I’m lucky in life to have well-travelled foodie friends, one of whom brought me two gorgeous sweet spreads from Bremen, Germany: one caramel with espresso, one chocolate with lebkuchen spices. Both were too good to waste on toast, and both wanted to be the star. So I built a blondie recipe that gives them both a proper stage.
Blondies work better here than brownies because they let the espresso caramel and spiced chocolate stand out instead of getting lost against cocoa. The high fat, high sugar, low flour ratio means these can handle generous swirls without collapsing or turning gummy in the middle. You’ll use about half of each jar in one go, which is exactly the kind of commitment level I’m here for.
These slice cleanly, freeze well, and taste even better on day two. The espresso bitterness keeps the caramel in check, and the lebkuchen spices read grown-up holiday café pastry, not candy bar.
Snapshot
- Implements: 8×8 baking pan; parchment paper; medium mixing bowl; whisk; rubber spatula; knife for swirling
- Oven setting: 350°F (175°C) for 25–30 minutes
- Batch size: one 8×8 pan (about 16 squares)
Ingredients
Blondie base
- 8 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 Cup packed brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1½ Tsp vanilla extract
- 1 Cup all-purpose flour
- ½ Tsp kosher salt
- ½ Tsp baking powder
- ¼ Tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
Swirls
- ½ Cup caramel with espresso
- ½ Cup chocolate lebkuchen spread
Finishing
- Flaky salt, for finishing
Method
Heat the oven and prep the pan.
Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line an 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper, leaving overhang on two sides for easy lifting.
Make the batter.
Whisk the melted butter and brown sugar together in a medium bowl until glossy and well combined. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract until smooth. Fold in the flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon (if using) just until no streaks of flour remain.
Spread and swirl.
Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
Warm both jars slightly (you can set them in a bowl of warm water or microwave for 10–15 seconds) so the spreads are pourable. Dollop the caramel and chocolate spreads evenly over the batter, using about ½ cup of each.
Use a knife to swirl boldly through the batter and spreads, creating big ribbons. Don’t be delicate here. You want dramatic swirls, not a gentle mix.
Bake and finish.
Bake for 25–30 minutes, until the edges are set and the center is just barely soft to the touch. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out with a few moist crumbs but no wet batter.
Immediately sprinkle with flaky salt. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before cutting into squares.
Notes, swaps, and guardrails
The structural base
The blondie batter is adapted from the standard brown-butter blondie ratios that show up everywhere (NYT Cooking style): about 8–12 Tbsp butter, 1 cup brown sugar, 2 whole eggs, and about 1 cup flour. That ratio is deliberately high fat + high sugar + low flour, which is what allows you to add heavy swirls without the center collapsing or baking up gummy.
I deliberately stayed at 1 cup flour instead of 1¼ cups because my spreads add additional fat and sugar. More flour would tighten the crumb and reduce the room for those swirls to integrate without the bars getting cakey.
The swirl volume logic
The ½ cup + ½ cup total swirl is not arbitrary. This comes from cream cheese brownie swirl recipes (Alice Medrich lineage), dulce de leche brownie and blondie recipes, and Nutella swirl blondies. Across those, the reliable upper bound is: swirl = 40–60% of batter volume for an 8×8 pan.
This batter is roughly 2¼ to 2½ cups total volume once mixed. So 1 cup total swirl is aggressive but safe. I split it evenly to avoid one spread dominating the texture.
Because both spreads are smooth and fat-based, they behave more like Nutella than jam. Jam would require less because of water content throwing off the balance.
Why blondies, not brownies
I intentionally avoided a cocoa-based brownie batter because chocolate on chocolate flattens the lebkuchen nuance. Blondies showcase caramel and spice contrast better. Espresso caramel reads louder against vanilla and brown sugar than it would against cocoa. The result is grown-up holiday café pastry, not candy bar.
Why no reduction in sugar
You’ll notice I did not reduce the brown sugar. That is intentional. The caramel espresso contains bitterness from coffee, not just sweetness. The lebkuchen chocolate contains spice and cocoa solids, not straight sugar. And blondies rely on brown sugar for chew and structure, not just sweetness. Reducing sugar would risk a cakier crumb and less support for the swirls.
Bake time calibration
25–30 minutes at 350°F is borrowed from dulce de leche blondies and Nutella swirl brownies in an 8×8. The key indicator is not the toothpick test but set edges with a slight wobble in the center. Carryover heat finishes the job. If you wait until a toothpick comes out completely clean, you’ve gone too far and the blondies will be dry.
Optional cinnamon justification
The optional ¼ tsp cinnamon is pulled from lebkuchen spice balancing rules. It reinforces what is already there without competing. I kept it optional because some people are sensitive to doubled spice notes. If your lebkuchen spread already packs a strong spice punch, you can skip it.
Make-ahead and storage
These slice cleanly once fully cooled and keep well at room temperature, wrapped, for 2–3 days. They also freeze beautifully: wrap individual squares or the whole pan tightly, freeze, then thaw at room temperature. They’re even better on day two as the flavors settle and meld.
Scaling up
If you want to make a 9×13 party version, double all the ingredients and bake for 30–35 minutes, checking for the same set edges and slightly soft center.