1 Huge Granny Smith Apple (strictly Granny Smith – it keeps its shape very well and has a potent Apple Flavour)
220 g Cake Flour
½ Tbsp Ground Cinnamon
5 g Salt
100 g Unsalted Butter
100 g Baking Margarine
80 g Dulce de Leche
120 g White Sugar
100 g Demerara Sugar
½ Tbsp Vanilla Extract
⅛ tsp Caramel Extract
2 Jumbo Eggs (135g)
1 Tbsp Salted Butter, Melted
Instructions
Preheat oven to 170˚C/340˚F.
Grease and line an 18cm x 27cm (7 inch x 10,5 inch) brownie pan with top quality non-stick baking paper (Wax Paper will not suffice). Not all brownie pans are exactly the same size - an 8 x 8 inch brownie tin will also work just fine.
Melt the salted caramel in the microwave for 20 seconds till it reaches a pouring consistency.
Pour the salted caramel into the greased and lined Pan. Spread it out evenly, so that the bottom of the pan has an even layer of caramel. Set aside.
Sift flour, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl, set aside.
Melt butter and margarine in mixing bowl in the microwave for 3.5mins. It must boil before you continue.
Mix in sugars and dulce de leche on low speed with paddle attachment for about 30 seconds. Return to the microwave for 40 seconds. Mix again on low speed for 30 seconds. The sugars should stick to the paddle slightly when you lift it out of the mixture. This means the sugar has dissolved slightly.
In a medium sized bowl, lightly whisk together the eggs, vanilla extract and caramel extract. Add to butter and sugar mixture and mix for 10 seconds to combine slightly.
Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
Beat on low speed for about 30 seconds until the mix starts coming together into one batter. Stop mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
Resume beating on medium speed for 3 minutes.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan with Caramel. Spread mixture evenly into all the corners of the pan.
Prepare the apples last – this way you don’t have to coat them with lemon juice to prevent browning. Peel and core the apples. Cut the apple through length-ways. Turn each half onto its flat side and cut thin slices of about 2 mm.
Pack the apple slices on top of the Blondie Batter, each slice overlapping the previous one. Brush the apple slices with melted salted butter.
Bake the Blondies at 170ᵒC for 45-55 minutes, turning after 20 minutes. When a skewer tests clean, they are done.
Allow to cool completely before removing from the tin. Slice and dust with icing sugar to serve.
Notes
These guys go extremely well with a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream – Yummmmyyyyyy!
Recipe by Philosophy Of Yum Blog at https://philosophyofyum.com/salted-caramel-apple-blondies/