Small Batch Brown Butter Vegan Blondies
These soft and chewy brown butter vegan blondies are loaded with chocolate chunks and make just 8 perfect blondies- all ready in under 30 minutes! No hand mixer required!
Your new favorite blondie recipe:
If you love chocolate chip cookies and brownies, then let me introduce you to these small batch “brown butter” vegan blondies.
While different from a cookie bar, blondies are truly the combination of a cookie meets brownie.
And this specific recipe has me literally weak at the knees. The nuttiness from the browned vegan butter along with the rich brown sugar and slightly paper thin top gives these blondies truly a brownie feel. While also being the easiest dessert to whip up.
We’re talking 5 minutes for prep, and 25 minutes in the oven. SO simple, and yet the results will leave you thinking you might open a bakery one day, they’re so good 😉
I’m currently having an obsession with small batch baking as well. We have brown butter small batch vegan chocolate chip cookies, small batch brownies, and small batch cupcakes. So naturally I had to include blondies in the mix.
However, you can easily double this recipe to yield a full batch of blondies!
Ingredients overview:
We’re keeping it real simple over here, as always. Here’s an overview of what you need:
- Vegan butter: we’re browning the vegan butter here. This gives these eggless blondies a much richer and “buttery” taste rather than using melted vegan butter. However, you can do that as well. You can also use coconut oil, but you won’t get that buttery taste (and you can’t brown the coconut oil). There are many nut-free and soy-free vegan butters on the market now, so definitely check out your local grocery store!
- Light brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Dairy free yogurt: To mimic egg yolk in blondies. It’s one of my favorite vegan replacements for eggs!
- Vanilla extract & Sea salt
- Flour: I used all purpose flour here, but gluten-free flour blends that contain xanthan gum (I specifically like King Arthur Measure for Measure gluten free flour) will work as well!
- Chocolate chips
Overview: How to make vegan blondies from scratch
For the full written instructions and ingredient measurements, see the bottom of this post in the recipe card. You can also hit the “jump to recipe” button at the top of this post! Here, we’ll go over a brief overview of the steps, along with providing visuals for a better understanding of the recipe.
Now let’s get to baking these blondies! I’m sharing the full video Reel to Instagram, but here’s a quick overview! To start:
- Preheat your oven to 350F and line a square pan with parchment paper.
- Next, you’ll make sure that the vegan butter is melted but not hot. This prevents any issue in terms of texture and flour.
- Whisk together the vegan butter, sugars,dairy free yogurt and vanilla, and keep whisking until everything is combined.
- Fold in the flour until you reach a dough consistency.
- Then fold in the chocolate chips!
- Press the dough into the pan and bake!
That’s truly it; you don’t need a hand mixer or a stand mixer. Just a whisk, bowl, and rubber spatula or spoon!
Now for cooling, I personally prefer to eat these blondies warm, so I only give them about 10 minutes to cool in the pan. Just make sure that your pan isn’t still hot!
For storing, you can easily freeze them for up to 3 months in an airtight baggy or container. To thaw, simply heat on a baking sheet in the oven at 300F for 5 minutes!
Make this recipe your own:
Of course, my go-to are the vegan chocolate chip blondies, but some other add-ins you might love:
- Chopped nuts: walnuts, almonds, cashews, macadamia nuts, etc. If you’re nut-free, you can use seeds, such as pumpkin seeds!
- Dairy free butterscotch chips
- Vegan chocolate gems: the ones I typically use are by Unreal, and they’re dark chocolate. I used them to make the noses on my vegan Reindeer cookies!
- Dairy free white chocolate chips: I recommend Pascha Organics.
- Dried fruit: raisins, craisins, and apricots are wonderful!
- Coconut chips
- Vegan candy bars: turn these into Halloween blondies by adding in your favorite leftover vegan Halloween candy!
More vegan brownies and bars you’ll love
Vegan Nutella Stuffed Brownie Cookie Bars
Easy Vegan Oatmeal Cookie Bars
Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!
PrintSmall Batch Brown Butter Vegan Blondies
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 25
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These soft and chewy brown butter vegan blondies are loaded with chocolate chunks and make just 8 perfect blondies- all ready in under 30 minutes! No hand mixer required!
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup (80 g) salted vegan butter
- 1/2 cup (110 g) light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp dairy free yogurt
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 cup (125 g) all purpose flour
- 1 cup vegan chocolate chips or chopped chocolate bar
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 350F, and line a 9×4 loaf pan with parchment paper. You can also use an 8×5 pan, but your blondies may need longer to bake.
- Brown the butter: In a small saucepan, heat the vegan butter on medium heat, melting it down completely. Keep stirring, and reduce the heat to medium low so as not to accidentally burn the butter. Keep stirring until light brown flecks appear in the butter and it has a nutty aroma. Then remove from heat.
- Make the blondie batter: In a large bowl, pour in the vegan brown butter, brown sugar, sugar, dairy free yogurt, vanilla extract, and sea salt. Whisk just until combined. Then add in the flour, and use a silicone spatula to fold the flour into the wet ingredients, being careful not to over mix.
- Fold in the chocolate chips: Pour in the chopped chocolate and chocolate chips, and fold to evenly distribute throughout the dough.
- Bake: Press the dough into the prepared pan, and bake in the oven for 25-28 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden.
- Cool: Allow your blondies to cool for 5-10 minutes before slicing.
- Slice and enjoy! Slice into 8 squares and enjoy! Store any leftovers in an airtight container and in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Notes
Gluten-free: If you’re gluten-free, I recommend using King Arthur Measure for Measure.
Chocolate: I really like Valrhona’s Oriado blend, as well as Enjoy life mini chocolate chips.
Butter: Not all vegan butters brown well. I personally like Plant Crock and Miyoko’s for browning.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 blondie
- Calories: 183
- Sugar: 15 g
- Sodium: 10.6 mg
- Fat: 9.4 g
- Saturated Fat: 5.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 23.2 g
- Fiber: 1.4 g
- Protein: 2.3 g
- Cholesterol: 15.3 mg
Delicious and easy! Even my husband loved them and ate half a batch before they cooled! Used less sugar as I just don’t like overly sweet things. Highly recommend making these!
Aw thank you so much!! Too funny- my boyfriend also devoured these 🤣 Enjoy!!
Can I use flax egg instead of applesauce?
I would recommend the applesauce just so that it remains slightly “fudgy” in texture, but you can use flaxseed if you’d like! It just might not result in the desired texture! If you do, 1 flax egg would be the equivalent!
Ok I just had to tell you my story about these blondies – First time I made them was for my parents, and my dad who is not GF or vegan was VERY skeptical…and then he ended up eating seconds and thirds! This has now become the go to dessert my mom bakes because it’s finally something they both can enjoy! Also – I just made a batch for myself (yes it’s a Thursday morning, but why not!) and I subbed vanilla extract for maple syrup and put them in a cupcake tin!
Oh my goodness!! This is just the sweetest!! So happy to hear it thank you!!! ENJOY!!
Haha we just made them too! It was so easy for my 4yo and 2yo to help with and I bribed them to clean up their mess before we made them.
AMAZING!!! So happy to hear it 🙂
Hi Hayley, I know your message is from over a year ago, but just wondering what your baking time is in the cupcake tins.
Thanks!
Allyson
I tested some blondie recipes today to see which was best and these were the clear winner. Highly recommend these!
Aw so happy to hear it!! Thank you for this review!!
I was wondering if I could substitute almond flour. No particular reason, I just have that in my pantry and not getting out much these days.
Hi Martha! Unfortunately, I don’t bake much with almond flour, but I believe it would definitely need another flour to go with it! I’m so sorry about that!
These taste so good but mine crumbled it was impossible to cut. I used gf flour and maybe my applesauce was still cold or I didn’t let the coconut oil cool enough before mixing?
Hi Jess- I’m so sorry to hear that! Which GF flour did you use? I’ve used Bob’s Red Mill and King Arthur- every GF flour is a bit different! Did it contains xanthan gum? Also did you happen to scoop your flour or spoon and level?
These were fantastic! Good texture and taste without being too heavy. My first gluten-free baking success!
Love this!! So happy to hear it, thank you! Enjoy 🙂
Super easy to make and I had everything on hand. I used bobs 1:1, which always has a grainy texture, so maybe I need to try a different route, but these are gf and vegan and tasted great, so I was happy! I used a 9×9, baked a little longer to try and get crispy edges, served with some ice cream. Pazookie status 👌 thank you!
So happy to hear this!! And thank you for mentioning which flour you used!! That helps so much, as GF flours can really vary!! Enjoy 🙂
Made these yesterday and they were a huge hit with everyone, not just GF crowd. I used Bob’s 1-1 and 6 TBSP Miyoko’s European-Style Cultured Vegan Butter for vegan and GF version. I added a drizzle of maple syrup and a splash of molasses to the batter and used allergy free white chocolate chips. Wonderful. Will keep this recipe on hand for my GF friends in the future. Perfect last minute take along for any gathering since all the ingredients are available in my kitchen at any time. Love it!
Aw I love this!! Thank you so much for giving these recipe notes as well- it’s SO helpful for everyone else!! So glad everyone loved them!! 🙂 Thanks for this! Enjoy!
Hi there! Would I be able to substitute the vegan butter for coconut palm oil?
Hi Elena! You can use coconut oil here, but it might have a slight coconut taste- still delicious, but just letting you know they will have a slightly different taste than intended! 🙂
These blondies were amazing! I love finding vegan and gluten free recipes that work and taste amazing. I used coconut oil and apple sauce and they worked a treat. My housemate, who isn’t vegan or gluten free, also loved them! Took them to the office and they were gone in seconds. Will definitely be trying other recipes out 🙂
Thanks so much x
So happy to hear it!! Enjoy!!
I used earth balance organic whipped vegan butter. I used coconut sugar and in my high speed blender I ground up very fine my oats into oat flour and then sifted.
They taste amazing but are the exact consistency of a cake that falls apart so not great for finger food. I followed the recipe instructions exactly so not sure why the texture was not right. was going to bring for a pot luck but will give it to my neighbors for the holidays instead.
Hi Jen! So sorry to hear about the texture! This is actually because of the whipped vegan butter- it’s not the same fat ratio as regular butter, so it will yield a drier consistency (which is why they fell apart!). I hope you give them a go again with regular vegan butter (I really love Miyoko’s for this recipe!)!
it was my 1st time trying blondies & gotta say they’re so good! i found it too buttery for my liking however so the times after my 1st bake i’ve decreased the butter to 90-100~ grams & 70g unsweetened apple sauce. for sugars i tend to use 70g brown sugar & 35g stevia. it’s the perfect sweetness! they’ve come out moist each time i made them this way!
the last time i baked these i used 120g brown sugar & same butter / apple sauce amount as mentioned but they weren’t as moist. i will increase the butter next time i use real sugar ^^ all in all , another adored recipe!! <3
Oh I’m so happy you liked them, and so glad you shared these adjustments!! Thank you so so much, this is so helpful, Arin! 🙂
hello,
I would like to make this recipe . Is plain coconut yogurt a good substitute for apple sauce? also, if I make a hatch batch, what will the bake time be different from the normal batch which takes 20-22 mins?
Yes you can definitely sub in coconut yogurt! If you’re making a half Bach in the same pan, it will bake quicker because they’ll be thinner bars, but if you can use a smaller pan, they will be around 20-22 minutes. Let me know how they go!
Hi I love your recipes and I’m excited to try this one! If I doubled this recipe, what size pan would you recommend?
You can use a 9×9 🙂