Snickerdoodle Brownies

I love snickerdoodles. Who are we kidding? I LOVE DESSERT!! But I really do love snickerdoodles. The chewy, sugary delights make me so very happy. But sometimes I just do not have the patience to make them. It's that whole extra step of rolling the cookies in the cinnamon and sugar that gets me, because it just delays the baking process that much longer.

Yes. I know that is pathetic.

But I found these little gems here and tried them...and loved them! All the chewy delight of snickerdoodles, but with the ease of a brownie. Oh. Yes. Please. I love it that I almost always have everything on hand to make these, they go together quickly, and of course, they are delicious.

I changed the original recipe just a bit to try to make it more healthy, and by that, I mean I did more than just sprinkle less sugar on top! {Although that too...}

Snickerdoodle Brownies

* 2 2/3 cups flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2 cups brown sugar
* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
* 2 eggs
* 1 Tablespoon vanilla
* 2 Tablespoons white sugar
* 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt, and brown sugar, and set aside. In a mixing bowl, combine butter, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla until well-combined. Add in dry ingredients a little at a time until fully combined. Batter will be very thick. Pour in a greased 9x13 baking dish. Combine white sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over batter. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick in the middle comes out clean. Cut and enjoy!

A Few Tips
 
* I use wheat flour, so my brownies are a little bit darker than yours will be if you use regular white flour. I've made these using both and they taste the smae to me.

* If you don't have unsweetened applesauce or you don't want to use it, you can substitute another 1/2 cup of butter in. I just wanted to cut out using a whole cup of butter, so I swapped the 1/2 cup of applesauce for it. I buy the little individual cup servings of applesauce and keep them on hand for substitutions. {I can't stand eating straight applesauce. Texture thing.}

* We have a little shaker that we keep a cinnnamon sugar in, so I just used that to sprinkle some on top. It was considerably less than the full amount of white sugar and cinnamon called for in the recipe, so that made me feel better, too. :)

* If you under-bake it just a little, it will be nice and gooey.

* We warmed up our leftover servings and possibly added a little whipped cream. Just for kicks. :)