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Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Blondies

June 4, 2018 · Natalie 75 Comments

Gooey inside, golden outside, extra thick Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Blondies! Made with hazelnuts, oats, flax, applesauce, and chocolate chips. Vegan, gluten-free, easy!

It was not my goal to make the hunkiest blondies you ever did see, but sometimes glorious gifts are just given from our ovens to us. And one and a half inches of hazelnut blondie heaven is like one of those gifts you didn’t even know you wanted but is better than your entire wishlist. My oven gets me.

With this amount of chip-filled chunkiness, is it even right to call them blondies? Ultra Thick Gooey Nutty Cookie ~~Bars~~ Bricks almost feels more appropriate. But Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Blondies feels more approachable, and this recipe is so EASY and un-intimidating I wanted the name to feel familiar too. Think: puppy sitting in a basket with a bow around it’s neck surround by a field of flowers level approachable. Wildly approachable.

If you are anything like me, your relationship with hazelnuts for most of your life didn’t extend much past chocolate hazelnut spread. Maybe the occasional nutty truffle here or there, but they don’t get nearly the attention almonds or pecans do. And personally I think they taste better than both. Yeah they’re a little pricey, but no more so than cashews by my very thorough standing-in-the-Trader-Joe’s-nut-aisle research. And the toasty flavor they bring to a batch of blondies is some seriously good stuff.

Instead of using hazelnut butter to make these hazelnut blondies, I used toasted hazelnuts ground up (with oats and flax) to make the “flour”. Hello hazelnut flavor and natural moisture. You could swap in other nuts here, but we both know hazelnuts + chocolate are very good together.

For the wet ingredients, you’ve got options: a) applesauce or b) nut/seed butter. Option A is more neutral in flavor, so the hazelnut really shines through. Option B makes them extra rich and buttery, but unless you make your own hazelnut butter most store-bought brands come with chocolate already in them which will turn these blondies into brownies. Almond butter or cashew butter tastes delicious as an easier alternative, but it will overpower the hazelnut flavor somewhat. I love both, so there’s really no wrong choice.

Sweetened with coconut sugar. Dessert-ed up with a little vanilla. Generously salted as any proper blondie should be. And then blondie bliss is just 30 minutes at 350 away. But this is an especially aromatic one while baking, so it won’t be a hard wait.

Blondies as thick as one blondie standing on top of another blondie with a center so chocolate-gooey and a crust so golden – they’re at the tippy top of your Things I Must Make list, right?

Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Blondies

★★★★★ 5 from 20 reviews

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Yield: 8 blondies 1x
Category: bars
Method: baking
Cuisine: american

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Description

Gooey inside, golden outside, extra thick Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Blondies! Made with hazelnuts, oats, flax, applesauce, and chocolate chips. Vegan, gluten-free, easy!

Ingredients

Scale

1 cup (100g) rolled oats
1 1/2 cup (190g) roasted hazelnuts
1/4 cup (25g) flax meal (or whole seeds)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup (75g) coconut sugar
3/4 cup (180g) applesauce*
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup (60g) chocolate chips

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350F.
In a high speed blender grind the hazelnuts, oats, and flax to a fine flour consistency.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the applesauce (or nut butter + milk), coconut sugar, and vanilla.
Add the dry ingredients along with the salt and baking soda. Stir to combine.
Fold in the chocolate chips.
Transfer to a baking pan (I used this 5×7″ glass dish) lined with parchment paper. Press flat, and sprinkle on a few extra chocolate chips.
Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350F until golden brown on top.
Cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing.
Enjoy!
Keep the leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.

Notes

*Or 3/4 cup nut or seed butter + 1/3 cup non-dairy milk.

Nutrition

Serving Size: 1 bar
Calories: 305
Sugar: 18g
Fat: 17g
Carbohydrates: 30g
Fiber: 5g
Protein: 6g

Keywords: easy vegan dessert, chocolate chip, cookie bars, blondies

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Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes

May 31, 2018 · Natalie 86 Comments

Fluffy, moist Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes – a classic dessert but healthier, these gluten-free cupcakes made with oat flour are easy to make and irresistibly delicious!

I know, I know. The cherry on top look is supposed to be for ice cream sundaes and milkshakes exclusively. But you gotta admit it kinda works here.

As much as I love ice cream, a fluffy vanilla cupcake swirly-topped with luscious vanilla frosting is so seriously good it deserves the most picture perfect of fruit toppings too. I would never utter something as wacky as “better than ice cream”, but it’s a fierce tie in my dessert heart.

Once chocolate cake happens it’s only fair to soon follow up with vanilla – no flavor favoritism here. Plus, hello excuse to eat more and cuter cake.

A quick instagram poll last week made it quite clear that you guys wanted an oat flour cake over the grain-free version I had in mind. Which is SO GOOD TO KNOW. Ask and you shall receive. Although it proved much tricker than swapping out cocoa powder for more flour. I wanted to make sure these cupcakes were still yummy and rich even without the decadence of chocolate. A few dozen cupcakes later, and I’m pretty sure you are going to love these.

The ingredient highlights:

Oat flour. As requested.
Tapioca starch. Unless you want to be covered in crumbs after eating. You can use cornstarch or arrowroot starch instead, but tapioca is my favorite for baking.
Coconut oil. I tried countless times to make these oil-free, but applesauce made them too gummy and almond butter too muffin-like. Coconut oil works best for a light but still moist texture. You can use a nut or seed butter if you prefer, but they will be more dense
Coconut sugar. I tested a batch with maple syrup, but the flavor just wasn’t as rich. Coconut sugar is also much cheaper.
Vanilla extract. Obviously.

Ideally you would mix the wet ingredients in their own bowl, and the dry in another, and then combine. But if you wanted to turn this into a one bowl situation – whisk the wet, add the dry, get after those flour clumps, and then cleanup in two minutes flat – go for it like the badass cupcake rebel you are.

Now comes the part where I admit to you that I used Simple Mills vanilla frosting. Yup, that happened. After four…five…too-many-to-count batches of cupcakes I just couldn’t be bothered blending up my own, and their ingredients are good enough for me.

While you silently judge me, let’s run through all the HOMEMADE frosting options I’ve got for ya…

Like this creamy cashew classic.

Or this ultra decadent chocolate heaven.

Or a healthier date-sweetened frosting.

Or good old coconut whipped cream.

Or this adventurous low-fat one.

You are now 100% ready to be that person at the party who brings the killer cupcakes that disappear freaky fast and no one can believe are vegan and gluten-free (and made out of oatmeal, but we don’t want to blow their minds TOO much).

Sorry person that brought brownies. Cupcakes. Always. Win.