One-Bowl Peanut Butter Carrot Blondies {gluten free, egg-free}
These One-Bowl Peanut Butter Carrot Blondies are rich, super fudgy, and seriously delicious! Made with just 8 real food ingredients and in one bowl, too boot! Egg free, vegan, gluten free, dairy free, but a total crowd pleasing treat for all eating styles!
Guys, I dreamed up this recipe about a little over a week ago….and have already made it 7 times.
And 7 times…these blondies disappeared in record time before I could properly document them for you.
Why? Because they are awesome. Seriously sweet tooth-satisfying, melt-in-your-mouth awesomely delicious. My family inhaled them. One of my best friends harassed me for the recipe after I brought a few over for her crew to taste. And all of you guys who fall me on Instagram are filling up my DM box with requests for when it will be out.
So here they are, loves! Your’s for the baking. For the loving. For the devouring. And for the veggie-loading.
People sometimes think it’s strange that I veggie-loaded my desserts, but to those people I say
pppppfffffffttttttttttttt.
Veggies are not just for the dinner table. And they are not something to be endured or suffered through. Veggies are awesome and add so much to any meal. Nutrient wise but also flavor wise.
Like these blondies! The carrots in these suckers give the perfect amount of moisture to make them melt in your mouth but also give the blondies a really great texture that I couldn’t get enough of. The carrots don’t overpower the blondies, but they enhance them in so many special ways that I just don’t know why you wouldn’t add them into the mix!
And these veggie-loaded beauties are so easy to make! And I can promise that almost everyone will go crazy for them!
Since the carrots give a little extra moisture umph to these blondies, a chia “egg” is all that is needed to keep them together….making them the perfect egg-free and gluten free treat to serve up to a crowd with different dietary needs or eating styles!
What kind of nut butter works best for baking?
Drippy. A super technical term, I know….but it is the best way to describe it nonetheless. Nut butter (whether you use peanut butter, almond butter or something else) that literally drips off of your spoon slowly always seems to be the best to bake with.
Some natural nut butters will have some of their natural oils removed, making them much drier and not ideal to bake with. I find that the Costco and Trader Joe’s brands are great and what I usually opt for.
And whatever you do, do not neglect to properly stir your nut butter upon opening! The oils in natural nut butters rise to the top when sitting on the shelf and needs a little loving stir to get everything evenly distributed within the jar again. Fail to stir upon opening and you will have oily nut butter on the top and super dry on the bottom. And neither sounds like a good time.
My favorite trick for making stirring a new jar of nut butter a little easier (and less messy) is to store it upside down for a bit before opening. This forces the oils to move around a bit and makes the task of mixing much less annoying.
Can I make them with an egg?
If egg-free isn’t needed and/or you don’t have chia seeds in the house, you can totally make these with an egg instead of the chia + water mixture. I find the egg version to be less fudgy, but still so amazing.
Can I make them with a different nut butter?
Totally! Sub the peanut butter with almond butter and BAM, you have a vegan and Paleo treat that the crowd will go nuts over.
How can I make them nut free?
Tricky tricky. While you can technically sub sunflower seed butter in this recipe….I need to warn you that they will come out a deep shade of green. Yes, green. This is because the chlorophyll in the sunflower seeds reacts with the baking soda in this recipe. Upon baking they will turn green…however will still be totally edible.
Another option is to make these with tahini. Tahini can be a bit bitter, but if you don’t plan on scrimping on the chocolate chips, it should all balance out.
Also, if you are making these for someone with a nut allergy, make sure they are not also allergic to sesame seeds (the base for tahini), as these two allergies sometimes go hand-in-hand.
How can I lower the amount of sugar in these?
Reduce the chocolate chips…if that’s your thing. I am a chocolate girl, so the more the better in my book. But feel free to reduce the chocolate chips in this recipe if you want. We can still be friends.
One-Bowl Peanut Butter Carrot Blondies {gluten free, egg-free}
ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- 3 tablespoons water
- 3/4 cup smooth natural peanut butter
- 1/4 cup honey/maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt (if using salted peanut butter, leave out)
- 1 cup grated carrot
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips + extra for sprinkling on top (optional)
instructions:
How to cook One-Bowl Peanut Butter Carrot Blondies {gluten free, egg-free}
- Preheat your oven to 350℉ and line a 8x8 pan with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, combine the water and chia seeds. Mix and let stand to "gel" for about 5 minutes.
- Once the "chia egg" has gelled, add peanut butter, honey/maple syrup, vanilla, baking soda and salt (if using) to the bowl. Stir until very smooth and everything is well combined.
- Fold in shredded carrots.
- Finally, fold in chocolate chips.
- Spread the mixture evenly in the prepared baking dish and sprinkle on extra chocolate chips (if using)
- Bake for 25 minutes. When the blondies are done baking, they will still seem soft. This is normal and they will firm up as the cool.
- As hard as it may be, allow the blondies to cool COMPLETELY before slicing into them. They will taste amazing regardless, but will hold together much better when chilled a bit.
- Once totally cool, slice into 16 blondies and enjoy. Store leftovers in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer to enjoy whenever your sweet tooth calls your name.
