Blueberry Blondies (Gluten Free)

The idea for this recipe came to my mind while drinking one of my favorite smoothies, around two weeks ago. As I was sipping on my freshly made strawberry, banana and oats smoothie I thought about throwing in a handful of blueberries the next time and then I wondered when was the last time I baked some blueberry-ish dessert...truth is I can't remember when it was cause it's been ages! Last summer I attempted to make some blueberry creamy pops, they were tasty but didn't look cute enough to be published. Now that I've been searching on the blog's archive I see that this Blueberry Lime Cheesecake back in 2014 was the last recipe that contained these small yummy berries (see what I did there? I've tried not to say 'blueberries' once again, haha).

Let's talk a bit about these bondies: they are dairy-free and gluten-free (to those who are gluten intolerant, keep an eye when buying your chocolate chips and oat milk and always check they are GF-certified). This is one of those desserts that taste even better a day or two after baked, the texture and flavor fully develop and since they are deliciously moist they keep fresh for days. I added white chocolate chips (see 'Notes' below), coarsely chopped walnuts and fresh blueberries on top; they kind of 'explode' while the blondies are in the oven and that helps release all their juice, making this dessert taste extra delish with cute purple swirls here and there.

I don't know about you, but I'm really starting to get fed up with winter. Surely it has some positive things like comforting warm foods, movie marathons at home all cozied up under your blanket, etc, but as soon as Februrary comes to an end and all those spring/summer catalogues keep showing up in my e-mail inbox (I'm dreaming of this spring outfit!) I can't stop but thinking about flowers, pastel colors, Easter and, all of a sudden, winter feels so last year to me!

What are your feelings about winter? Are you already planning your Easter recipes? March is going to be a very busy month for me: Easter recipes, Father's Day (in Spain) and my mom's birthday to finish off a super chocolaty month! :-p

Receta en español en El Granero Integral!

Blueberry Blondies
Vegan, gluten free.
(Makes 12 blondies)

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce.
1/4 cup mashed banana.
1/2 cup (scant) sunflower oil.
1/2 cup organic light brown sugar.
1/3 cup organic dark brown sugar.
1/4 cup oat milk.
1/2 a vanilla bean.
1/4 cup potato starch.
1/2 cup white rice flour.
1/4 cup quinoa flour.
1/4 cup millet flour.
1/4 tsp baking powder.
1/4 tsp baking soda.
1/4 tsp salt.
1/3 cup white chocolate chips.
1/3 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped.
1 cup fresh blueberries.

Notes:

- As I said before, if you are gluten intolerant carefully read the labels. Especially while buying oat milk and white chocolate chips.

- My white chocolate chips weren't dairy-free. I wanted to taste a premium white chocolate bar that my sister bought from Willie's Cacao and it tasted so good I decided to chop it into medium/small chunks and stir into the batter. If you want to make your blondies fully vegan, then I recommend to buy vegan white chocolate chips. The ones I usually find in Barcelona are not as good as I'm looking for in a chocolate bar so I either use my favorite dark chocolate bars or buy some non-vegan good quality white chocolate.

- Try this variation: lemon blueberry lemons. Simply add the zest of one lemon and two drops of lemon essential oil to the batter. Instead of walnuts, use chopped macadamia nuts.

Directions

Lightly grease the base of an 8 x 8-inch/20 x 20 cm brownie pan and line it with parchment paper, making sure there are a few extra inches around the sides of the pan to easily lift out the blondies.

Preheat oven to 350 ºF (180 ºC).

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the banana, applesauce, oil, sugar, milk and the vanilla seeds until smooth.

In a separate bowl sift together the flours, potato starch, baking powder, soda and salt, mix well.

Add the dry mixture to the bowl of wet ingredients. Mix just until incorporated, we want the blondies to have a moist texture so don't overmix.

Finally fold in the white chocolate chips and walnuts, pour the mixture into the prepared pan and top with the fresh blueberries (it isn't necessary to chop them).

Bake for 30 minutes approximately, checking the blondies at 25 minutes by inserting a fine wooden stick (or cake tester) into the center of the cake. If the blondies are done the stick should come out mostly clean with just a few moist tiny crumbs. Be careful and do not overbake.

Let the blondies cool for approximately 30 minutes in the pan over a wire rack, remove from the pan and let cool completely before slicing into 12 squares.

Store at room temperature in an airtight container.