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Saturday, August 8, 2015

Recipe: Healthy Vegan Banana Blondies

Healthy Vegan Banana Blondies Recipe  healthy, low fat, gluten free, vegan, refined sugar free, egg free, dairy free

You know, sometimes I look at Jesse and think "wow.... what kind of a man did I marry?!". 

And I'm not talking in the oh wow I'm so lucky kind of way (though I definitely think that a lot too), I'm talking in the what planet did he get dropped off from kind of way. 

I KID, I KID! 

But you see, Jesse has the world's weirdest taste buds, sense of smell and sense of well.... a lot of things. 

This week he told me that bananas taste like nothing, however, he eats bananas every day for breakfasts and banana baked goods are his favourite thing in the world. Last week he told me that my lasagna was the best dinner of the week but I couldn't call it lasagna because it didn't have a tomato and meat sauce like "lasagna" - even though that's just the style of the dish.

Vegan Banana Blondies Recipe  healthy, low fat, gluten free, vegan, refined sugar free, egg free, dairy free

But whilst bananas taste like "nothing" to Jesse and apparently nuts have an overpowering smell like Katrina's random bath bomb that she has sitting on the side of the bath, Jesse is always watching the piles of bananas in our fruit bowl, waiting for them to go brown so I can make a banana flavoured treat. 

A few weeks ago we got home from church and Jesse decided we had to bake something with bananas and nuts. It didn't matter what it was but it had to have banana and nuts in it. 

I, however, was feeling like blondies or brownies - something dense and full of flavour and texture. At first I made the mistake of saying to Jesse "what about banana blondies?"

"Blondies? What's that?" Uh oh... I knew I was in for trouble. I gave Jesse a really basic description of your typical blondie, however, then I told him I wanted to make blondies that had all the texture of blondies but all the flavour of banana bread.

Gluten Free Banana Blondies Recipe  healthy, low fat, gluten free, vegan, refined sugar free, egg free, dairy free

"Can't you just make one or the other?".... at this point I was cursing myself for giving them a name, thinking I would have been much better off calling it banana bread and sticking it in a loaf tin - but I stuck to my plan, knowing it would be all sorts of delicious and Jesse would forget all about the name once he tried them.

Whilst they were baking in the oven I could head Jesse drooling over the smell from his office and the second I pulled them out he was there, eagerly awaiting the moment I sliced them up so he could try one. 

A few minutes later they were cool enough to cut and I popped one on a plate and took it into him. 

The first one disappeared in seconds with mmm's and ahhh's all around and the batch was quickly gobbled up by the SIL family. 

They weren't just a new favourite for Jesse - they were a favourite for the whole family (especially this banana loving girl!) and we've been making them again and again ever since! It just goes to show, don't judge a book by its cover or a recipe by it's name ;)

Let me share the recipe with you so you can bask in the deliciousness too! >>


Healthy Banana Blondies Recipe  healthy, low fat, gluten free, vegan, refined sugar free, egg free, dairy free

Lightened Up Vegan Banana Blondies Recipe 
makes 9 large blondies or 16 smaller ones
low fat, refined sugar free, clean eating friendly, healthy, vegan & gluten free

1 1/4 cups mashed ripe banana (280g or 2 large)
1 1/2 tbsp (25g) coconut oil, melted (or butter or a neutral tasting oil)
1/4 cup (~50g) coconut sugar or brown sugar*
1/4 cup milk of your choice
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup (180g) gluten free plain flour 
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
~1/4 cup pecans or walnuts, roughly chopped (optional - you can also mix through chocolate chips, dried fruit or whatever you fancy!)
  • Preheat your oven to 160C/320F
  • Grease and/or line a 8" or smaller brownie tin. We like to use a 6-7" brownie tin for thicker blondies! Alternatively, you can double the recipe and use a medium sized rectangular tin.
  • In a mixing bowl, mash your banana and add in your melted coconut oil, coconut sugar, milk and vanilla, mixing until combined.
  • Add in your flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix until just combined.
  • Stir through your nuts or mix ins, if using, and pour your blondie mix into your prepared tin. 
  • Bake for 20-40 minutes, depending on thickness, or until your blondies are cooked through and a skewer inserted into the middle removes clean. You don't want to overcook them as they'll dry out and not have the fudgy blondie texture!
  • Once cooled, slice your blondies into pieces and devour! These blondies are best eaten on the day that they're made, however, they'll keep in an airtight container in the fridge or at room temperature for 2-3 days.
Notes:
*If you like things extra sweet use 1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar, however, we found they were perfect just the way they are thanks to the natural sweetness of the banana!

But tell me, what's one food everyone else seems to like but you just hate?
And are you a traditionalist like Jesse or do you find yourself fusing flavours and ideas like me?

I may be the only "healthy living blogger" out there who will openly admit that she hates kale. I love vegetables but kale? Nuh uh! Unless it's in chip form.... but if I really wanted chips I'll just have chips! :P

24 comments:

  1. Made these for my dad. I used coconut oil and brown sugar. They were a hit. My nephew won't usually eat the gluten free stuff i take my dad, but we convinced him to try these. He loved them and asked for the recipe, saying "are you sure these arn't real?"

    ReplyDelete
  2. Replies
    1. Can I use coconut flour? Is it the same measurement?

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    2. Hi Emily, You can't use coconut flour for this recipe as it has completely different baking properties.

      Delete
  3. Looks delicious! Can I use oat flour?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey! You could use oat flour but it will completely change the blondies and make them drier/more crumbly. It's best to stick to the original recipe as we trialed and tested it multiple times to ensure it was perfect!

      Delete
  4. I can't wait to try these - can I use almond flour?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Cassandra, almond flour doesn’t have the same baking properties as a gluten free flour blend so it won’t work as a straight swap. You’d just end up with either crumbly blondies or a gooey mess

      Delete
  5. 20-40 minutes is a big gap. I understand ovens vary, but how long did you actually bake these for so I have an approximation? Making these today ��

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It really depends on the size of the pan you use and also what altitude/age of oven etc. If you're baking them in an 8x8" pan, check them after 30 minutes.

      Delete
  6. Your instructions state to add in the coconut oil, however coconut oil is not listed in the ingredients. How much coconut oil should we use in the recipe?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmm, I'm not sure what happened but it is definitely there! The measurement is:

      1 1/2 tbsp (25g) coconut oil, melted (or butter or a neutral tasting oil)

      Delete
  7. My apologies, I scrolled too far down. I now see it. Thanks for sharing, excited to try these.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Can you sub honey or syrup for the sugar?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Cindy, swapping sugar for a "wet" sweetener like honey or syrup will change the texture so I wouldn't recommend it.

      Delete
  9. Lovely recipe! I used regular wheat flour, and added chopped white chocolate and sunflower seeds instead of nuts. Delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I had a couple ripe bananas on hand but wanted a break from making the usual banana bread and banana muffins. I found this recipe to be delicious and so easy to make! I used regular butter because I'm not vegan and added mini chocolate chips instead of nuts. I baked for 30 minutes in the oven in an 8x8 glass baking pan coated in cooking spray and the blondies came out great! They're not overly sweet and feel like a treat while still being healthy!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Can I use cassava flour?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi there, I haven't tried it with casava flour and I've not used casava flour in a 1:1 swap before so I can't recommend it. You can defnitely try it, however, i think you'd find the end result would be quite crumbly.

      Delete
    2. I just made these with Casava flour (a little less than 1.5 cups), maple syrup instead of sugar and canned coconut milk and it was AMAZING. So moist, and perfect consistency. Highly recommend. Thank you for the recipe :)

      Delete
  12. Tired of letting my bananas go black so at 7 p.m. last night I started baking. Very easy recipe - thank you for that. I agree with another post that said they’re not overly sweet but, nonetheless, delicious. I added 1/4 c. vegan chocolate chips and 1/4 c. chopped walnuts, used regular flour and baked for 40 minutes (checking at the 20 min. mark). Mine tasted more like fluffy cake which is fine by me. Vegan cakes are often dense so these blondies made my tummy very happy - in fact, I ate 3 right before going to bed! 😬

    ReplyDelete

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