These gluten free vegan pumpkin blondies are a sweet cinnamon treat. tips for making small batch blondies and air fryer blondies.
recipe originally published November 11, 2010
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How to make vegan pumpkin blondies
Next to brownies and cheesecake, I really love a good vanilla blondie. What are blondies? Blondies are cookie bars, basically a brownie without the chocolate and cocoa. This recipe brings pumpkin and cinnamon into the mix, for a warmly spiced version of a vanilla blondie.
This recipe is egg free! This is also a gluten free blondie - if you are not gluten free, you can easily use regular all purpose flour.
This is a quick and easy recipe with a 6 ingredients that you may have in your pantry right now. It begins by creaming together (dairy free) butter and brown sugar, and then you add pumpkin to it. Blondies traditionally use brown sugar. (That is how I was taught in school.)
My tip is to use a mixer or hand mixer to cream together these ingredients. You can whip them by hand, but a mixer is worth the extra step here. Then I switch to a spatula or wooden spoon to mix in the dry ingredients.
Read on for a small batch blondies hack, and also an air fryer blondies option!
Why are my blondies cakey?
I feel like I can confidently answer this, as I have had many (still delicious) blondie fails. I love a dense blondie, not a fluffy cakey one. The culprit could be:
- too much flour
- too much leavening
- over baking
Tips for a perfect blondie
- increase the fat (in this recipe, the butter)
- small amount of leavening (baking soda or powder)
- no eggs (as vegans, our recipes have no eggs. in traditional baking recipes, eggs often add leavening and height)
Small Batch Blondie / Air Fryer Blondie
Sometimes you just want a small something without a bunch of leftovers sitting around like they'd make a great breakfast. In that case, I have done the math for you, and the small batch blondie can be baked, or cook them in the air fryer.
Half the recipe:
6 tablespoons brown sugar / vegan granulated sugar
6 tablespoons dairy free butter
¼ cup pumpkin puree
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ cup + 2 tablespoons gluten free all purpose flour
½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon)
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon Himalayan sea salt
Prepare according to instructions and transfer to small loaf pans or a pan that is air fryer safe and will fit in the air fryer. Bake for 20 minutes and check if done / air fry for 15 and check if done.
Recipe variations - add ins
When I first made this vegan pumpkin blondie recipe years ago, I added toffee pieces. Those sweet crunchy bites work so well with a vanilla blondie AND a pumpkin blondie, I continued to make them with toffee.
It wasn't until much later (and honestly, too lazy to make my toffee first) that I had these pumpkin blondies plain. But they are anything but plain. To make up for the lack of toffee, I added a cinnamon sugar topping, which gives a nice sweet crunch.
As with any dessert bar recipe, the add ins and toppings are many:
- nuts (candied pecans are lovely in blondies!)
- chocolate chunks or chips
- swirled cream cheese (combine 4 ounces cream cheese with 2 tablespoons sugar and ½ teaspoon vanilla)
- SNICKERDOODLE BLONDIES: mix ½ teaspoon cream of tartar into the flour before combining with the wet ingredients
Did you make these vegan pumpkin blondies?
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Pumpkin Blondies
These gluten free vegan bars get a warm spiced upgrade of pumpkin for a sweet treat. tips for making small batch blondies and air fryer blondies.
Ingredients
Blondie
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ¾ cup dairy free butter
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 ¼ cups gluten free all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon Himalayan sea salt
topping
- 3 tablespoons coconut sugar / vegan granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 °F. Line an 8x8 baking dish with parchment.
- Add sugar and butter to a large mixing bowl. Cream together using a spatula or mixer / hand mixer. Add pumpkin and vanilla, mix to combine completely (this is where you may need a mixer).
- Add the flour to the pumpkin mixture but do not stir in. Add the pumpkin pie spice / cinnamon, baking powder, and salt to the flour. Stir these into the flour before folding the flour into the pumpkin mixture.
- If using any of the optional add ins, stir them in now (see notes about add ins).
- Transfer blondie mixture to the parchment lined baking dish, spreading into an even layer.
- In a small bowl, combine the 3 tablespoons sugar with pumpkin pie spice / cinnamon. Sprinkle the top of the blondies with the sugar mixture.
- Bake at 350 °F for 25-30 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and cool completely before slicing into squares.
Notes
dairy, egg, soy and gluten free, vegan recipe
Recipe variations - add ins
- nuts (candied pecans are lovely in blondies!)
- chocolate chunks or chips
- swirled cream cheese (combine 4 ounces cream cheese with 2 tablespoons sugar and ½ teaspoon vanilla)
- SNICKERDOODLE BLONDIES: mix ½ teaspoon cream of tartar into the flour before combining with the wet ingredients
Why are my blondies cakey?
I feel like I can confidently answer this, as I have had many (still delicious) blondie fails. I love a dense blondie, not a fluffy cakey one. The culprit could be:
- too much flour
- too much leavening
- over baking
Tips for a perfect blondie
- increase the fat (in this recipe, the butter)
- small amount of leavening (baking soda or powder)
- no eggs (in traditional baking recipes, eggs often add leavening and height)
Half the recipe:
- 6 tablespoons brown sugar
- 6 tablespoons dairy free butter
- ¼ cup pumpkin puree
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons gluten free all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon)
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon Himalayan sea salt
Prepare according to instructions and transfer to small loaf pans or a pan that is air fryer safe and will fit in the air fryer. Bake for 20 minutes and check if done / air fry for 15 and check if done.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
9Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 213Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 189mgCarbohydrates: 22gFiber: 1gSugar: 14gProtein: 2g
nutrition calculations results vary by calculator, are for informational purposes only, and are not intended to replace medical advice or treatment.
about Kristina:
Kristina is spabettie! She found cooking at an early age, and created spabettie in 2010 to share vegan recipes. Kristina turned her culinary training into sharing vibrant vegan food! Read more...
spabettie / Kristina Sloggett 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.
Christa says
Oh YUM! These look amazing 🙂 I love it when gf baking works, there have been many times when it just hasn't been 'quite right' in my kitchen. I'm definitely going to try the blondies very soon.
spabettie says
Oh, Christa, do I know what you mean!! It has been years of trial and error... many error. 😉
Camille says
I've never made toffee either, but I have zero patience, so this might not be an idea recipe for me 🙂
It looks really good though!
spabettie says
I hear ya on the patience thing. I am also stubborn though, so I needed to have a success !! 😀
couchpotatoathlete says
I'm not a huge toffee fan, but these look delicious!!!
My favorite cookie is the peanut butter cookie with the kiss in the middle. I love them!
spabettie says
Hi Holly !! I love those pb / kiss cookies too... totally remind me of childhood. 😀
Mo@MommyRD says
Oh.My! Must.make.immediately!
spabettie says
oh, yes, you should !! 😀 and a hint? I wish I would have doubled the batch... 😉
Anna @ Blissful Whimsy says
wow these do sound so delicious! i've been wondering, what is Earth Balance???
spabettie says
Hi Anna! Earth Balance is a vegan butter substitute... and the one I use is soy free also. I love it !
Heather (Where's the Beach) says
Um, yum. I've never had a blondie. I'm not a chocolate fan so I don't care for brownies but have a sneaking suspicion I'd love blondies. I think I could go for one right now actually 😉
spabettie says
oh, Heather... you need to make these. or give me your address. 😉
Pam says
Oh my!....Hubby and I love blondies...are fav! Thank you for the recipe! Hugs!
spabettie says
aren't blondies SO good? 🙂 hugs to you, Pam !!
nocemoscata says
It seems delicious even to me that I don't like toffees. They are too sweet for may taste! 😛
My favorite cookies... well, this is a good question. I don't know exactly because there are too many good cookies and from many traditions... Maybe the Italian almond cookies and the chocolate cookies are my favorite(put chocolate into something and make me happy!!!) but I'm not sure. You know, this is a good idea: one of my future recipes will be a cookie one so I can try to determine my taste about cookies! (always a good excuse to eat of course) 😀
spabettie says
oh, good ! I would love to see a cookie recipe on your blog!! 🙂 I love the italian almond cookies too!
lindsay says
blondies are my favorite, just below oatmeal raisin and snickerdoodles. But I think the toffee blondies here just might take an up on that!!
spabettie says
yep, I think I cannot have a blondie without toffee now... 😉 I can basically only eat raisins if they are in an oatmeal cookie.
Di @ http://thetreadmilldiaries.com/ says
Ooh. These look great. My all-time favorite cookies - it's a tie between walnut chocolate chip and Italian lemon cookies.
spabettie says
oh, yes! lemon cookies are fabulous too!