Caramel Pumpkin Blondies
Pumpkin Blondies is a perfect easy fall treat. These blondies are full of pumpkin flavor, pumpkin pie spice flavor, and have an added bonus of caramel chips and caramel topping. Pumpkin and caramel make the perfect flavor combination in one easy recipe.
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Fall baking is something we all look forward to all summer (or at least I do)! This pumpkin blondies recipe is the perfect fall treat and it doesn’t get any easier. These bars are soft, moist, a little on the cakey side and full of rich pumpkin flavor, autumnal spice, and a touch of caramel.
There are essentially two simple steps to prepare the batter and the blondies are baked in about 30 minutes.
I love this particular recipe because of the flavor combination and the ease. Caramel makes the perfect pairing for pumpkin (much like in my caramel pumpkin cake and caramel pumpkin pull apart bread). The caramel chips that get baked inside and the caramel topping take these blonde cakes over the top!
Ingredient Notes and Tips
Pumpkin Puree – you can use your favorite store-bought pumpkin puree or homemade pumpkin puree. Just note that homemade pumpkin puree can sometimes be thinner so you really need to pay attention to that! When getting store-bought, make sure to get pumpkin puree NOT pumpkin pie mix!
Spices – you will simply need pumpkin pie spice mix for these pumpkin blondies. Pumpkin pie spice usually contains a combination of like ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground allspice, and ground nutmeg.
Flour – All purpose flour works great. Make sure you spoon the flour into the measuring cup instead of dunking the cup into the bag! Then, cut the excess at the top with the back of the knife to level. When you dunk the cup, you really pack the flour into the cup.
Brown Sugar – you can use light brown sugar or dark brown sugar. The difference between the two is in the amount of molasses added, dark brown sugar containing more, of course.
Caramel chips – you can use caramel chips or soft caramel bits in the blondies. Note that caramel chips are much more widely available at stores than caramel bits, but they have a different texture.
Caramel topping – as the topping for the blondies, you can use dulce de leche, caramel sauce, or caramel topping (think ice cream topping.) Of course, you can always make some homemade caramel sauce to use on these blondies and other treats.
See recipe card for complete information on ingredients and quantities.
How To Make Pumpkin Blondies
Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a 9×13 baking pan.
Start melting butter in the sauce pot over medium-low heat and when it’s about half way melted, add brown sugar. Mix and let the butter finish melting. Once melted, stir in pumpkin puree. Give a couple more minutes to cook, stirring often, until sugar is melted and mixture is smooth (1). (It will smell incredible, by the way!)
Transfer the pumpkin mixture into a mixing bowl and let it cool for about 10 minutes so it doesn’t scald the egg. Whisk in the egg and vanilla extract once cooled.
Whisk in the dry ingredients, but not the caramel chips, until evenly combined (2). Fold in the caramel chips with a spatula (3) and spread the batter in the prepared baking dish (4). Make sure the batter is spread evenly and tap the pan on the counter a few times to make sure.
Bake blondies for about 30-35 minutes and take the pan out of the oven. Let the baked blondies cool for 10-15 minutes in the baking pan (5) then, turn it over into a wire rack to cool completely.
PRO TIP: To take the blondies out of the baking pan, run a butter knife along the inside edges of the pan. Tap the sides of the baking pan gently on the counter to loosen the blondie in it. Cover the pan with a wire rack, hold them together, and flip. To turn the whole baked blondie back over on its bottom, cover it with another wire rack, hold them together and flip again. Then, take off the wire rack from the top and let the blondie cool.
Make sure you let the blondies cool to room temperature before adding the topping and cutting into squares! When cooled, drizzle with your proffered caramel topping and cut into the squares (6).
Storing and Freezing Pumpkin Blondies
Counter:
You can store the blondies on the counter in an air-tight container for up to 2 days. If you plan to store them at room temperature, don’t add caramel topping until you are ready to grab one. Simply add the caramel to each individual square as needed.
Refrigerator:
To extend the shelf life (or if you live in a humid climate), store them in the refrigerator. Store the blondies in an air-tight container, in the refrigerator, for 5-7 days. You can easily warm up each individual square in a microwave for just a few seconds.
Freezing:
Make sure to cool the blondies first to room temperature. Cut the cooled blondies into squares and then wrap each square in plastic wrap and then in aluminum foil. Be gently when you wrap but try to get them as air-tight as you can. Label and freeze for up to 2 months.
To thaw, simply take them out of the freezer, unwrap, and let it thaw on the counter for about 30 minutes.
Recipe FAQs
You can keep the caramel chips and add some nuts as well. Pecans or walnuts will make a tasty addition.
If you don’t feel like using caramel chips, you can swap them out of milk chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, or white chocolate chips.
On the top, you can also combine chocolate sauce and caramel sauce of just use one other the other.
I do not recommend it! Canned pumpkin puree has only one ingredient – pumpkin.
Pumpkin pie filing actually comes mixed with sugar, spices, and a few other ingredients. Using pumpkin pie filling in recipes that call for pumpkin puree will compromise the taste. It’s hard to gauge how much sugar and spices to take away from the recipe to balance what’s in the pie filling.
That’s why I don’t usually recommend using pumpkin pie filling in any pumpkin recipes that call for pumpkin puree.
My first test is always to touch the middle and see how set it is. If the middle hasn’t baked through yet, it will be quite jiggly and it might feel a little squishy. If it starts to feel firm and yields when you gently press into it, it is fully cooked.
You can also do a toothpick test in the very center to make sure it comes out clean. If it comes out with some batter stuck to it, you will still be able to tell if it’s cooked or uncooked based on texture.
More Pumpkin Dessert Recipes To Try
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Caramel Pumpkin Blondies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 15 oz can pumpkin puree
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp coarse salt
- 9 oz caramel chips
Topping:
- 1/4-1/2 cup Caramel sauce, dulce de leche, or caramel topping to drizzle
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a 9×13 baking pan.
- Start melting butter in the sauce pot over medium-low heat and when it’s about half way melted, add brown sugar. Mix and let the butter finish melting. Once melted, stir in pumpkin puree. Give a couple more minutes to cook, stirring often, until sugar is melted and mixture is smooth.
- Transfer the pumpkin mixture into a mixing bowl and let it cool for about 10 minutes so it doesn’t scald the egg. Whisk in the egg and vanilla extract once cooled.
- Whisk in flour, baking soda, and spices until evenly combined.
- Fold in the caramel chips with a spatula and spread the batter in the prepared baking dish. Make sure the batter is spread evenly and tap the pan on the counter a few times to make sure
- Bake blondies for about 30-35 minutes and take the pan out of the oven. Let the baked blondies cool for 10-15 minutes in the baking pan then, turn it over into a wire rack to cool completely.
- To take the blondies out of the baking pan, run a butter knife along the inside edges of the pan. Tap the sides of the baking pan gently on the counter to loosen the blondie in it. Cover the pan with a wire rack, hold them together, and flip. To turn the whole baked blondie back over on its bottom, cover it with another wire rack, hold them together and flip again. Then, take off the wire rack from the top and let the blondie cool.
- When cooled, drizzle with your proffered caramel topping and cut into the squares.
Notes
- Counter – You can store the blondies on the counter in an air-tight container for up to 2 days. If you plan to store them at room temperature, don’t add caramel topping until you are ready to grab one. Simply add the caramel to each individual square as needed.
- Refrigerator – To extend the shelf life (or if you live in a humid climate), store them in the refrigerator. Store the blondies in an air-tight container, in the refrigerator, for 5-7 days. You can easily warm up each individual square in a microwave for just a few seconds.
- Freezing – Make sure to cool the blondies first to room temperature. Cut the cooled blondies into squares and then wrap each square in plastic wrap and then in aluminum foil. Be gently when you wrap but try to get them as air-tight as you can. Label and freeze for up to 2 months.
- To thaw, simply take them out of the freezer, unwrap, and let it thaw on the counter for about 30 minutes.
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in September 2013.
All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
I haven’t made this but I plan too.
My question is 1/4 cup Caramel sauce for topping.
Is there a separate recipe for the sauce?
I’d like to know how you made it.
Thank you
I actually just used a good quality store bought caramel for this recipe.
My little Easton wanted to make some *pumpkin brownies*… so I told him we have the right recipe for them… so I pulled out yours. These are amazing!!!