Last weekend I really was on a pumpkin kick. I not only made pumpkin bread, but I also tried out this recipe for salted caramel pumpkin blondies. A blondie is like a brownie except instead of the focus being on chocolate it’s on brown sugar. Many other flavors can be incorporated into a blondie such as walnuts, pecans, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, or coconuts, for example.
I adapted this recipe from
Sing for your Supper. All I changed was substituting 3/4 of the butter with applesauce; instead of 2 sticks of butter I used 3/4 cup applesauce and 1/4 cup butter. The recipe also calls for salted caramel sauce. I decided to try my hand at making my own. I used a recipe from
Smitten Kitchen. I didn’t have heavy cream so I had to use half and half, which I think results in a thinner sauce.
Here’s what you’ll need
Combine your dry ingredients in a smaller bowl and set them aside. In a large bowl, beat together the butter, applesauce and brown sugar. It won’t turn as fluffy as it would with just butter and brown sugar, but just combine it.
Beat in the egg and vanilla until combined then mix in the pumpkin. Mix in the dry ingredients and put the bowl in the fridge while you make the caramel sauce.
For the caramel sauce you’ll need salted butter, white sugar, and heavy cream if you’ve got it. Put the sugar in a sauce pan and start heating it up.
Note that I have an electric stove. This does not bode well for temperature changes, but I do what I can. Keep heating and stirring until the sugar turns a nice, dark amber color.
Don’t worry about clumps. Just keep stirring and they will eventually melt. When you get a nice brown color, add in the butter all at once and stir it in.
Once the butter is all melted, turn down the heat and add in the heavy cream (or half and half, whatever the case may be). I changed burners since that’s really the only way to get an electric stove to reduce heat quickly. On the down side, I didn’t let the other burner heat up enough before hand. Anyway this is the really cool part! When you add in the cream, it’ll foam up some and then you will get caramel! It’s so cool!
When you’ve sufficiently stirred, pull it off the burner and let it cool off some. Pull the batter back out of the fridge and add half the batter into a greased 9x9 baking dish. Pop that in the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, take it out of the oven and add the layer of caramel (add 1/2 tsp of salt sprinkled on top if you want). Spoon the rest of the batter on top as evenly as possible.
Pop it back in the oven for another 30 minutes or so until the top is golden brown. And that’s it!
(I don’t have toothpicks, hence the fork marks)
For the blondies:
Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
- 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temp
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp ground ginger
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/2-3/4 caramel sauce (or however much you want)
- 1/2 tsp salt (optional)
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter a 9×9-inch baking dish.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, spices, baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. Stir together and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat together butter, apple sauce, and brown sugar for about 2 minutes.
4. Beat in the egg and vanilla until well combined. Mix in the pumpkin puree.
5. Add in the dry ingredients with mixer on low speed until just combined.
Optional: Put the batter in the fridge and make caramel sauce.
6. Pour half the batter in the prepared pan and smooth evenly. Bake for 10 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and spoon caramel in an even layer with the other ½ teaspoon. Spoon the remaining batter over the top and get it as even as possible. Put it in the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.
Adapted from recipe for salted caramel pumpkin blondies from Sing for your Supper
For the caramel sauce:
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 6 tbsp salted butter
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp heavy cream at room temperature (temperature is important)
Directions
1. Melt the sugar over medium to moderately high heat in a 2 or 3 qt pot. Whisk or stir the sugar as it melts. Keep stirring despite any clumping; it will even out.
2. When the melted sugar reaches a dark amber color add the butter all at once. Stir it in, turn down the heat to low and pour in the cream, whisking until you get a smooth sauce.
3. Use immediately or store in an air tight container for up to 2 weeks.
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen
