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.
This sauce is money!!! It is so good I could barely stop tasting it before my company came for dinner. It tastes as good or better than the sauce at Applebee’s.
Haha that’s awesome! So glad that you enjoyed it so much 🙂
The dessert did taste amazing! However, it did not cook. I follows all directions and it was not fully cooked in the middle… even after putting it back in the oven multiple times.. ):
I’m having the same issue. The sides are cooked and almost burnt after trying to recook it.
I’m sorry this is happening. Next time, pay attention to you batter. If it’s too wet or dense, then that may be why it’s not cooking through. To fix this, you may need to either add a bit more flour or reduce the amount of liquid.
What should the consistency look like as I am having thr same issue with uncooked center and overcooked edges 🙁
I’m sorry you’re also having this issue. It’s thick. Pretty similar to a brownie batter. The problem may be in different ovens and how they work. You can try lowering the temperature and cook for longer. Make sure the batter is spread out evenly in the pan. Make sure you’re being careful with your measurements in the recipe. Be careful with the flour (especially if you add a bit more) it can result in crumbly, dry blondies. If the blondies are just underdone, they will continue to cook as they cool. Hope this helps!
Followed the recipe to a T. Batter was thick as the author stated it should be. Looked almost like cookie dough. Molded it to a nice leveled layer in my 8×8. Browned and looked delicious on the outside but completely undercooked on the inside. Let it sit to finish cooling/cooking with oven off and the blondie still tasted underdone (like raw flour) even though I baked it to a near crisp! The sauce I also did everything the recipe stated but chunks of congealed (curdled?) cream cheese remained leaving white flecks that would not melt after over 30 minutes of simmering. I’m going to try to save this by mashing the blondie together and spread it on a shallow pan to cook further and maybe get a giant cookie out of it.
I think the directions are wrong because it is thick like a brownie, but only says to cook 20 minutes. Brownies normally cook for 40 minutes or more when they are this thick. I will try to make this again, but cook it for double the amount or put it in a larger dish. The flavors are amazing but I was never able to enjoy it fully because it was raw.
Need to bake in a 9×13 pan