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Snickerdoodle Blondies take everything you love about the classic cookie, chewy middles, buttery brown sugar, that crackly cinnamon sugar top, and skip the rolling, the chilling, and the scooping entirely, and the pan I stirred together on a random Tuesday night was sliced and half gone within the hour. They are the shortcut sibling of our snickerdoodle cheesecake bars.
One bowl, eight ingredients, and twenty two minutes in the oven, that is the entire commitment.
Snickerdoodle Blondies Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 10 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 22 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 32 minutes
- 🍽️ Serving: 9 servings
- ⚡ Calories: 221kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Buttery brown sugar chew under a toasty cinnamon sugar crackle
- ✋ Difficulty: Easy, even simpler than our chocolate chip cookie bars
Quick Answer
Combine melted butter with packed light brown sugar in a bowl, stir in an egg and vanilla, then add flour and a pinch of salt and stir until just combined. Spread the thick batter into a parchment lined 8×8 baking dish, mix granulated sugar with ground cinnamon, and sprinkle it generously over the whole top. Bake at 350 degrees for about 22 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean, cool completely on a wire rack, then slice into squares.
Jump to:
- Snickerdoodle Blondies Quick Look
- Quick Answer
- Why This Recipe Works
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Key Ingredients
- Variations and Substitutions
- How to Make Snickerdoodle Blondies
- Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Serving Ideas and Suggestions
- Snickerdoodle Blondies FAQs
- Other Recommended Bar and Cookie Recipes
- Snickerdoodle Blondies
Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- Melted butter means chewy, not cakey. Skipping the creaming step keeps air out of the batter, which is exactly what gives blondies their dense, fudgy chew.
- All brown sugar is the flavor engine. A full cup of packed brown sugar brings caramel depth and moisture that white sugar cannot, it is the whole personality of a blondie.
- No leavening is on purpose. Without baking powder the bars stay compact and chewy instead of puffing into cake, the snickerdoodle tang lives in the topping instead.
- The cinnamon sugar goes on raw batter. Sprinkling before baking lets the sugar fuse into a crackly toasted crust, the signature snickerdoodle finish without rolling a single dough ball.
- An 8×8 pan is the right thickness. This modest batter bakes an inch thick in an 8×8, doubling in a 9×13 keeps the same chew if you need a crowd batch.
- Cooling completely sets the chew. Blondies finish setting as they cool, patience turns a gooey pan into perfect dense squares.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- One bowl, a spatula, and no mixer, this is the laziest impressive dessert we make.
- All the snickerdoodle flavor with zero dough chilling or cookie scooping.
- They are dangerously fast to make, quicker than our coffee cake cookies by a mile, which is either great news or a problem.
Key Ingredients
Eight pantry staples, and you probably have all of them right now.
- Light brown sugar: A full packed cup, it delivers the caramel chew that defines a proper blondie.
- Melted butter: Melted, not softened, is the chewy texture secret, and it means no mixer needed.
- All purpose flour: Just one cup binds the batter, keeping the bars dense and rich.
- Egg and vanilla: One egg for structure and a teaspoon of vanilla to round out the brown sugar warmth.
- Granulated sugar and cinnamon: The classic snickerdoodle topping, sprinkled thick so it bakes into a crackly cinnamon crust.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
The blank blondie canvas takes every twist.
- Stir in a half cup of white chocolate chips for a creamy contrast to the cinnamon.
- Add a quarter teaspoon of cream of tartar to the batter for that classic snickerdoodle tang.
- Brown the melted butter first for a nutty toffee undertone that makes them taste bakery bought.
- Double everything into a 9×13 pan for potlucks, add 3 to 5 minutes to the bake time.
- Want the campfire version of an easy bar? Our smores brownies are the next pan to bake.
How to Make Snickerdoodle Blondies
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line an 8×8 baking dish with parchment paper, leaving the edges sticking up on either side as handles. In a medium bowl, combine the melted butter and brown sugar.
- Stir in the egg and vanilla extract until smooth and glossy.
- Add the flour and a pinch of salt and stir until just combined with no dry streaks, the batter will be thick.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared baking dish and spread it out evenly to the corners.
- In a small bowl, combine the granulated sugar and cinnamon, then sprinkle it evenly over the entire surface of the batter.
- Bake for 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack, then lift out by the parchment handles, slice into squares, and serve.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Let the melted butter cool a minute. Piping hot butter can cook the egg on contact, warm is perfect.
- Pack the brown sugar properly. Press it firmly into the measuring cup, a loose cup shorts the chew and the flavor.
- Stop stirring when the flour disappears. Overworked batter bakes tough instead of tender.
- Be generous with the cinnamon sugar. Cover the whole top edge to edge, it melts into the signature crackle as it bakes.
- Watch the clock, not the color. These stay pale golden, the clean toothpick at 22 minutes is the real done signal.
- Cool before cutting, seriously. Warm blondies smear, cooled blondies slice into clean bakery squares.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
These are the after school and lunchbox workhorse, sturdy enough to travel and beloved by every age, the same crowd pleasing energy as our chocolate chip cookie bars.
For a cookie tray, slice them small and set them next to our cream cheese cookies and buttery shortbread cookies, the cinnamon crackle makes them the first bar to disappear.
A warm square with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a caramel drizzle is a five minute plated dessert, and cinnamon fans will want our lemon brownies nearby for a citrus counterpoint.
Store them in an airtight container at room temperature for 4 days, they actually get chewier on day two. They also freeze beautifully for 2 months, wrap squares individually and thaw on the counter for 20 minutes.
Snickerdoodle Blondies FAQs
They are chewy brown sugar blondies topped with the classic snickerdoodle cinnamon sugar coating, baked as bars in an 8×8 pan. You get all the buttery cinnamon flavor of snickerdoodle cookies without making dough balls, chilling, or rolling anything in sugar, just one bowl and a spatula.
A snickerdoodle is a rolled cookie coated in cinnamon sugar, usually with cream of tartar for tang, while a blondie is a dense vanilla and brown sugar bar, essentially a brownie without cocoa. These bars merge the two, blondie texture underneath, snickerdoodle cinnamon sugar crust on top.
Almost always overmixing or too much flour. Stir just until the flour disappears and measure it by spooning into the cup and leveling, a packed cup of flour can add 25 percent extra. Melted butter and no leavening are already on your side, the batter does the rest if you let it.
A toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs at about 22 minutes. The top will look set with a crackly sugar crust but the bars stay pale golden, do not wait for deep browning or they will dry out.
Yes, double every ingredient and bake in a 9×13 pan lined with parchment. The bars come out the same thickness, just start checking with the toothpick around 25 minutes since the bigger pan can need a few extra.
Keep them in an airtight container at room temperature up to 4 days, they get even chewier on day two as the brown sugar settles. For longer storage, wrap squares individually and freeze up to 2 months, then thaw at room temperature about 20 minutes.
Made these Snickerdoodle Blondies? Leave a comment and a star rating below, and tell me if they really made it 4 days!
Another nostalgic bakery classic worth making at home is a batch of whoopie pies.
Keep the bar pan busy with a batch of my chocolate pecan toffee bars.
Snickerdoodle Blondies
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter melted
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- pinch salt
- 5 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line an 8×8 baking dish with parchment paper (leaving the edge of the paper sticking up on either side.)
- In a medium bowl, combine the melted butter and brown sugar.1/3 cup unsalted butter, 1 cup light brown sugar
- Stir in the egg and vanilla extract.1 large egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Add in the flour and a pinch of salt and stir to combine.1 cup all-purpose flour, pinch salt
- Pour into the baking dish and spread it out evenly.
- In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle all over the top of the batter.5 teaspoons granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Bake for 22 minutes or until the toothpick trick comes out clean.
- Let cool completely on a wire rack. Slice and serve.
Notes
- Using parchment paper in your baking dish makes removal and cleanup a breeze.
- Stir the batter just until the dry ingredients are incorporated to keep the blondies chewy.
- Let the blondies cool in the pan to help them set properly before slicing.
- For even bars, use a sharp knife and clean it between slices.
- Experiment with baking times slightly for a gooier or firmer texture, depending on your preference.
- Serving these with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top makes for an irresistible dessert.
Nutrition
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