Almond Butter Blondies
Kelly over at Celiac Chicks does a fabulous job covering the latest in gluten-free news. On top of that, she is a lovely person. It has been great getting to know her through our email conversations these past few months.
I recently spent some time looking through the recipe section of Kelly's site and was most intrigued by these delicious looking peanut butter bars. She traces the original recipe back to one from 2003 in Family Circle magazine. Of course, she made her own adaptations to the bars, which I then edited as well. Since I don't actually eat peanut butter, I substituted the main ingredient with high protein almond butter and made a couple of other changes along the way.
The most challenging part of this recipe has been naming it. My husband and I sat in the kitchen last night throwing ideas back and forth. Blondies? Chocolate Chip Blondies? No, I said, blondies have chocolate chips in them --Chocolate Chip Blondies would be rather redundant.
Nevertheless, with a mere 6 ingredients, these bars are super easy to prepare. Although made with almond butter, you would never know it, as they taste quite cakey. I have cooked up this recipe at least a dozen times. Even the batches I considered "failures" were devoured by my testers --that would be my little league team, in this instance. Let's not forget, I coach a bunch of 10 year old blue gatorade drinking boys. Although these bars are not that sweet, my team absolutely loved 'em. They inhaled even the first experimental batches that were a horribly underdone, delicious goo --which ended up as much on their faces as in their mouths.
So here, expedited, due to a request from Courtney (one of my favorite readers) are my version of Kelly's Peanut Butter Bars. Hope these go over well at your mother's day celebration, Courtney and best of luck as head chef!
1 (16) ounce jar creamy roasted almond butter
1 cup agave nectar
2 eggs
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup dark chocolate 73%
- In a large bowl, with a hand blender, mix almond butter until creamy
- Mix in agave and eggs
- Add salt and baking soda
- Mix well with hand blender until all ingredients are thoroughly combined
- Mix half of the chocolate into the batter
- Pour batter into a well greased 9 x 13 inch pyrex baking dish
- Scatter the other half of the chocolate on top of the batter
- Bake at 325° for 35 minutes
- Serve
Serves 24
Many thanks to my mom, for making our food with your own hands after long days at work. Happy Mother's Day!
Posted on May 9, 2008 in desserts by Elana
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65 comments
Hi Elana!
Now that I am done with my last.final.ever, I am all about the baking! This looks delicious and healthy! But, first, a few questions about almond butter:
1) What size jar of almond butter do you use?
2) How oily is the almond butter? I usually make my own almond butter in the Cuisinart and process it with almond oil until smooth and creamy.
Also, do you think steps 1-4 could work in the Cuisinart instead of using an electric hand mixer? I try to get dirty as few bowls as possible...
Best!
~M
My goodness Elana. This will be an absolute all-time favourite in my house. We are huge almond butter fans.
Pretty confident these will be made at our house tomorrow.
Those look so good!!
Hi Elana!
I love that these don't include any butter in them!
Looks very tasty!
They look fabulous, very very yummy. A must bake.
I can't wait to make these today. They look awesome. What recipe do you have for making almond butter? I like to make things from scratch if I can.
Also, just wanted everyone to know that General Mills is now making Rice Chex gluten-free. It will be nice to make Chex mix again!!
Hooray! I am so thankful for this recipe. This completes my menu for Mother's Day... Our Menu includes Baked Coconut Shrimp (I'm going to use almond flour and unsweetened shredded coconut), Fresh Grouper Baked in parchment, Spinach Salad with Strawberries and Pecans and ALMOND BUTTER BLONDIES. I will let you all know how it goes. To all of the mothers out there, Happy Mother's Day.
Nancy: I don't know Elana's recipe for homemade almond butter, but I follow Gluten-free Girl's recipe, except that I use almond oil instead of canola (I bet grapeseed would be fine too), and raspberry honey instead of chestnut (agave would work too), and I think less salt then GFG does. Here it is: http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/2005/09/finding-flourless-torte-by-pool.html
Courtney, your menu sound delicious!! I really like the idea of "breading" with almond flour and shredded coconut! I've used shredded coconut mixed with flours/cereals, but I can't wait to try this great idea! I have successfully used almond meal (no coconut) in salmon patties - and they rocked!
~M -Thanks for pointing out my omission re: the size of the jar of almond butter. I am not sure how jarred almond butter would compare to diy...I think you could use the cuisinart to mix up the ingredients, would be worth the experiment, though not sure how it would turn out since I haven't tried it. I might though if I make my own almond butter, I think it would be a lot less expensive than the jarred. Thanks for your great comments and questions.
Robin -I hope everyone likes them in your house as much as they do in mine; this is my husband's current favorite.
Tarah -Thanks!
Ya'ara -Yes, isn't it great that this is dairy-free?!
Kitchen Goddess -Thanks, let me know how they turn out when you make 'em.
Nancy -Did you see that ~M was kind enough to link us to a great recipe for homemade almond butter? I think I may try it myself.
Courtney -Love your menu, when you are all done, please report back and let us know how the day went. xo
~M -You don't know my recipe for homemade almond butter, because I don't have one :-) Thanks for providing the link above and CONGRATS on your last law school exam!!!!!!!
Just wanted you to know that i gave the BBQ sauce a try, and it turned out great!
Elana - I am a total novice in the kitchen, and even I made the most delicious Almond Butter Blondies yesterday! Thank you for the easy recipe - they were a hit at our Mother's day brunch!
Hello everyone-
I just wanted to let you know I showcased these Almond Butter Blondies in our Mother's Day Celebration Dinner (for my in-laws) and it was a huge success! Most "celebrations" in my area include biscuits and gravy so I have to spearhead an event if it is going to be celebrative and healthy at the same time. As we were all finishing up with our blondies, I communicated... "and they're good for you too!" The reply from the table came back... "of course they are!" I'm always trying to upgrade the southern traditions here in Tennessee :)
Hi Elana. I just wanted to let you know that we ate these today after dinner. I don't like to use Agave so I substituted organic maple syrup and I added in some vanilla (just because). They were sooo yummy! My family devoured them. Thank you for the great recipe!
Katie -Thanks for the report. It is so great to have extra recipe and taste testers; you never can have too many!
ERH -I am glad these were a success for you and a hit at your Mother's Day Brunch.
Courntey -So great to hear about your upgrades and success! Congratulations.
Tara -Yes, sometimes I add vanilla when I make these and it is a great addition; haven't tried it with the maple syrup, though imagine it's delicious. You are very welcome.
Hi again Elana,
Thank you so much for you recipes, you are making my life so much easier. I have had to change the recipes a little, trial and error making them to suit my family's needs. With the coconut flour do you think this could be replaced with almond flour or is coconut flour a different texture?
I have changed the pancakes mixture so many times and this is the one my family love,
Pancakes:
2 cups almond flour ~ 1/4 cup of almond milk (we cannot tolerate dairy very well) ~ 4 eggs ~ 1/4 cup melted salted butter ~ 1/4 cup agave nectar ~ 1/2 tsp Bicarb soda ~ 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. I throw all the ingredients in a blender and blend until it is fully combined, I then grease the skillet with my home made margarine and cook over very low heat, 1 pancake is 1/4 cup of the mixture and this makes 10 small pancakes. I serve them with my home margarine, my home made jam and a drizzle of agave over the top.
My family is crazy for them now. Thank you so much for your inspiration. I am currently playing with the power bar recipe now; I will post it once I get it right. Thanks again Tracy
Those look great. I like the sound of the almond butter. I have used cashew butter before and I enjoy it. I will have to pick up some almond butter to try.
Thanks, Kevin. I have been playing around with this recipe and will be posting another (and possibly more delicious) version of it soon. If you make these, let me know how you like 'em.
Elana
Elana, I made these last night, put the kids to bed, poured myself a glass of wine, and dove in, and then dove in for more. They are *so* good. I used fewer chocolate chips though, since I have lost my sweet tooth. I am planning on making them again with some sunbutter swirled on top, as I don't use peanut either.
I love chocolate...decadent, nurturing, good for you chocolate. I added Lake Champlain's Organic Fair Trade Unsweetened Cocoa and used crunchy roasted almond butter. I used to eat brownies all day as a small child and I felt warm and fuzzy inside when I was able to sit down with this treat without remorse. The cocoa made the brownies a bit more "cake like" than what I prefer. I was thinking I would try using some canned pumpkin with my next batch. Any suggestions?
Tracy -You are very welcome; that is my aim, to make things easier for people. Thanks for posting your pancake recipe, I am due to post my DF pancake recipe here one of these days too. Per interchanging almond and coconut flour in the recipes, check out my faq for more on that.
Kelly -Thanks for your comment and for letting me know that you made these; glad that you enjoyed them with a nice glass of wine!
Courntey -I have been making these into brownies of late and the baseball team is loving them. I will post the recipe next week, it is very moist :-) Thanks for your question!
I notice that you use a large quantity of agave in a lot of recipes as well as almond based products. At least where I live these are costly and only come in small quantities. Granted agave isn't the MOST expensive of the "health foods" out there, but how does everyone afford to cook this way? I feel better when I'm eating wheat, dairy and ref. sugar free, but with prices going higher and higher on everything, I don't know how I can keep making things like this which make the alternative diet more tolerable. Any suggestions?
i again, have all of these recipes on hand. I think we're just made for eachother
ingredients I mean!
Dear Zebe Yes, I agree with you. These recipes use large amounts of costly ingredients. They are expensive; at the same time, ounce for ounce they provide much more nutrition than less costly, less healthy ingredients. I tend to consider these types of dishes special treats, eat little bits and make them last for a long time. I thought of you when I read this blog piece on how to save money while eating higher quality foods. You might like to check it out.
Moi -Yes we are and yes, I knew what you meant :-)
Thanks. I do a lot of those types of things already, although I'm not a big fan of buying anything at the big box stores. Yet, with prices going up the way they are, and trying to get the healthier & GF items in my house, I'm going to have to start crimping other areas of the grocery budget. I can't wait until my garden starts producing. That will help a lot.
Hi Elana,
I was thinking is it possible to replace almond butter with macadamia butter in this recipe?
I have a jar of macadamia butter in a fridge and I do not know what to do with it. It is not thick enough to spread. Thank you for advice.
zebe -Yes, I avoid the big box stores too. I am hoping that in a month my garden will be yielding a lot of food!
Ewa -Maybe you could use your jar of macadamia butter for this this fudge recipe which calls for macadamia nut butter? I'm not so sure it would work in this blondie recipe...
These blondies are so wonderful! Although I have lived gluten free for a year and a half, I haven't cooked with almond flour or agave much before finding your blog; but I am now a firm believer! Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipes. When you publish your cookbook, I will be first in line to make the purchase!
Hi Elana,
I made these, with some modifications, for my birthday celebration, and they were great! They felt much more decadent than the healthy ingredients would lead you to believe.
For any others out there who have to consume very little sugar, I modified mine to include only 3/8 cup agave and probably 1/4 - 1/3 cup chocolate chips (1 Conacado bar, chopped). I'm sure the full amount would be better, but they were still very good with the reduced amounts.
Also - I have found that I have to reduce the cooking times on your recipes that I've tried (coconut flour and almond-based) by about 10 minutes, sometimes more. I'm at sea-level here in Houston, and I also have an electric oven. I make sure to check mine at the halfway point and assess how much longer they might need.
Thanks again!
LSG
Stacie -What can I say? That is one of the nicest comments I've received. Ever. Thanks xo Elana
Dear LSG -Thanks for your detailed comment. I think it is great when people change my recipes to suit their own needs --especially when it comes to using less sweeteners! Thanks also for the report on the cooking times. I wonder if it is the oven differential or the altitude...hmm something for me to ponder. And finally, yes, my intention is to use healthy ingredients with a decadent result, couldn't have phrased that one better myself. Might have to use it in the future...
Another question. As I was giving this recipe a careful review, I realized that this uses a whole jar of almond butter. Right now I am extremely low budget, and was wondering what your take would be on halving the recipe?
Moi- I either halved or quartered this recipe (can't remember which) and it worked just fine. Obviously, you have to use a smaller pan if you do a smaller batch. I made my own almond butter too, with bulk sliced almonds I got at the restaurant supply store. I suggest tasting the batter before adding salt, because mine ended up a little too salty for me due to the butter recipe I used.
Dear Moi & Zebe -Great questions and answers. I would suggest going with Zebe's plan --if you are going to halve the almond butter, then do so with the other ingredients as well, or you are likely to end up with an overly sweet pile of moosh...
I can't wait to try these. Thanks!
First time got filtered by spam, but I can't wait to try these. Thank you!
Hi Corey -Glad you tried again and looks like you've made it through twice. Let me know how they turn out for you --this is one of my favorite recipes!
Elana,
I made this recipe over the weekend to take to services for Shavuot on Sunday...The recation i got was nothing short of scandalous. people could not believe how good they were and that there was no flour, no sugar and no Dairy in them. I had several people begging me for the recipe.
A winner and a Half.
Thanks,
Tzvi
Hi Tzvi-
Thanks for the report. So glad it was a success for you!
Elana
Elana- I don't know if you ever visit my blog, but I wanted to let you know that thanks to my success with this recipe, I finally created my very own GF recipe from scratch. AND it was edible!
I adapted the almond butter batter concept to create waffles and they were very good. I'm going to work on making them a little less crumbly, but I was really happy to feel successful in the kitchen again.
http://zebe912.wordpress.com/2008/06/08/woohoo-successback-in-the-game/
Zebe -That is fantastic!
Hi, Elana. Greetings from a fellow Waldorf mom and CSA subscriber in GA! I wanted to write and say how much we have been enjoying the blondies. My 10 year old daughter made a batch on her own last weekend and we've been savoring them all week. We intend to try the flapjacks tomorrow morning. And the spinach cake recipe will come in handy as we too have been inundated with greens from our CSA. I found your site after reading the piece you did on Waldorf in elephant. We had students from Shining Mountain visit our school this spring. Here's to us visiting there one day; we've been to Boulder once and loved it. Thanks for all your efforts!
Hi Rich Ann-
Thanks for stopping by; it is great to be surrounded (even if on the web) by kindred spirits. If you come to Boulder let me know so that we can meet up.
Glad you all liked the blondies!
xo Elana
Hi Elana. I just wanted to share my modification of these last night. I have made this recipe, as is, about 5 or 6 times. Yesterday was hubby's birthday and he loves peanut butter. So, I used peanut butter instead of almond butter. I know a lot of people don't eat peanut butter, but these turned out fabulous.
Christine-
This sounds amazing! Thanks for sharing it with everyone and happy birthday to your hub!
Elana
Hi Elana,
Just wanted to stop by and tell you how much my daughters love your Blondies. These are lunch box staples at our house. My husband loves them too- I have to hide them from him!! We whip the heck out of batter with a hand mixer, so during baking the batter rises almost like a souffle. Even when they come out of the oven and fall, the sides are a solid 2" tall and the middle is about 1 1/2" thick. This was quite by accident, as my twin four-year-old girls fight over holding the mixer and each must feel they have had an adequate turn during our "cooking classes". I can't thank you enough for creating such healthy treats. I'm so excited to teach my girls healthy eating habits. I'm just mortified by the junk food snacks at the stores. I just ordered more almond flour- we're trying your pumpkin muffins next!
Pamela,
Your cooking lessons sound delightful and your daughters are so lucky to get time in the kitchen with you --you are setting them up for life.
My older son loves these blondies and I made as a snack for every baseball game he had last year.
Yes, I too am mortified by the junk out there. By bringing treats for the team I avoided the junk food deluge that could have descended upon the children.
Thanks for being in touch.
Elana
Hi, I am so happy to have found your recipies...am looking for more muffins...saw your Pumpkin pie muffin recipe....any others, perhaps with oatmeal?
Thanks!
sheva,
Thanks for stopping by. All you need to do is type the word "muffins" into the search box on the upper right hand corner of my site and all of my muffin recipes will appear --there are several.
For more info on the ingredients I use, go here. I don't cook with oatmeal, as I'm gluten-free.
Hope this helps.
Elana
[...] Elana’s Recipe for Almond Butter Blondies Celiac Chicks’ Recipe for Peanut Butter Bars [...]
[...] or in no bake cookies and almond butter bars (head over to Elana’s Pantry for our favorite Almond Butter Blondie recipe… it’s Gluten Free/Dairy Free/Refined Sugar [...]
Has anyone tried freezing these bars? (Elana?) Do they freeze well? Although I am sure I could eat a batch of these fairly quickly, it'd be nice to save some for later. :) Thanks!
Thanks for a recipe without all the crazy flours! I'm not much of a baker, but I'm sure I can handle this! Can't wait to try it.
talia, You're so welcome. I hope you like it!
Hi! I love your site! I am new to cooking and baking gluten free. These are a hit and will stay in my favorites, but I will cut back on the agave next time. I thought it was a bit too sweet. It looks like others have done the same and have been succesful so I hope I will be too!
Thanks again!
[...] couple weeks ago I made Almond Butter Blondies (gluten free and only 6 ingredients) from Elanas Pantry for my intern fam (and me, obvi). The texture of these bars was just like cake–chewy and [...]
Question: Now that agave nectar is a big NO-NO, what other sweetener is good?
Thank you for this recipe! I have made it four times, mixing it up each go around and all of them have turned out deliciously. (first of all, i don"t eat eggs so i used my go-to egg replacement: grind 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon flax seeds to a powder. to the powder, add and blend 1/2 cup of almond [or what have you] milk. this is good for replacing two eggs) The first time, not having chocolate chips on hand, I added walnuts ( I bet pecans would be good too). Another time, having chocolate chips on hand, I accidentally used crunchy almond butter which turned out well. I threw in dried cranberries once which were fine, but not really my favorite. If there is on thing i HIGHLY RECOMMEND, it is the addition of cinnamon, a teaspoon or two. the smell and taste are superb, like the decadent gooey cinnamon center of cinnamon rolls. thank you again for all of your recipes and insights.
I'm a CrossFitter who tries to stick to Paleo/Zone nutrition, eliminating dairy as well. It's been a challenge but thankfully, I found your amazing site & this recipe. I had to tell you, I've made these blondies for so many CF occasions because they are so outrageously popular! Literally, I have requests to make them and I've never really baked before. They're so easy to make that no one believes they're gluten free & so simple. Last time, I even did half this recipe and half your brownies in the same pan. They came out great. Now, they're not perfectly Paleo b/c of the agave but they're pretty close. Few q's for other readers (Elana I know you're overwhelmed with these already): the edges always rise up so high like an additional 1/2 inch(I use a glass baking dish & have bought the metal kind to see if this helps eliminate that unless anyone knows of a better way?)- also it always takes the chocolate so long to set up, like a few hours, is that normal? Unrelated q: what is that delicious looking cake on the cover of your book? It looks kind of like an icebox cake. I'm sure whatever it is, it's great. Tip: I've been using a pizza cutter to slice them which makes it easy. Thank you for all your amazing recipes Elana!
I've made these a bunch of times in different types of pans and the edges always rise up, it's normal.
Yes, it's normal for these blondies to take a long time to set up.
For information on the book (i.e., which cake is on the cover) go to Elana's book page here:
http://www.elanaspantry.com/cookbook/
She has a whole list of questions and answers about the cookbook.
Is is okay for the sides to rise and the middle to be flat, or did I do something wrong. I used a glass pan. Does the type of pan make a difference?
Thanks!
The edges always rise up, it's normal.
I made this recipe the other day and it is delicious! Now my only problem is stopping my husband and sister in law from eating it all! I am so grateful for your amazing recipes. I have been trying, unsuccessfully for years to make healthy but tasty desserts. This is the first time my husband has EVER liked anything healthy that I've made. I've tried some of your other dessert recipes and he likes them all. Thank-you again!
Do you use salted almond butter or unsalted for the almond butter blondies? I'm looking forward to making these.
Thanks!!
This is funny because I just read a Crossfitters comments and I am a Crossfitter too - recently trying to live the paleo/gluten-free diet. Mostly because I'm trying to find sweet treats that aren't full of white flour and sugar. These blondies are like magic. Honestly, it's amazing to believe that basically a block of almond butter turns in to real brownie consistency. I am amazed and everybody I force to try them is also amazed. I've pulled about ten of your recipes to try and have sent your link to some of my Crossfit girls. I'm so excited! Thank you Elana!
WOW, these are AMAZING! I just stumbled upon your site after searching for high-protein blondies (I have a good brownie recipe, but I was looking for something a bit different). I too am amazed that almond butter and egg poofs up to be like a brownie, but these are incredible! My husband loves anything nut-butter-iffic, so I'm glad I will have these to welcome him home from a day's work out in the cold! :-) (And the rest of your site looks great too! I'm a recovering macrobiotic.)
I just wanted to share that I've made this recipe at least 5 times and my boyfriend is obsessed....these are so good and easy to make! Thanks Elana.
This recipe looks so good! Almond butter and dark chocolate - what could be bad? I've linked to your recipe from my blog post here:
http://blog.recipelion.com/guest-recipes-elanas-favorite-super-bowl-recipes-for-the-monthly-morsel/
I'm also going to have to make this recipe at home. We are fortunate enough to be free of celiac disease in our house, but there's no reason not to make a delicious recipe like this one!
Thanks, Elana!
Nina
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