White Chocolate Walnut Blondies with Maple Butter Sauce

All I can say is - YUM!! For those of you who know me well, you know that one of my all-time favorite desserts is a White Chocolate Blondie from Applebee's Restaurant. The first time I tasted one, my mouth had quite a party. The wonderful dense "white brownie" served hot with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a wonderful, hot, melt-in-your- mouth buttery maple sauce poured all over. Accented with some tasty crunchy walnuts! For this girl, it is the ultimate in desserts!

A few years ago, I tried a copy-cat recipe and I was, well . . . unimpressed. So, I kinda gave up my quest, and resigned myself to the fact that nobody could duplicate the Applebee's Blondie. I was curious but skeptical when I ran across this recipe over at Tasty Kitchen. Oh the joy when my husband exclaimed "you nailed it." It's all in the sauce. If the buttery, yummy sauce isn't right, the whole thing is a failure.

You'll want to make this! It's a great dessert for "just the family" or when your table is really packed with company!

This post has been linked to Eat at Home.

White Chocolate Walnut Blondies with Maple Butter Sauce

Adapted from Tasty Kitchen

• FOR THE BLONDIES
• 3 cups All-purpose Flour
• 1/4 teaspoons Salt
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 10 Tablespoons Butter, melted
• 1 3/4 cups Light Brown Sugar
• 3 whole Eggs, Lightly Beaten
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 cups Chopped Walnuts
• 1 cup White Chocolate Chips

• FOR THE SAUCE
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 cup Heavy Cream
• 1/4 cup (pure) Maple Syrup
• 3 Tablespoons Light Corn Syrup

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside.

In another large mixing bowl, mix melted butter with brown sugar until well-blended. Add in beaten eggs and vanilla. Stir well.

Slowly add flour mixture to butter, sugar and egg mixture. Stir thoroughly but take care not to overmix your batter. Fold in nuts and chocolate. Batter will be thick.

Spray pan with nonstick cooking spray, then pour batter into 9 x 13 baking pan. Bake for about 25-30 minutes (until a toothpick inserted comes out clean).

For the sauce:

Melt butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat (do not allow butter to burn). Then add heavy cream, maple syrup and corn syrup. Allow this mixture to simmer over medium heat for about 20-30 minutes. Do not boil, just a nice soft simmer. Stir occasionally. Once it has reduced by about 1/3, it's ready.

To serve: You can heat up blondie on a cast iron skillet, serve with vanilla ice cream and chopped walnuts, sauce poured on top.

Note: If using a glass pan, adjust heat to 325 degrees. You may need to bake slightly longer.