• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Loving It Vegan

  • Home
  • About Me
  • Recipes
  • Free Ebook
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Recipes
  • Free Ebook
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
  • search icon
    Homepage link
    • Home
    • About Me
    • Recipes
    • Free Ebook
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » Brownies and Bars

    Vegan Blondies

    Published: Oct 14, 2020 Updated: Apr 19, 2022 by Alison Andrews This post may contain affiliate links

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe
    Vegan Blondies

    These are hands down the BEST vegan blondies ever. They are soft, buttery and packed with delicious butterscotch flavor.

    Vegan blondies in a stack.

    These vegan blondies are honestly so delicious. It took quite a few tries to get them right but we did it in the end and this recipe is just pure perfection.

    The classic flavor of a blondie is butterscotch and that comes from the combination of butter (vegan butter in this case of course), molasses from the brown sugar, vanilla and salt.

    The main difference between a blondie and a brownie is that a brownie is packed with chocolate and a blondie is not. It’s the blonde version of a brownie, basically.

    Of course if you DO want some chocolate brownies then check out our delicious recipe for fudgy vegan brownies.

    Vegan blondies in a stack.

    How To Make Vegan Blondies

    You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.

    • Melt vegan butter and add it to a mixing bowl along with light brown sugar and whisk together.
    Melted vegan butter and brown sugar added to bowl and mixed together.
    • Add cashew butter and vanilla extract and whisk in until well mixed.
    Cashew butter and vanilla added to bowl and mixed in.
    • Sift all purpose flour into a separate mixing bowl and add baking powder, cornstarch and salt and mix together.
    Flour, baking powder, cornstarch and salt added to bowl and mixed.
    • Gradually stir the flour mix into the butter and cashew mixture until completely combined.
    Dry ingredients added to wet and mixed into a blondie batter.
    • Add chopped macadamia nuts and stir in.
    Chopped macadamia nuts added to blondie batter and mixed in.
    • Transfer the batter to a 9×9 square baking pan (sprayed with non-stick spray and lined with a parchment paper overhang on each side). Smooth down with the back of a spoon.
    • Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes until the edges just begin to turn golden brown.
    Blondies in a 9-inch square dish before and after baking.
    • Leave it in the pan to cool for around 30 minutes. The top should be firm to the touch before you remove the blondies from the pan using the parchment paper overhang.
    • Cut into squares and serve.
    Blondies removed from dish and cut into squares.

    Ingredient Notes

    Vegan butter: Vegan butter is essential to a good blondie because you want it to have that buttery flavor. This combines with the brown sugar, salt and vanilla to create the butterscotch flavor. You can use any vegan butter option, tub style or stick style. Alternatively you can use homemade vegan butter.

    Brown sugar: You can use light or dark brown sugar or a mix of the two. We used light brown sugar in this recipe. If you use a dark brown sugar the flavor may be a little sweeter and the color will be a little darker.

    Cashew butter: Cashew butter works wonderfully in this recipe, and we used a smooth, salted cashew butter. You can even use a homemade cashew butter.

    Cornstarch: Cornstarch helps to create softness to baked goods and this is why we use it in this recipe.

    Macadamias: We used chopped macadamias which worked so well in these blondies, but if you have a nut allergy of course you can omit them. Alternatively, vegan chocolate chips or chunks would work great.

    Blondies in a stack.

    Baking Time

    These blondies have a relatively short baking time of 20 minutes so that they stay soft and moist. However, there can be some variation in the baking time with some ovens needing to bake them for up to 35 minutes.

    The top of the blondies should be dry and set and the edges should be golden brown. A toothpick inserted into the middle should have moist crumbs but not wet batter.

    A blondie leaning against a stack of two blondies.

    Storing and Freezing

    Leftover blondies will keep very well in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

    They also freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and then let them come to room temperature before serving.

    Vegan blondies in a stack.

    More Delicious Vegan Bars

    1. Vegan Lemon Bars
    2. Vegan Biscoff Brownies
    3. Vegan Bounty Bars
    4. Vegan Granola Bars
    5. Vegan Twix
    6. Vegan Snickers

    Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!

    Vegan blondies stacked up in a stack of three.

    Vegan Blondies

    These are hands down the BEST vegan blondies ever. They are soft, buttery and packed with delicious butterscotch flavor. 
    4.71 from 17 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Dessert
    Cuisine: American
    Diet: Vegan
    Prep Time: 20 minutes
    Cook Time: 20 minutes
    Total Time: 40 minutes
    Servings: 16
    Calories: 384kcal
    Author: Alison Andrews

    Ingredients

    • 1 cup Vegan Butter (225g) Measured, then Melted
    • 1 ¾ cups Light Brown Sugar (350g)
    • ½ cup Cashew Butter (125g)
    • 1 ½ teaspoons Vanilla Extract
    • 2 ¼ cups All Purpose Flour (281g)
    • 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
    • 2 teaspoons Cornstarch
    • 1 teaspoon Salt
    • 1 ½ cups Raw Macadamia Nuts (195g) Chopped
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Instructions

    • Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and spray a 9×9 square dish with non-stick spray and line it with parchment paper so that there is overhang on each side. 
    • Melt the vegan butter and add it to a mixing bowl along with the light brown sugar and whisk them together.
    • Add the cashew butter and vanilla extract and whisk in until well mixed. 
    • Sift the all purpose flour into a separate mixing bowl and add baking powder, cornstarch and salt and mix together. 
    • Gradually stir the flour mix into the butter and cashew mixture until completely combined. 
    • Add the chopped macadamia nuts and stir in. 
    • Transfer the batter to your prepared 9×9 square baking pan and smooth down with the back of a spoon.
    • Bake for 20-35 minutes (see notes)* until the top is dry and the edges turn golden brown. 
    • Leave it in the pan to cool for around 30 minutes. The top should be firm to the touch before you remove the blondies from the pan using the parchment paper overhang. 
    • Cut into squares and serve. 

    Notes

    1. Vegan butter – is essential to a good blondie because you want it to have that buttery flavor which combines with the brown sugar, salt and vanilla to create a butterscotch flavor. You can use any vegan butter option, tub style or stick style. 
    2. Light brown sugar – you can use light or dark brown sugar or a mix of the two. Dark brown sugar will result in a blondie that is darker in color.  
    3. Cornstarch – helps to keep these blondies soft. 
    4. Macadamia nuts – are entirely optional. You can leave them out, or switch them for a different nut or use vegan white chocolate chips. 
    5. Baking time – we baked ours for a relatively short 20 minutes. However, ovens can vary a lot and we’re seeing a lot of variation in reported baking times. The blondies should be golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of the blondies should come out with moist crumbs and NOT wet batter. If you’re seeing wet batter in the middle then it needs to bake for a longer time. 
    6. Storing: Leftover blondies will keep very well in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. They also freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and then let them come to room temperature before serving.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1Blondie | Calories: 384kcal | Carbohydrates: 39.2g | Protein: 4.1g | Fat: 24.3g | Saturated Fat: 5.2g | Sodium: 313mg | Fiber: 1.7g | Sugar: 22.3g
    DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? Rate it & leave your feedback in the comments section below, or tag @lovingitvegan on Instagram and hashtag #lovingitvegan
    Get Your Copy! It's FREE!
    « Pumpkin Fudge
    Grilled Tofu »
    789 shares

    About the Author

    Hi I'm Alison Andrews, I'm the voice and cook behind Loving It Vegan. I love making delicious vegan food and creating vegan versions of all your old favorites, so that you’ll never feel like you’re missing out. Find out more about me here.

    Loving It Vegan is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This site may contain some of these links to Amazon.com. If you make a purchase through one of those links, Loving It Vegan will receive a small commission from the purchase at no additional cost to you.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Heidy says

      March 18, 2021 at 5:03 pm

      Hi could I sub the flour for half gluten free half coconut flour?
      Thank you.
      Heidy

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        March 19, 2021 at 10:34 am

        I wouldn’t use coconut flour as it absorbs liquid very differently. But a gluten-free all purpose blend should work fine.

        Reply
        • Heidy says

          March 19, 2021 at 1:16 pm

          Great, thanks for the heads up! I really wanted a coconuty flavoured blondie, maybe I’ll try with coconut flakes ????

          Reply
    2. Jenny says

      March 09, 2021 at 2:53 am

      Made these following the recipe exactly besides adding glazed pecans as well as the macadamia according to another persons review and they ame out phenomenal. Buttery and rich and everyone loves them. I made it on an 8×8 glass pan baked for 35 minutes and it was perfect! Thank you Allison. I use almost all of your recipes when I want to cook something that isn’t a recipe from my own knowledge. Been five years vegan now and everyone loves all the recipes I have ever made with your help.5 stars

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        March 10, 2021 at 9:53 am

        Thanks so much Jenny! xoxo

        Reply
    3. Faye says

      February 15, 2021 at 12:52 pm

      Holy Moly!!!!! I made these, (added some apple that I had stewed with maple syrup and cinnamon, reduced the sugar and baked for longer because of the apple moisture) and they were INCREDIBLE!
      I wouldn’t normally ever pick a blondie over a brownie, but the taste and texture of these is unreal! (They’ve also gone down so well with my non-vegan family, we’ve been having them heated up with coffee in the afternoons)
      I always use this site for my vegan baking recipes now, I’ve never had one fail!
      Thank you ☺️5 stars

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        February 15, 2021 at 12:57 pm

        Thanks so much Faye! 🙂

        Reply
    4. Sarah says

      February 02, 2021 at 6:32 pm

      Hello, me again!
      Just wondering…. I want to make these for someone who doesn’t eat any nuts at all, so I need to substitute the cashew butter with something else…. any ideas what would work the best?
      Thanks so much!

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        February 03, 2021 at 11:02 am

        Hi Sarah, the best thing would be a seed butter or nut free option like wowbutter (made from soy).

        Reply
        • Sarah BP says

          February 03, 2021 at 5:23 pm

          Thanks!
          “Wowbutter”…. is that a product? I’m not sure we have that in the U.K.? I’ll have a look!

          Reply
          • Alison Andrews says

            February 04, 2021 at 10:19 am

            Oh yes, I was just browsing amazon and saw that Wowbutter is a brand name for a nut free peanut butter. But any seed butter or similar nut free ‘nut butter’ should work. 🙂

    5. Sarah says

      January 16, 2021 at 11:42 pm

      Hi,I made these last week and they were lovely! However, I couldn’t get any cashew butter in our delivery this week…. do you think coconut oil would work in place of it? I’m just linking it to your amazing brownies and that have coconut oil in them… would it work in the blondie?
      Thank you

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        January 17, 2021 at 12:13 pm

        Hi Sarah, I don’t think it would work, it would be too oily, but you could use a different nut butter, or, if you can get hold of roasted, salted cashews then we have a recipe for homemade cashew butter.

        Reply
        • Sarah says

          January 17, 2021 at 2:42 pm

          Ah! Ok, thanks!
          Will see what I can find locally!

          Reply
      • Elle says

        June 13, 2021 at 9:29 am

        Hi,
        I’m wondering if you bake these on fan/convection setting in your oven? I can see them only taking 20 minutes if I used that setting.
        Thanks!

        Reply
        • Alison Andrews says

          June 14, 2021 at 10:30 am

          Hi Elle, no I bake them on the normal bake setting, not fan. But even so ovens do differ, so a longer bake time may be appropriate in your oven.

          Reply
    6. Arushana says

      December 30, 2020 at 11:29 pm

      I made these recipes for my friends for the holidays and they loved it. The one thing I would suggest but it’s probably my oven it wasn’t fully baked at the 30-minute mark so I had to bake it for an additional 10 minutes and let it cool in the oven. Overall so good and will make it again but might put sprinkles instead of macadamia nuts for the birthday theme…unless you have a birthday blondie recipe! 🙂5 stars

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        December 31, 2020 at 10:11 am

        Awesome, thanks for sharing Arushana!

        Reply
    7. Katie says

      November 15, 2020 at 10:43 am

      Could I sub the nut butter for biscoff spread?

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        November 16, 2020 at 12:19 pm

        Hi Katie, honestly that sounds delicious! I haven’t tried it, but if it’s a similar consistency to a nut butter then I think it will work perfectly!

        Reply
        • Ros Limbo says

          November 24, 2020 at 10:04 pm

          Hi

          Is it possible to sub the cashew butter with peanut butter or another nut butter?

          Reply
          • Alison Andrews says

            November 25, 2020 at 11:33 am

            Yes it is! Cashew butter is more neutral in flavor so if you use another nut butter the flavor may come through more strongly but that’s not really an issue. 🙂

      • Rachael says

        March 14, 2021 at 10:17 pm

        Hi Katie, did you try using the Biscoff spread and did it work? I’d love to give it a go!

        Reply
    8. Sara says

      November 11, 2020 at 3:12 am

      YUM!! So delicious! So easy to make! I swapped in maple candied pecans for the macadamia nuts (pecans are my favorite) and I’m just in love! The cashew butter adds a rich buttery flavor that is just perfect! Can’t wait to make these again!5 stars

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        November 11, 2020 at 10:08 am

        Awesome Sara! So happy to hear that, thanks for the wonderful review!

        Reply
    9. Laura says

      November 08, 2020 at 11:41 pm

      So tasty!! I didn’t have enough coconut sugar so had to sub about 150g of white (and they still turned out great) Bake time was about 15mins additional, but not a bother for a flavor my non-vegan friends enjoyed 🙂4 stars

      Reply
    10. alex says

      November 02, 2020 at 6:43 pm

      Hi,

      Would coconut sugar work in lieu of brown sugar?

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        November 03, 2020 at 11:10 am

        Hi Alex, yes I think it would work fine!

        Reply
    11. Ricky says

      October 29, 2020 at 12:08 pm

      This looks delicious!!! Really want to try it, but where I live, it’s really difficult to find vegan butter.
      Would it be ok to replace for coconut oil (without flavor), or even more of a nut butter?

      Tksss!!

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        October 29, 2020 at 1:12 pm

        Hi Ricky, nut butter wouldn’t work for a replacement, coconut oil may work, but another option that definitely will work is our homemade vegan butter if you want to try that! 🙂

        Reply
    12. Janine says

      October 19, 2020 at 9:26 am

      I made these on the weekend and they were AMAZING! I had just about given up on finding a recipe for the perfect vegan blondies, others I tried just didn’t turn out. These were so perfect, they were better than the non-vegan ones I’ve tried! Thanks for the awesome recipe.5 stars

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        October 19, 2020 at 9:38 am

        So happy to hear that Janine! Thanks for the great review! 🙂

        Reply
    13. Elliot says

      October 17, 2020 at 5:10 pm

      Made this today and followed the recipe to the letter (except for excluding the optional macadamia nuts). Baked for 20mins at 180, left in tin for 45 mins, then onto an cooling rack for 1hour before slicing. However when slicing the inside was still really under baked and the 4 centre pieces were like complete ‘mush’ underneath the crispy top layer. Seems like it needs longer in the oven to me? Will try again for 25 or 30 mins.3 stars

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        October 19, 2020 at 9:35 am

        Hi Elliot, oh no, it sounds like they definitely needed more time in the oven. Did you by any chance use a different sized dish? If it was a smaller dish it would have needed a longer time. The other thing though is that ovens can vary so much. I highly recommend an oven thermometer so you can tell what temperature the oven is actually reaching inside. But otherwise if you bake again definitely bake for a longer time.

        Reply
    14. Anna says

      October 16, 2020 at 5:33 am

      Sounds delightful! I’ll try the all purpose gluten free flour and am sure it will be just as good!5 stars

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        October 16, 2020 at 9:39 am

        Hi Anna, yes I’m sure that will work great! 🙂

        Reply
    15. amy d says

      October 14, 2020 at 4:10 pm

      mmm, what can I sub for cashew butter? I have almond butter… too strong?

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        October 15, 2020 at 10:20 am

        I think it may be fine, it might have an almond butter taste as cashew butter is more neutral, but it would work!

        Reply
        • El says

          February 17, 2021 at 1:45 pm

          Although this was delicious, I had to cook for an extra 20 minutes and even then the middle was still wet, even though the top was lovely. I think next time I will use less butter to cut the greasiness and more flour to stiffen it up. Tastes brilliant though!3 stars

          Reply
          • Alison Andrews says

            February 18, 2021 at 10:29 am

            Hi El, the baking time on this does seem to be quite variable.

    Newer Comments »

    Comment Policy: Your feedback is really appreciated! Please do us a favor and rate the recipe as well as this really helps us! The most helpful comments are the ones that give useful feedback for others who might make the recipe, tell about substitutions you made or adjustments you made and how it turned out, or assisting other commenters. Rude or insulting comments will not be accepted.

    Leave A Comment & Review Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    Hi I’m Alison Andrews! I love making delicious vegan food and creating delicious vegan versions of all your old favorite dishes, so you can have your vegan cake and eat it too!

    More about me →

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • Pinterest

    Popular Posts

    • Vegan Tuna
    • The Best Vegan Mac and Cheese (Classic, Baked)
    • Vegan Burrito
    • Super Eggy Vegan Tofu Scramble
    • Sliceable Cashew Cheese
    • Homemade Vegan Butter

    Veganuary

    • Vegan Halloumi
    • Vegan Stuffed Mushrooms
    • Vegan Stuffed Peppers
    • Vegan Granola
    • The Best Vegan Waffles
    • Vegan Salmon

    See all Veganuary Recipes →


    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    As Seen In

    Press logos black and white

    About

    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions

    Follow Us

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • Pinterest

    Contact

    • About
    • Contact

    Copyright © 2022 Loving It Vegan

    Get 10 fabulous dinner recipes!
    Absolutely free! Sign up below!
    Get Your Copy! It's FREE!