YIELD & TASTE

These bars are a perfect treat for fall!  The base of the Blondie is a soft cakey texture, topped with slightly crunchy and moist apples and a sweet maple syrup cinnamon glaze.   

This delicious fall themed recipe is baked in a 13" x 9" pan and can easily yield about 28 bars (cut into 4 x 7 squares) or even more if you cut them smaller.  

BLONDIE INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) Salted Butter
• 1/2 cup Apple Butter
• 1 1/2 cups Light Brown Sugar
• 2 Large Eggs
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
• 2 1/4 cups All-Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 2 Honeycrisp Apples, peeled (if desired), and chopped (about 2 cups chopped apples)

MAPLE CINNAMON GLAZE INGREDIENTS

• 3 tablespoons Salted Butter
• 3 tablespoons Maple Syrup
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup Powdered Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1 pinch flaky Sea Salt

PREPARATION

MAKE THE BLONDIE

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line your 13 x 9 baking pan with a sheet of parchment paper. 
2. In a larger mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, mixing until just combined. 
3. Add the butter to a medium pot on medium heat. The butter will begin to foam and to bubble, so make sure you stir often to prevent the butter from frothing over the pot edge.  After about 2-3 minutes the butter will start to brown, and smell nice and toasted.  *Note:  It may be hard to see if the butter has browned, so just make sure to keep an eye on the timer  
4. Remove the browned butter from the heat and stir in the apple butter and 1 cup brown sugar. Let cool 5 minutes (You let it cool so that when you add the eggs in the next step, they don't cool!)
5. Once the brown butter has cooled a bit, whisk in the eggs and vanilla.
6. Add the brown butter mixture to the dry ingredients and mix together.  A baking spatula will be helpful to do this 
7. Once you have mixed thigs together, evenly spread the dough out into the prepared dish.

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MAKE THE CINNAMON APPLE TOPPING & BAKE

1. Peel and dice the apples into approximately 1/2 inch cubes.  Discard the core and the seeds.  
2. In a bowl, toss the apples with 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon until they are evenly coated.  
3. Evenly sprinkle the apples over the dough.
4. Transfer to the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, just until set in the center. If there is liquid in the center, swirl it around the pan, then bake another 5 minutes. Let cool. 

MAKE THE MAPLE SYRUP CINNAMON DRIZZLE TOPPING
After the base of the Blondies has been removed from the oven, let them cool for a while before you make the topping.  

1. Add the butter to a small pot set over medium heat. Follow the same process as before and allow the butter to brown lightly until it smells toasted, about 2-3 minutes.
   
2. Remove the butter from the heat and whisk in the maple syrup, powdered sugar, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt.  I would suggest that you would likely only need about 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar so the drizzle is more liquid and less solid.  
   
3. While it is still warm, drizzle the glaze over the bars.
   
4. Let set for 5 - 10 minutes. Cut into bars and enjoy!  These are especially delicious while still warm.  

NOTES
Overall, I was very satisfied with how the bar turned out!  That being said, I wish the base was more of like an ooey-gooey brownie rather than a cake like texture;  I'll have to see if I can make that happen next time I make these.  

Additionally, I think these bars would benefit from some chopped pecans or walnuts to add a little bit more crunch.  I bet some candied pecans or walnuts on top would be delicious.  

SOURCE
I found this recipe on The Half Baked Harvest Blog.  
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/brown-butter-apple-blondies/

INTRODUCTION:  ALMOST TASTES LIKE IT CAME FRESH FROM THE GROUND

Having traveled to Iceland many times, I can confidently say that one of my favorite experiences is eating fresh sweet rye bread that has been geothermally baked in the earth; while it is still warm, the slices are covered in butter and can be accompanied by smoked salmon.  If you ever find yourself in Iceland, you should visit Laugarvatn Fontana and have some of this delicious bread yourself! 

Traditionally, in areas that have high geothermal activity, one can find boiling water just a few inches beneath the surface of the soil.  At Laugarvatn Fontana, the bread is prepared, put in a metal pot, wrapped generously in plastic wrap and placed in the ground for roughly 24 hours before it is dug up to be enjoyed.  Unfortunately, I don't think I would be able to follow the genuine recipe and bake this bread in the ground, but I did find an excellent recipe that does this amazing sweet bread some justice.  Link Below.             

YIELD
The recipe below will yield one 9" loaf of sweet rye bread that can easily serve a group of 20 or more people.  The bread is very dense and sweet, almost like a cake.  Usually, I will cut a larger slice through the loaf and then cut this into 4 smaller pointed slices.  These smaller servings are perfect and easily shared / enjoyed.    

INGREDIENTS 
DRY INGREDIENTS

• 4 1/2 cups (477g) King Arthur Organic Rye Flour
• 2 Teaspoons Salt
• 1 tablespoon Baking Powder
• 3/4 teaspoon Baking Soda

WET INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups (454g) Buttermilk
• 1/2 cup (168g) Honey
• 1/2 cup (170g) Molasses
• 2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup

DIRECTIONS

PREPARE TO BAKE

1. Preheat oven to 325°F (160°C). 
2. Lightly grease the bottom an sides of a 9" loaf pan with a stick of butter.  

MAKE THE DOUGH

1. In a larger bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients:  Flour, Salt, Baking Powder, and Baking Soda.
   
2. In a separate bowl, combine and whisk the wet ingredients:  Buttermilk, Honey, Molasses, Maple Syrup
3. Combine the wet and dry ingredients together and mix until a dark, thick and gooey dough is formed
4. Transfer the dough into the pre-greased loaf pan and gently smooth it with a baking spatula to have it fill the loaf pan  
5. Place the lid or aluminum foil onto the top of the loaf pan (lave some space for the bread to grow) and place into the pre-heated oven
6. Bake the bread for about 2 hours. Turn off the oven and remove the foil from the top of the loaf pan. Leave the loaf in the turned-off oven for another 10 - 15 minutes.
   
7. Remove from the oven and let the bread cool for about 5 minutes more in the pan.  
   
8. Gently turn the pan over so that the bread gently slides out onto a cutting board.
   
9. Slice and enjoy warm with salted butter, smoked salmon, or whatever else you may like. 
   

STORAGE
To store the bread, I gently wrap it in plastic wrap or aluminum foil and place it in the refrigerator.  The next time you would like some bread, take the loaf out of the refrigerator, slice it, microwave it to warm it up, and enjoy.  

ENJOY!  

The original recipe I used is shown below:
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/icelandic-rye-bread-rugbraud-recipe