Name: Gluten-Free Vegan Banana Nut Blondies
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: ½ cup creamy almond butter (or other smooth nut butter of choice); ¼ cup coconut oil (melted, use refined for no coconut flavor); ½ cup coconut sugar; ⅓ cup mashed ripe banana (about 1 small banana); 1 tablespoon vanilla extract; ¾ cup 72g almond flour; 3 tablespoons coconut flour; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 teaspoon cinnamon; ¼ teaspoon kosher salt; ½ cup toasted walnuts (roughly chopped); 4 ounces dark chocolate (chopped into chunks)

These Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Blondies are a super chewy vegan blondie, flavored with fresh bananas and stuffed with crunchy walnuts and dark chocolate chunks! They’re rich, chewy, and ready in just 30 minutes.

These Chocolate Chunk Banana Nut Blondies are a super chewy blondie, flavored with fresh bananas and studded with crunchy walnuts and dark chocolate chunks. You'd never guess that they're gluten-free, paleo and vegan.

I think I’m a blondie-a-holic. Each time one of my blondie recipes disappears from the fridge, I start brainstorming a new blondie recipe that I can start testing to replenish the stash 😏

So after the last of my recent paleo + vegan Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Blondies got eaten, I started dreaming up a something new to replace them in the fridge. One of my more popular recipes is these Paleo Banana Nut Muffins. It got me thinking that banana nut blondies would be even better.

Oh man, I was definitely right. The banana makes these vegan blondies extra chewy, which contrasts deliciously with the crunchy toasted walnuts. The pockets of melted dark chocolate chunks adds a deliciously gooey element. Swoooon.

These are one of those treats I know no one would suspect of being gluten-free, paleo, and vegan. They’re just too rich, decadent, and flavorful! The mashed ripe banana takes the place of the egg in this recipe. This makes them vegan, and adds a fruity flavor plus some moist chewiness.

What you need to make banana blondies:

Nut Butter: Nut butter helps provide richness, structure, and flavor in this recipe. I opted for almond butter, because it’s pretty neutral with the almond flour, but you could use peanut butter for a delicious twist, or cashew butter to make it ultra-rich and add a little extra creamy sweetness.
Coconut Oil: use refined for no coconut flavor, or substitute with your favorite dairy-free butter.
Coconut Sugar: I found 1/2 cup to be just sweet enough, but if you have a big sweet tooth, you could go to 2/3 cup, or if you don’t have much of a sweet tooth or if you banana is super ripe, you can reduce it down to 1/3 cup.
Mashed Banana: about 1 ripe banana works well for this recipe.
Vanilla Extract: always needed for flavor!
Almond Flour: I always use blanched almond flour for the best texture.
Coconut Flour: this helps absorb the extra moisture from the banana. If you’d like to skip it, use an extra 1/3 cup of almond flour in its place.
Baking Soda: this gives the blondies lift and structure, keeping them from becoming too dense.
Cinnamon & Salt: for warmth and flavor.
Toasted Walnuts: to bring the “nut” to these banana nut blondies. You can skip if you’re anti-nuts in your baked goods, or use pecans if you prefer.
Chocolate Chips: I love using dark chocolate chips or chunks. Skip for a more pure banana nut blondie.

Of course, with this combination of ingredients, they couldn’t turn out any way but delicious! These Chocolate Chunk Banana Nut Blondies are rich and chewy, with subtle banana flavor, crunch from the toasted walnuts, and gooeyness from the melted chocolate. Bet you won’t be able to have just one ;) enjoy!