Fragrant Vanilla Cake

Tag: blondies

Vegan Black Raspberry Blondies
Sometimes on my runs I am in the zone and sorting out my own thoughts, and other times I pay more attention to the beautiful things in nature around me. There sure is a lot of beautiful things to enjoy lately. Like a yard full of different colors of lilies, or the animals that all seem to be out. The best discovery I have made lately though were the wild black raspberries. I have been watching them ripen for the past week and they were finally starting to be ready last weekend.

I decided I would go back later and pick some since I don’t usually stop during my run. It seems like the raspberries are going crazy this year! There are more than I have ever seen, usually it is a few patches, but this year they are everywhere! Maybe it was the weird weather we had last Winter and the late Spring, but whatever the case, I am happy there are so many. Eric and I picked a bunch, and snacked on a few but I decided that I should make some recipes with them as well. Because why not?! They are super delicious.

So I made some black raspberry blondies. It was between that and brownies, but I am a vanilla girl after all, and I hadn’t made blondies in a long time so they won. I love that they are so easy to make, and so shareable too. I made my classic blondies with good quality vegan dark chocolate chips, and stirred in the raspberries. The dough was amazing. Just saying. Dough is my favorite part of the baking process so I had to try some.

They smelled amazing while baking, and I could not wait to try them. Once they had cooled down and were all ready to go, I was all over them. They turned out super delicious with the rich vanilla cookie dough, dark chocolate chips and jammy black raspberries! I think using them in blondies was definitely the right choice!

Vegan Black Raspberry Blondies

Makes 16

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 1 cup maple sugar or coconut sugar
- 1 Tbsp ground golden flax seed mixed with 3 Tbsp filtered water
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups organic whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
- 3/4 cup vegan dark chocolate chips
- 3/4 cup black raspberries
Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F degrees, and line an 8×8 inch square pan with parchment.
2. To make the dough, mix together the coconut oil and coconut sugar until well blended with a wooden spoon.
3. Add the flax and water mixture and vanilla and mix until well blended.
4. Add the flour, soda, and salt and mix until smooth.
5. Stir in the chocolate chips and black raspberries (they will get crushed a bit and that’s ok).
6. Press into the bottom of the 8×8 inch pan, and place in the oven.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until done in the center and lightly brown.
8. Remove from the oven and let cool before cutting into bars. When ready to cut, just lift them out with the parchment onto a cutting board and cut into 16 bars.
9. Enjoy!
July 10, 2019
Vegan Almond Butter Maple Blondies
It smells so good here right now, like you have walked into a secret garden if you close your eyes when you walk outside. The trees and flowers are all in bloom in all of their beautiful Spring glory, and they are loving the warm weather we have been having. It may not seem like the time to be baking things, since you want to spend all of your time outside in the sun when the weather is like this, and you are not at work, but I figured I went outside for a 7 mile run in the morning, worked then went for a 3 mile walk in the afternoon, so why not relax and bake something afterwards? I was in the mood for something chocolate chip cookie dough like. Blondies sounded perfect! I hadn’t made any in a really long time, and I am still looking for a perfect blondie recipe. Meaning one that tastes just as rich and delicious as traditional ones, and is healthier without tasting like it. One good way to make thing taste rich and delicious? Add nut butter to the recipe. And nut flour in this case.

Raw Guru recently send me some raw almond butter and I had some of their raw almond meal, so I thought that they would be perfect in my little blondie recipe experiment. Their almond products are fabulous by the way, the almond butter is super smooth and has a sweet flavor, and their almond flour is the best I have tried. I should mention, if you do check out the Raw Guru Website, and you decide to order something, use my coupon code FRAGRANTVANILLA to get 10% off your order, typed in at your checkout. Back to the blondies, I was super excited about them. For the dough, I used my chocolate chip cookie recipe but tweaked it a bit. I always use flax eggs in my cookies, because I always have ground flax seed on hand, and they always work perfect. You would not even be able to tell there are not eggs in m cookies. For the oil portion that I normally use in my cookie recipe, I swapped half with almond butter to make these nice and chewy, plus give them a delicious almond flavor. I swapped out 1 cup of the gluten free flour for almond meal and it was perfect! I used maple sugar in these to give them a sweet maple flavor, and let me tell you, the dough was amazing. Like the best chocolate chip cookie dough ever. I added in plenty of chocolate chips. Because that is how I like it. Someone recently complained that I put too many chocolate chips in my cookie recipes, but guess what? I need all of those chocolate chips in my cookies and bars and that is how they will always be on this blog. Because gooey chocolate chips are amazing! The more the better!

They baked up beautifully, and my kitchen smelled so amazing for hours after! Unfortunately I had to wait for them to cool a bit (a bit more than I would like, because I wanted them to look nice in pictures for you all). But OMG were they ever amazing when I was finally able to dive in! I think I actually like blondies better than cookies, because they are softer in the center and remind me more of cookie dough! If you are in the mood for something cookie like, but don’t want to roll out cookies and all that jazz, give these a try! Blondies are just as amazing!

Vegan Almond Butter Maple Blondies
Makes 16 large cookies

Ingredients:
- 2 Tbsp ground flax seed
- 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp filtered water
- 1/2 cup virgin coconut oil, warmed to liquid
- 1/2 cup Dastony raw almond butter
- 1 1/2 cups maple sugar or coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tsp maple extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup Raw Guru raw almond meal
- 2 cups gluten free all purpose flour
- 1 cup mini vegan chocolate chips or chocolate chunks
Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350F degrees. Line an 8×8 inch square pan with parchment and oil it.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flax seed and filtered water. Set aside in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, coconut oil and almond butter butter with sugar and mix until well combined
4. Mix in the vanilla extract and flax mixture until well combined. Add the baking soda and salt then the almond meal and flour, a cup at a time, mixing between each addition, until well combined. Mix in the chocolate chips. Spread the dough evenly into the prepared pan.
5. Place in the oven and bake for about 30-35 minutes until starting to brown, and set in the center, but do not over bake. You want soft blondies.
6. Remove from the oven and let cool, then cut into 16 bars and enjoy!
May 20, 2018
Vegan Peanut Butter Banana Blondie Tart

Someone recently asked me what my guilty pleasure food is. You might be surprised when you hear it was not cake, or ice cream or French fries…it was peanut butter. Yes peanut butter. I could eat a whole jar if I could. That stuff is so addictive. Luckilly though I am satisfied with a few Tbsp at a time and don’t have to resort to the jar. Stuff you can buy is good, but I make my own. Eric recently bought some store bought, then asked me if I would make him some because it was just not as good as mine. I make mine with just peanuts and salt most of the time. Sometimes raw jungle peanuts, and sometimes organic roasted peanuts. So good. When I had a hankering for blondies last weekend, I decided that they would have to include peanut butter too.

I was actually making banana blondies, and since bananas, peanut butter and chocolate chunks are friends, it worked. I made them in a tart pan, just to be different and a bit more elegant. Plus bigger pieces because I was in that kind of mood. You can cut them as large or as small as you like if you make it though, I won’t judge. It was delicious with the peanut butter, giving it that happy flavor that I so much love in just about everything. These are fast to make too, so you can make them and eat them in under an hour! They are best warm of course.

Vegan Peanut Butter Banana Blondie Tart

Makes one 8 inch tart, 12 slices

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp ground flax seed

3 Tbsp filtered water

½ cup virgin coconut oil, melted

1 cup coconut sugar

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 cups all purpose gluten free flour or quinoa flour

1/2 cup peanut butter

½ cup mashed banana (1 medium banana)

1 cup vegan chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 350°. Oil a 8 inch removable bottom tart pan with coconut oil. Set aside.

Whisk together flax seed and water in a bowl, and set aside in the fridge for 15 min.

Next, in a big bowl, combine melted coconut oil and sugar. Mix until combined. Add in flax mixture and vanilla and continue mixing until incorporated. Stir in salt, flour, peanut butter and banana until batter is smooth and even. Stir in the chocolate chunks. Spread in prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes until center is set. Transfer pan to wire rack to cool. Cut into 12 wedges (or less if you are like me and like big pieces).

June 8, 2015
Raw Strawberry Chocolate Chunk Blondies

I love making every variation possible of berries and chocolate this time of the year. Yes, it is because Valentine’s Day makes me feel like it is ok to use berries in the winter even though they are not growing here in Minnesota because there is snow on the ground. Good thing I can still get fresh or frozen organic berries or I would be really missing them since we go about half a year without them here. Anyways, back to my berries and chocolate thing, I tend to do this every year, and in past years creating a Raw Dark Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cake, Raw Raspberry Rose Cream Truffles, and Raw Red Velvet Strawberry Filled Doughnuts to name a few of many. This year is no different. I am craving the berries and chocolate so I decided to make some Raw Strawberry Chocolate Chunk Blondies.

Blondies are already one of my favorite bars, so add in the sweetness of strawberries and even better, right?! I thought so at least. I added in some dark chocolate chunks as well as some raw cacao nibs because I love all of the different textures in the soft dough. I had to keep sampling the dough as I formed them into the bars just to make sure it was alright wink, wink. Of course it was, who am I kidding, I just thought it was so good I couldn’t wait for them to firm up before eating. These needed no dehydration so you need not wait long to enjoy them. They taste kind of like strawberry shortcake married a blondie and had a baby. These are perfect for Valentine’s Day, but luckilly after winter comes spring, and more berries…so more opportunities to make these again!

Raw Strawberry Chocolate Chunk Blondies
Makes 24

Dough:
2 cups raw coconut flour (home made is preferred)*
1 cups sprouted buckwheat flour (or additional coconut flour)
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp ground flax seed
1 cups soft medjool dates, pitted
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cups fresh strawberries**
1/4 cup raw almond butter
2 Tbsp raw coconut butter (NOT oil), warmed to liquid

3/4 cup chopped raw dark chocolate
1/2 cup raw cacao nibs

For the dough, in a food processor, combine the coconut flour, buckwheat flour, flax seed, dates and salt, and process until the dates are very finely chopped and it is all well combined. Add the vanilla, berries, almond butter, and coconut butter and process until smooth like dough. Mix in the chopped raw dark chocolate and raw cacao nibs. Then press the blondies into a 1 1/2 inch square on a foil lined sheet pan. Place in the freezer until set (about an hour), then cut into 12 squares and enjoy! Store in the fridge.

*Make your own coconut flour by buzzing 2 cups finely shredded dried coconut in a high speed blender for about 15-30 seconds until fine flour (but not too long or you will get butter).
**Since berries may vary in moisture levels, if you find that your blondies are too wet, add a little more coconut flour. To dry, add a little water 1 tsp at a time while mixing the dough before adding the chocolate and cacao nibs.

March 14, 2015