Maple Walnut Blondies
We can add Applebee's to the list of restaurants in which I paid my service industry dues. I worked in the kitchen, I waited tables, I poured a lot of draft beer into tall frosty glasses. I can give you some serious inside information on this nationwide chain restaurant. In case you care, they make their pico fresh daily. Guacamole, too. None of that bizarro strangeness that comes pre-made in a plastic sealed envelope with ingredients like monosodiglutacide. No. Also!! They steam and mash all their own potatoes and cut the veggie mix up everyday. Fresh ingredients are sort of rare in the corporate restaurant world where the goal is a uniform product across the board.
Mostly, corporate restaurants ship trucks full of frozen food and dried goods to each location. Much of it is pre-portioned, pre-packaged, and pre-cooked.
Desserts are no exception to this rule. In fact, desserts are kind of as a rule frozen, shipped, and thawed on site. Which makes them good, but not great when, in my opinion, dessert should be OUTSTANDING.
I will happily box up ¾ of my food so I can order dessert and coffee.
So I made these maple walnut blondies. They are so ... I mean there are really just no words.
Freaking delicious.
In other news, I still feel like ick. I took Nyquil and am extremely sensitive to medication, therefore, I'm calling myself un-responsible for the rest of the content in this post.
It's almost Thanksgiving everybody!!!! I'm super excited. I have unwittingly added the freshly baked version of this popular Applebee's dessert to our Thursday menu just because it's nice to have something different. Maple Walnut Blondies.
You're gonna thank me for this.
Dessert, ready to serve in about 45 minutes. OR you can make these ahead of time, wrap them individually, and then freeze. They can be thawed in the microwave or just left out at room temperature until they've un-frozen.
Maple Walnut Blondies
Chewy, buttery Maple Walnut Blondies are topped with a warm maple sauce, more chopped walnuts, and vanilla ice cream! This copycat Applebee's blondie recipe is an oldie but a goodie. If you have 90's dessert nostalgia this recipe is IT.
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 11 tablespoons butter
- 2 cups light brown sugar
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup chopped walnuts, plus more to garnish
- vanilla ice cream for serving
- ½ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup butter
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened and cut into cubes
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350. Butter a 9 X 13 baking sheet, line with parchment paper, and then butter the parchment paper (this makes it easy to lift the baked & cooled blondies out of the pan).
- In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium to medium low heat. Stir the brown sugar into the melted butter. Add the eggs and vanilla, stirring well.
- Gradually stir in the flour mixture. Then add the walnuts.
- Spread the blondie batter in the prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.
- While the blondies are baking heat the maple syrup in a small saucepan. Stir in the butter until it’s melted and combined with the syrup.
- Whisk in the sugar and bring it to a low, slow boil.
- Add the soft, cubed cream cheese a little at a time, whisking in between each addition. Continue cooking and whisking until all of the cream cheese is added and the sauce is smooth. Remove from the heat.
- When the blondies have cooled, lift them from the pan and cut into squares. Top each square with a heaping scoop of vanilla ice cream and then pour the maple sauce over the top (reheat the sauce if necessary). Sprinkle with the chopped walnuts and serve immediately.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
15Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 441Total Fat: 24gSaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 74mgSodium: 254mgCarbohydrates: 54gFiber: 1gSugar: 39gProtein: 5g
these where amazing!! i need more of these pls!
Of course! It might be a few weeks, but I will make them again.
Yum! And you are so right - it's so good to go somewhere where everything is made fresh, ESPECIALLY the desserts - the places I like best are the ones where you can see a load of home made cakes half sliced and moist and impossible to choose between! We're going to try a vegetarian restaurant near here tonight, which looks like it might just be this sort of place - I will let you know...! I hope you feel better 🙂
Ohhhhh there are no restaurants with the homemade cake thing happening in my general area. I have to drive an hour or more to a bigger city to find anything good. I goof all the time about opening a breakfast + dessert cafe. Like a little diner. But really I don't want to have to work on the weekends. Or on holidays. So that's out. Hope your dinner out was awesome! I'm feeling a bit better... if I can get the cold to move out of my chest I'll be great!! Thank you!
It was awesome thanks! The place was just as fun as it looked. I bet your breakfast and dessert cafe would be amazing, but you're right working weekends and evenings would suck!
That is one mountain of sweet pleasure! I love blondies and never thought to go the extra mile and dress them mile high. Gorgeous.
Hi, Bam! Thanks!
I could easily devour a lot of these brownies they look spectacular... Sorry blondies 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
I've never eaten there, but I'm glad to hear they do make some of their dishes on site. I've heard most just reheat plastic packages.. gross! Love your make-over of their dessert!
Thanks, Barbara!!
Well, these make me happy! I am glad to know they will be arriving for the dessert hour! Yay!
I went crazy with dessert. It's my favorite part. I hope you don't mind...
Good grief woman, if you keep posting these "to-die-for" recipes I will be cooking so much and weighing a ton.. These look so darn good.. Oh my..
hahaha... stuff like this is why I subscribe to an insane exercise routine AND I eat lots of raw veggies. It's all for the greater good that I like to call DESSERT.
These look soooooo goood! And walnuts are a super food after all 🙂
Hey they are! You're right! I feel better now.
Your pictures look better and better I swear lol Like get me a fork and slap me silly haha Maple walnut is like my Babci's favorite flavor combination!! Her favorite ice cream too...I'm tempted to make these!!! I kind of wish I didn't have to go to work tomorrow so I could just bake all day and sing songs and watch holiday movies haha I'm so over work at this point!! Anyhow...I'm sorry you're still feeling like poopski I hope it goes away before the big day!!! Your dinner is going to be so awesome!!! I can't wait to see all the delicious treats you're going to make!!! Yay!!!
Awwww thanks! Photography is something that really takes practice. Sloooooooowly I'm learning. Music + Baking all day sounds WONDERFUL. I need to eat a bottle of vitamins and get on that. If you make these for your grandma let me know how she likes them!