Cinnamon Roll Blondie Bars
These quick and easy cinnamon roll blondie bars are delightful! Swirled cinnamon + sugar cookie dough is topped with a cream cheese drizzle.
These cinnamon roll blondie bars combine all the tasty flavors of a yummy cinnamon roll wrapped up in a fun little bar cookie.
They are quick and easy to make, and if you promise to underbake the cookie bars just slightly, you’re going to absolutely fall in love with them!
Cinnamon Roll Blondie Batter
The batter for the cookie dough is straightforward and simple.
AND, the recipe calls for melted butter, which makes the bars even easier to make. Grab a bowl and a spatula or spoon and you’re good to go. No need to lug out the heavy industrial mixer.
The batter is basic except for the addition of ground cinnamon. Even though cinnamon and sugar will be added to the top of the bars, the extra cinnamon in the cookie dough gives a boost to that necessary flavor!
Spread and Swirl
Once the batter is spread in the pan, a simple mixture of brown sugar + granulated sugar + cinnamon is sprinkled on top and then swirled into the batter.
There’s no real scientific way to do the swirling. I grab a butter knife or small offset spatula and run back and forth until the cinnamon and sugar is cut into the batter and everything looks nice and swirly-ish.
Remember: cream cheese frosting is yet to come, so the top of the bars don’t need to be completely symmetrical and picture perfect. We’re championing the art of delicious chaos here.
It is important at this time that I implore you not to over bake the bars. In fact, if you’re going to err on one side or the other, do it on the side of under baking just slightly. You don’t want them raw and overly gooey – just soft and buttery.
Cream Cheese Frosting
The frosting is really just a mini batch of pretty typical cream cheese frosting:
- cream cheese
- butter
- vanilla
- powdered sugar
- bit of cream or milk
It’s probably just enough frosting to spread a thin layer to completely cover the bars.
But I like to scoop the frosting into the corner of a ziploc bag, snip the corner, and pipe the frosting over the bars in zigzaggy lines.
Pro Tip: add a few more tablespoons cream or milk to the frosting recipe for a thinner frosting/glaze that can be drizzled across the bars instead of being piped.
The soft, sweet cream cheese frosting with the chewy, cinnamon sugar topped cookie bars is a dreamy, dreamy combination.
With the prominent cinnamon and sugar vibes, these bars could also pass for a snickerdoodle blondie.
But it’s the cream cheese frosting that defines these as a delectable cinnamon roll blondie bar.
Change Up Cookie Bars
I’m never going to resist a good old-fashioned chocolate chip cookie bar (or any other cookie bar recipe), but sometimes, it’s fun to take a departure from the classics and go with something new.
These cinnamon roll blondie bars are fantastic.
One-bowl batter
Crackly cinnamon and sugar topping
Cream cheese frosting
For all my cinnamon lovers out there, these bars are for YOU. And me. (It’s been a month and I’m happy to help myself to all the cinnamon roll blondie bars as part of my new year, just-over-here-trying-to-survive, new me plan.)
I hope you love them!
One Year Ago: Easy Yogurt Flatbread
Two Years Ago: Loaded Baked Potato Soup
Three Years Ago: Weeknight Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti Bake
Four Years Ago: Extra Fudgy Brownies {One Bowl!}
Five Years Ago: Sweet Balsamic Glazed Pork {Slow Cooker + Instant Pot}
Six Years Ago: Soft Baked Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie {Egg-Free}
Seven Years Ago: Healthier Banana Bread Chocolate Chip Oat Snack Bars
Eight Years Ago: Incredible Chocolate Pudding {Dairy, Egg and Gluten Free}
Nine Years Ago: Chocolate Tres Leches Cake
Ten Years Ago: Smoked Salmon Chowder
Cinnamon Roll Blondie Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Cookie dough:
- 1 cup (227 g) butter, melted (I use salted)
- 1 cup (212 g) lightly packed brown sugar
- ½ cup (106 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 large (100 g) eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 (320 g) cups all-purpose flour
Cinnamon + Sugar:
- 3 tablespoons (27 g) granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons (27 g) brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 2 tablespoons (28 g) cream cheese, softened
- 1 tablespoon (14 g) butter, softened
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup (114 g) powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon cream or milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a metal 9X13-inch pan (if using glass or a dark nonstick pan, decrease the oven temp to 325 degrees) or line the pan with parchment or foil and lightly grease.
- In a large bowl, stir together the melted butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt until well-combined.
- Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. Stir in the flour until no dry streaks remain.
- Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
- Stir together the brown sugar, granulated sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle evenly over the batter. Use a butter knife to swirl the batter back and forth so the cinnamon sugar is cut into the batter.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden and edges are slightly puffed (add time if the batter is still wet, but don't overbake – the bars should be soft in the center).
- Let the bars cool completely.
- For the cream cheese frosting, in a medium bowl with a handheld electric mixer (or in the bowl of a stand mixer), mix the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla together until light and creamy, 30-45 seconds. Add the powdered sugar and cream or milk and mix until well-combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. If desired, add additional cream or milk for a thinner consistency (to drizzle rather than pipe).
- Scoop the cream cheese frosting into the corner of a ziploc or other plastic or piping bag. Snip the corner and pipe the frosting across the bars in zigzag or straight lines. Cut into squares and serve. Store leftovers well-covered in the refrigerator.
Very tasty. I agree with others that 30 minutes was a bit too long. I’d lower that cooking time
I finally got an opportunity to make this treat and it did not disappoint. My 11-year old said it was “the most delicious thing ever” 🙂 It was so simple to make. A perfect mix of cinnamon, cream cheese, and cookie goodness. I cooked mine in a Pampered Chef stone baking pan and they were done at 28 min. I probably could have taken them out a bit sooner, but they turned out great!
Would this double in a cookie sheet? I am debating bringing it to a Cinco de Mayo—I think I can get away calling these churro blondies!
I haven’t tried baking them in a rimmed cookie sheet – I’d say either a 1 1/2 batch or a double batch would work!
Update—I did double in a rimmed cookie sheet and it worked fine! I wish I pulled them out at 28ish minutes but they were perfect! And my dinner party loved the “churro” blondies. Thank you!!
Great recipe. Easy to put together without a hand or stand mixer. I used a glass dish and baked for 35min at 325. My husband said the blondies reminded him of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I’ll definitely be making these again.
I love your website and also weighing my ingredients and always appreciate the conversion to grams, especially for flour measurements. I’m wondering if the flour conversion on this recipe is off? It seemed high so I checked the King Arthur website and one cup of all purpose flour weighs 120 grams so the total for this recipe would be 270? But maybe I’m just very tired on this Tuesday afternoon! I’m making them now so we’ll see how they turn out. Thanks for all the great recipes!
Hi Kim, I use 142 grams per cup of flour to test my recipes. It’s higher than what King Arthur Flour uses (but is similar to the recommendations by America’s Test Kitchen). I always encourage people to use the weights listed in the recipe since the recipe has likely been tested with those weight measures rather than convert the weight measures to what other sources use.
Hope that helps!
Thanks Mel! They turned out great (insert drooling emoji here) with the 270 so it’s all good. I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks again!
Thank you for this recipe, it’s so good! I was wondering if these would be ok to freeze? (Just the bars, not frosting)
Yes! They freeze great
Made these for an after church snack and they were a winner! I love the cinnamon sugar combo and the cream cheese frosting is so good. I let my kids help pipe the top then just smoothed it out into a thin layer…delicious!
After church snacks are the best! (Especially if they are yummy like these…our after church snacks usually consist of melted cheese on tortillas) 🙂
Hello, I baked this today and was delicious, I just would add less sugar to the batter.
Mine looks like coffee cake, no bars, but are super good.
Thanks for the review, Siu!
Mel doesn’t lie- this recipe came together quickly, easily and the bars are so darn delicious!! I found it helpful to put the bars in the fridge for a little while after I put on the cream cheese frosting; it set the frosting enough so that the bars retained the lovely lattice pattern when I cut them,
Thanks, Tory!
These were as easy and delicious as promised! I left off the frosting because the bit of cream cheese I had languishing in the fridge was questionable at best and they were still good! I love how chewy they are!
Thanks, Becky – glad to know they were super yummy without frosting!
Perfect for a cold winter day in Ohio! I made this GF by substituting Cup4Cup Gluten free multipurpose flour. I baked it at 325 because I used a ceramic pan. I baked it until it reached 205 degrees, that way I didn’t have to guess when it was done. So yummy! My mom GF husband couldn’t stop eating them. Thank you for the delicious recipe.
Jessica! That’s awesome these worked well gluten-free. Thanks for including the details!
Wow.. these look delicious..and way too easy to make..which could be dangerous lol..can’t wait to try them !
Mel. You’re killing my will power! I can’t resist cinnamon sugar treats and this one is another winner! So so good!
#sorrynotsorry 🙂 🙂
By “cool completely,” do you mean “wait 10 minutes while everyone finishes dinner and then start serving”?? Asking for an impatient friend.
Hahaha, that is EXACTLY what I mean! 🙂
Okay this is SOOOOO good! The frosting is perfect and the moistness of the bars and cinnamony flavor made it so delicious. Thank you for another fantastic recipe, Mel!
Thanks, Adalyn!
Holy cow! These are so good! I made them yesterday, and they are gone already! Another great recipe Mel!
Yay, Arie! Thanks for letting me know!
These were really good, kids loved them. Though, for us, it was a bit dry and over baked at 30 min. Next time I’ll have to check them earlier.
Thanks for adding your review, Kiersten; I appreciate it!
Baked the Cinnamon Roll Blondie Bars With Cream Cheese Frosting today. They are so easy and quick to make. The best part is they are so delicious. Love the crunchy topping and the moistness of the bars. The cream cheese frosting is so tasty – I will use this drizzle with on other baked goods. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Lucille! Very happy you enjoyed them!
Recipe is never listed ewithbexact ingredients
This is amazing, easy to make and hard to only have one square.
Thanks, Angie!
This looks delicious! Is there any way we can replace the egg in this recipe?
Hi Aditi, you could google an egg replacer for baking. I know a lot of people use a flax seed + water replacement. I haven’t tried it; good luck if you experiment!
I replace egg in these types of recipes with 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce per egg and it always turns out wonderfully
I always replace the egg with 1 tablespoon of white vinegar and 1 teaspoon of baking soda mixed together in a measuring cup until they fizz. They always turn out fine. Another good egg replacer, if you are not lactose intolerant, is 1/4 cup of plain or Greek yogurt for each egg. Good luck!
I can’t wait to try these! How would I change the recipe to leave out the cream cheese? Would I need to add more of something else? I would love it but my daughter will not touch cream cheese frosting 🙁
You could try just making a powdered sugar glaze and omitting the cream cheese (I’d probably increase the butter by a couple of tablespoons)
These look so good! I am ridiculously excited to try them. I just made a batch of the chewy malt chip bars yesterday, but these are next. Thank you for coming up with a bar cookie with a snickerdoodle vibe! I love snickerdoodles, but find they get stale before we can finish a batch (there are only three of us home at the moment).
How long do these keep, would you say, and do they stack? Does the frosting get firm, or does it stay gooey? I’m all about the parchment separated tub of cookies in the fridge…
Hey Rebecca, these keep really well especially if you under bake them just slightly (or rather, don’t over bake). The frosting stays soft, so unfortunately, they don’t stack super well. But if it were me, I’d frost, cut into squares, refrigerate until the frosting sets a bit and still stack them in between parchment sheets.
Ooh, thanks! Messy stacking vs. cream cheese frosting, you know that’s no contest- frosting, for the win. These look like just the thing to go with the 12-16” we’re supposedly getting this weekend. Gulp. Have a great week!
Oh gosh, good luck with that!!
These are so delicious! Highly recommend! My frosting set up firm enough that they stack just fine in layers between parchment in the fridge. I would bet that at room temperature the frosting would stick, but chilled there’s no issue- meaning, if you’re taking them somewhere, make sure they’re in one layer before they warm up!
I was JUST experimenting yesterday on a cinnamon roll snickerdoodle. And along you come having done all of the work for me yet again. THANK YOU!
Like a cookie or a bar? Now you have the wheels turning about how to turn this into a cookie…
Perfect recipe for a Monday. So yummy! Thank you
Thank YOU, Maura!