Cinnamon Roll Blondies

You will love this Cinnamon Roll Blondies recipe! Buttery, rich, and chewy blondies are swirled with cinnamon sugar baked to a golden brown and topped with a luscious cream cheese frosting. Step-by-step photos teach you how to bake these cinnamon roll cookie bars!

this recipe

Cinnamon rolls, are one of my true loves. And I actually enjoy making them from scratch. I've got a great recipe for making them the night before and baking first thing in the morning. Let me tell you, unreal. There is NO comparison to store-bought vs homemade cinnamon rolls. It's worth it and not hard at all. Enough about them.

On to these Cinnamon Roll Blondies... I love combining two desserts into one.

I added cinnamon in the blondie base and then made a butter/brown sugar/ cinnamon mixture and swirled it throughout before I baked.

Let the bars cool and slather a big old scoop of cream cheese frosting on top.

Finding the pockets of cinnamon sugar was delightful, a chewy cinnamon blondie topped with cream cheese frosting. Wow. Speechless. I prefer the bars chilled but to each their own!

Fancy a chocolate chewy bar? Try my Thick & Chewy Brownies with Cocoa Powder. A pumpkin blondie? Try my Pumpkin Blondies Recipe.

Let's get to the recipe.

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• Ingredients
• Instructions
• More cinnamon roll recipes
• More blondie recipes
• Recipe Card
• Recipe Ratings & Comments

Ingredients

Although this is quite an easy recipe there are three components but don't let it scare you!

• Butter. I use salted but you can use unsalted if you want. The butter just needs to be melted.
• Light Brown Sugar. The brown sugar creates an incredibly thick, moist and chewy cookie bar.
• Large Egg. Your egg needs to be at room temperature, to do this quickly place the egg in a bowl of warm water before you crack it.
• Pure Vanilla Extract. A splash of vanilla helps give the blondies a warm flavor base.
• All-Purpose Flour. Be careful to measure your flour properly, I prefer a scale versus measuring cups.
• Baking Soda. The baking soda will help the blondies rise up while baking.
• Salt. Don’t forget this ingredient, it helps enhance all of the other ingredient flavor profiles.
• Ground Cinnamon. This helps give that iconic cinnamon roll flavor.

For the cinnamon-sugar mixture you'll need to mix together some melted butter, brown sugar and ground cinnamon.

For the cream cheese frosting:

• Cream Cheese. Make sure it's softened to room temperature.
• Butter. This also needs to be softened to room temperature.
• Confectioner's Sugar. Also known as powdered sugar, make sure it's sifted so you don't have any lumps.
• Pure Vanilla Extract. Just a bit warms the frosting flavor.
• Heavy Whipping Cream. The cream will make the frosting richer.

Next time I might try adding some chopped roasted pecans on top for a nice crunch!

Baking is a science and to really achieve the best results I highly recommend investing in a kitchen scale. This OXO Kitchen Scale is the one I use and is also the number one recommended kitchen scale by Cook's Illustrated. Think about it -what one person scoops into a "cup" is completely different from what someone else scoops!

For ingredient quantities please reference the recipe card below. On the recipe card there is a button for US or M (Metric) measurements.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350/180C and grease and line an 8-inch square pan with foil to overhang on the sides so you can easily remove the bars from the pan. 

In a large bowl whisk together the butter and brown sugar, mixing until fully combined.

Add in the egg and vanilla extract, beat for one minute.

Gently fold in the flour, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon.

Mix just until no flour streaks remain, don't overmix the blondie batter. Pour batter into prepared pan, press into a flat layer.

In a small bowl mix together melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon.

Using a spoon to drizzle cinnamon swirl mixture onto the blondie mixture. Using a butter knife swirl the spoonfuls.

Bake for 23-26 minutes, until blondies are golden brown and have set.

Let cool for at least 45 minutes before icing. I let the blondies cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack then using the foil overhand I pull the blondies out of the tin to cool faster.

In a medium bowl with a hand mixer whisk together the butter and cream cheese. Add in powdered sugar, vanilla, and heavy cream, mixing on low to prevent a powdered sugar storm. Once all combined beat on high for 3 minutes. Spread on top of blondies and sprinkle ground cinnamon on top.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. If you live in a warm environment then store the bars in the fridge.

More cinnamon roll recipes

This cinnamon roll cheesecake recipe is decadent and perfect for a party!

For afternoon tea parties this cinnamon roll pound cake is just scrumptious!

I think I might like these pumpkin cinnamon rolls over regular cinnamon rolls!

More blondie recipes

• Apple Blondies 
• Salted Chocolate Chip Pecan Blondies 
• Chewy Gooey Candy Blondies
• Pretzel Crusted M&M Blondies 
• Cookie Butter Sea Salt Blondies 
  

★★★★★ Please let me know if you make this recipe by leaving a star rating and comment below!

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This recipe was orginally published on May 30, 2016 as of March 27, 2022 the recipe and post has been updated.