8×8 was glass?
These are delicious but I used a 8.5×8.5in pan and I’m having trouble getting them cooked as well. Guess I’ll try a larger pan next time!
The Maple Nut Blondie is one of my FAVORITE desserts from Applebee’s! Although I don’t order it all the time, it is absolutely delicious. I will definitely make this dessert sometime. 🙂
THANK U! I haven’t made it in so long I couldn’t remember how much of everything went in the sauce and its AMAZING how many recipes there are out there that are missing the key ingredient CREAM CHEESE!