Gluten-Free Vegan Sweet Potato Blondies
These Gluten-Free Vegan Sweet Potato Blondies taste like fall in a bar cookie! With warm spices and dark chocolate chunks, these decadent blondies will satisfy your fall dessert cravings.
Blondies are one of my favorite treats – basically a chewy cookie, but EASIER because you just spread all the dough into a pan and bake. Even better, you can totally customize the flavors based on mood, season, and what you’re craving. (see: raspberry blondies. cinnamon apple blondies. gingerbread blondies.)
For Fall, I wanted to make some blondies that reflect the season. But remember these Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Blondies?? I’ve already done pumpkin – we need something new. So I turned to my other friend: the sweet potato.
You may not think of adding sweet potatoes to a dessert, but it WORKS. The flavor is similar to pumpkin but even sweeter and more flavorful. Sweet potatoes also have loads of nutritional benefits, like:
- A significant source of vitamins C & A
- Helps regulate blood sugar
- Packed with nutrients
- Anti-inflammatory
- Full of antioxidants
The sweet potato flavor works well with all the spices you traditionally pair with pumpkin – cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger…so you end up with a similar flavor profile to your favorite pumpkin spice dessert.
Making these Sweet Potato Blondies is super simple!
All you need is a bowl and a whisk. First, you’ll combine creamy almond butter (or another nut butter of your choice), coconut oil, and coconut sugar. Since the sweet potato will add extra sweetness, we only need 1/2 cup of coconut sugar!
Next, you’ll add the sweet potato and vanilla extract. For the sweet potato puree, you can either make it yourself or buy it canned. I tried both and they both work great! To make it yourself, you’ll want to steam the sweet potato and blend with a few tablespoons of water until smooth.
Next for the dry ingredients: we’ll add blanched almond flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Pumpkin pie spice is nothing more exotic than a combination of warm spices, usually consisting of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and allspice.
Last but certainly not least, you’ll fold in the dark chocolate! I love using chopped chocolate chunks because they melt the best, but if you’re after convenience, I recommend using Hu Kitchen Chocolate Gems instead.
Once these Sweet Potato Blondies are baked, do your best not to dive right in! You’ll get the cleanest cuts if you let them cool for a few hours, or even better yet, chill them in the refrigerator for a bit. But if you can’t help yourself…these taste great warm with vanilla ice cream 😉. Full of warm spices and melty chocolate, these blondies will make you swoon! Enjoy!
Gluten-Free Vegan Sweet Potato Blondies
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 16 blondies 1x
Description
These Gluten-Free Vegan Sweet Potato Blondies taste like fall in a bar cookie! With warm spices and dark chocolate chunks, these decadent blondies will satisfy your fall dessert cravings.
Ingredients
- ½ cup (128g) creamy almond butter, or other smooth nut butter of choice
- ¼ cup (50g) refined coconut oil, melted
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- ⅓ cup (82g) mashed sweet potato, see Notes
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup (96g) blanched almond flour
- 1 ¼ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch of sea salt
- ½ cup (3 oz.) dark chocolate chunks
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8×8” square baking pan with parchment paper and spray with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- In a bowl, whisk together the almond butter, coconut oil, coconut sugar, sweet potato, and vanilla extract until smooth and combined. Stir in the almond flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and salt. Fold in the chocolate chunks.
- Spread evenly in prepared pan and bake for 18 to 20 minutes.
- Cool completely, and then cut into 16 squares. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Notes
For the sweet potato puree, you can blend a steamed sweet potato with 2 tablespoons of water until smooth. Alternatively, you can use canned sweet potato puree – I like this one from Farmer’s Market.
Sweet potato blondies are my absolute FAVE!! Yours look incredible, Rach!! And love the chocolate gems in there :) They’re amazing!
I’d love to try this out but am sensitive to almonds. Ever try regular gluten free flour or some other alternative?
Hi Isa, I haven’t tested that but most people I’ve heard from have success substituting Bob’s Red Mill’s GF All-Purpose Baking Flour for almond flour in my recipes! Hope this helps.
I so appreciate people who do all the experimenting to find recipes they like and then so generously share them with the world. I was excited about the idea of a sweet potato blondie, but felt a little duped when I went to make this and discovered that they contain so little sweet potato. They have more sugar than sweet potato and way more almond butter and almond flour. It seems disingenuous to name these after such a minor ingredient. I realize “sugar blondies” might sound less appealing and that there a million almond butter baked goods out there, but still :-(
Since I had all the ingredients, I went ahead and made them anyway and I think I will use this recipe in the future as a base for my own experimenting, but wouldn’t make it again as written. They came out very oily, but also kinda crumbly, and while the flavor improved after a night in the fridge & they firmed up, they still aren’t my fav.
I do really like the idea of a sweet potato blondie, though, so I’ll play around with this – maybe up the sweet potato, reduce the butter, and add some molasses, which I think of as a key flavor in blondies. Although this wasn’t completely my cup of tea, I really appreciate your sharing your creation and giving me the chance to build off your idea. Thank you!
Can make and freeze the sweet potato purée to use in this recipe for a future time? My sweet potato is huge but it says I only need 1/3c for this recipe. Also, do you know if this recipe will freeze well? Thank you!
Hi Michele, yes you can freeze the sweet potato puree, and the blondies themselves also freeze super well in an airtight container :)
I received a last-minute invite to a Christmas putlock with several V/GF attendees. I made these and they’re delicious! I had to sub the almond flour for regular gluten free flour as you mentioned would work in the comments and only had a quarter cup of coconut oil left in the jar but it was great! I couldn’t find vegan chocolate except ultra dark which I thought would be too bitter so I dusted the tops with cinnamon and brown sugar and served them with stewed apples, which worked well with the blondie flavours! I’m going to make this again for myself and eat it until I burst :)
Hi Colette, that sounds great! So glad they were a hit :) thanks for the review!