Here's a recipe for chai blondies that are vegan, using coconut oil and a flax egg to bake them. They are scented with a warming chai spice - a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and anise. This vegan blondie recipe is amazing!
the inspiration behind this vegan blondie recipe
Blondies resemble brownies, but instead of cocoa in them, they are more vanilla-forward. Sometimes they have brown sugar; sometimes they have brown butter in them. Blondies are a dessert bar that also sometimes contain nuts like pecans or walnuts.
I love baking with chai spice -- a spice blend inspired by the spicy, warm flavors of "chai" tea. (Yes, I know that chai means tea, so chai tea = tea tea.)
I was curious how to make a healthy-ish blondie recipe, so I tinkered with a classic family blondie recipe with some plant-based substitutions like coconut oil and flax eggs to come up with this vegan blondie recipe.
This recipe is easily the most popular recipe on my website!
tips for vegan baking
When baking, often you're using butter as a means of hydrating and flavoring whatever dough you're making. Butter can be substituted in vegan baking for a number of things:
- Coconut oil
- Vegan butter, like Miyoko's
- Mashed banana
- Applesauce
- Vegetable or olive oil
Try to substitute volume or weight as best as you can, and do solid for solid or liquid for liquid. That means, if the recipe calls for 1 stick of butter, cold and cubed, 1 stick of butter is ½ cup, so substitute in ½ cup of cold coconut oil or Miyoko's vegan butter, cold and cubed. Alternatively, if the recipe calls for melted butter, use melted coconut oil.
Another culprit in baking - and trying to bake vegan things - are eggs. A great substitute for an egg in vegan baking is flax eggs. 1 flax egg = 1 large egg. You make a flax egg by combining 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed with 2 tablespoons of cold water, and stir the two together until they are gelatinous. A bonus of using a flax egg in this vegan blondie recipe is that it adds fiber!
Vegan baking is totally doable with some smart substitutions.
how to make vegan chai blondies
prep your ingredients 
mix the wet ingredients then add in the dry ingredients 
the dough will be crumbly 
pat into your prepared pan 
let cool after baking
Preheat the oven to 350F and line an 8x8" baking pan with parchment paper, and spray it with a little baking spray to ensure it all doesn't stick to the sides.
As with all baking, you're going to prep your dry ingredients and your wet ingredients separately.
Mix together 2 cups of flour, 1 tablespoon of chai spices, and 1 teaspoon of baking powder in a bowl off to the side. I like to use a whisk to combine all the dry ingredients all together.
Then in the bowl of a stand mixer or in a second bowl with a handheld mixer, you cream just over 1 cup of melted coconut oil and ¾ cups of sugar (or Swerve) together, then add in the flax eggs and vanilla. I like vanilla bean paste here, because it infuses more vanilla flavor into this vegan blondie recipe.
Then combine the two, and pop into your 8x8" pan. For me, every time I have tested this recipe, the blondie dough looks fairly crumbly - almost like cookie dough - and I use my fingers to press the dough into the pan.
Bake for about 25 minutes. You actually DON'T want the toothpick to come out completely clean here - if it's completely clean, the blondies might be a bit dry :/
Tips for making these vegan chai blondies
- If you're not measuring in weight, make sure to spoon-and-level the flour into your measuring cups. Otherwise you might over-add flour to the recipe and risk a dry blondie.
- Don't overmix the batter: all-purpose flour has gluten in it, which gets activated -- aka tough and bread-like -- if you mix the batter too much. Just a few turns until everything is evenly distributed.
- Use my signature chai spice blend! It has all the spices that make chai flavored things so delicious, and then you have it on hand for any other chai baking adventures you might want to do.
- Check on these after 25 minutes in the oven. Past 30 minutes, I find them to be dry; 25-30 min is the sweet spot.
If you liked these, check out some other chai recipes cooked up here!
Vegan Chai Blondies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon of my signature chai spice blend or spice blend below
- 1 cup coconut oil melted
- 1 ¼ cup sugar or Swerve
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Flax eggs
- 2 tablespoons ground flax seed + 4 tablespoons of cold water stirred together, until gelatinous
Chai Spice blend
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ginger
Optional Chai Icing
- ½ cup powdererd sugar
- 2 tablespoon almond milk
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
Chai Blondies
- Preheat the oven to 350F and prep/line a 8" square baking dish with parchment paper.
- Combine all the dry ingredients -- 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, and 1 tablespoon chai spice -- in a separate bowl and whisk together.
- Cream the 1 cup of coconut oil and 1 ¼ cup of sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add in the 2 flax eggs and 1 tablespoon vanilla; beat a few times to combine.
- Add your flour mixture into your coconut oil/sugar/flax egg mixture in thirds and mix to combine. Pour the batter into your prepared baking pan.
- Bake for about 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool before serving.
Chai Icing
- In a bowl, mix the powdered sugar with the almond milk and chai spices until just a bit runny. Using a spoon, drizzle the icing over the cooled blondies.