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frosted pumpkin spice blondies are arranged on a two tone cutting board

pumpkin spice blondies with cream cheese frosting

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These dense and gooey pumpkin spice blondies are topped with an ethereal smear of cream cheese frosting and dusted with fresh nutmeg. A celebratory “welcome back!” for the return of my favorite season. 🍂

  • Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
  • Yield: 9 large blondies 1x

Ingredients

Units Scale

For the blondies:

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
  • 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/2 tsp salt

For the frosting:

  • 1/4 cup (half stick) butter, at room temperature
  • 1/4 cup cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon water
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
  • Whole nutmeg (or use additional pumpkin spice)

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 350℉ and line a 9-inch square pan with parchment paper. Allow some overhang on the parchment; this will make it easier to remove your blondies later. two wide strips of parchment paper are cut to fit and rest perpendicularly in a square baking pan.
  2. Heat the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat until melted. Continue cooking it, swirling occasionally, for about 10-15 minutes until it takes on a golden coloring and rich, nutty smell. The butter will make a fun crackling sound as it cooks, and once it starts to brown just a wee bit, it will happen quickly from there so be sure to keep a close eye! I usually start my butter on medium low and then finish it over medium heat to achieve a nice level of browning. The heat level and cook time will vary depending on your stovetop and what type of pot you are using. melted butter in a pot has a foamy surface and a slightly golden coloring below
  3. Remove your browned butter from the heat, pour into a pyrex or heatproof bowl, and let it cool for about 5 minutes before sticking it in the fridge to continue cooling for another 10 minutes. browned butter in a clear glass pitcher has a deep golden-orange coloring.
  4. In a large mixing bowl, beat the cooled browned butter, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and pumpkin puree together until smooth. You can do this with either a whisk or an electric mixer. the mixture of ingredients is smooth and liquidy with an orange-brown coloring.
  5. Add the all-purpose flour, baking powder, pumpkin spice, and salt.dry ingredients are added to the pumpkin and butter mixture.
  6. Stir by hand, taking care not to over-mix. A few lumps in the batter are ok! the ingredients are stirred into a thick, orange colored batter
  7. Spoon the batter into your parchment paper lined pan. This batter is thick and sticky so use a rubber spatula to evenly distribute the batter and smooth the top as best you can. the pumpkin spice blondie batter is transferred to the prepared pan and shows a few lines on top where it has been smoothed by a spatula.
  8. Transfer to the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean. the baked pumpkin spice blondies are firm and slightly darker around the edges
  9. Allow the blondies to cool for 15 minutes in the pan, then use the parchment paper to lift them out of the pan and place on a wire rack to cool completely. the blondies have been moved to a cooling rack along with the parchment paper, which has been peeled back slightly.
  10. Slice your blondies into squares as desired, then allow them to keep cooling as long as they need. It’s important they come all the way to room temperature before adding frosting!the block of blondies is sliced into smaller squares and arranged on the cooling rack.
  11. In a mixing bowl, combine the butter, cream cheese, water, and vanilla extract. Sift in the powdered sugar. powdered sugar is being sifted through a small fine mesh strainer into the mixing bowl with the other frosting ingredients.
  12. Use an electric mixer to whip the frosting just until it comes together. the whipped frosting has a thick, swirly texture and an off-white coloring.
  13. Smear each pumpkin spice blondie with frosting as desired, then grate a little fresh nutmeg over the top or dust with a pinch of pumpkin spice if you want!each pumpkin spice blondie is given a smear of cream cheese frosting and dusted with grated nutmeg

Notes

  • If you want your blondies to come out a bit thinner, you could try baking them in a larger pan such as a 10-inch square. You may need to reduce the baking time, so start checking them for doneness at 30 minutes using a toothpick or cake tester. 
  • When browning butter, it helps to do this in a lighter colored pan such as stainless steel or one with a ceramic coating if you have one (I don’t, sadly!). The lighter color makes it easier to see the color of the butter as it deepens. 
  • Author: kelly@crescentmoonkitchen
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cooling Time: 1 hour
  • Cook Time: 35 minutes
  • Category: desserts
  • Method: baking
  • Cuisine: american

Find it online: https://crescentmoonkitchen.com/pumpkin-spice-blondies/