Will it blondie?
May 9, 2024 1:10 PM   Subscribe

I have a favourite, workshopped to hell and back, endlessly adaptable gluten free brownie recipe. I want to make blondies.

Can I do something to my beloved brownie recipe? (I assume you can’t just leave out the cocoa and not add anything back in)

Failing that, do you have a beloved simple blondie recipe? Preferably one that doesn’t call for white chocolate or lemon?
posted by cabbage raccoon to Food & Drink (11 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
I don't have an answer, I would just really like to know what that recipe is because I recently had to stop eating gluten. Thank you. I will now lurk and wait for a blondie option because I would prefer that to a brownie, all things being equal.
posted by Tomorrowful at 1:19 PM on May 9, 2024 [5 favorites]


We probably have to see the recipe in order to come up with ideas. My ignorant suggestion would be something with ground almonds. There are some Italian almond-based cookies that are brownie-adjacent.
posted by mumimor at 1:30 PM on May 9, 2024 [2 favorites]


I adore the blondie recipe in Stella Parks’ Bravetart, which does have a gluten-free option. But it does call for white chocolate.
posted by graphweaver at 1:36 PM on May 9, 2024


Response by poster: My recipe is based on this one, with some tweaks I like to keep close to my chest or else I won't be able to impress people at dinner parties anymore
posted by cabbage raccoon at 1:50 PM on May 9, 2024 [2 favorites]


According to this, technique is different for blondies (mix butter and sugar to start, more like how most cookies start). And a quick look at brownie and blonde recipes from King Arthur (page 2 has gluten and grain free options but I can't vouch for them beyond finding that KA recipes are generally very good) suggests you'll need more flour for blondies.
posted by EvaDestruction at 2:00 PM on May 9, 2024


Best answer: Brownies and blondies aren't actually equivalent things; blondies are way closer to a cookie, while brownies are closer to a cake (or a fudge, depending on your recipe!). It's pretty tricky to convert one to the other. If you just added cocoa powder to a blondies recipe you also wouldn't get a brownie either -- you would have to adjust the flour and oils as well.

If you're up for more workshopping I would suggest removing the cocoa, upping whatever you're using for flour -- if you're measuring your flour by weight that's the best way -- and increasing the brown sugar a fair bit.

But really easiest would be to start workshopping the hell out of some GF blondie recipes.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 2:03 PM on May 9, 2024 [6 favorites]


Best answer: I make these with GF AP at least once a month to rave reviews. They’ve never turned out badly. You can use whatever chocolate chip you want, they’re great with dark.

https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/best-ever-blondies/
posted by joycehealy at 2:42 PM on May 9, 2024 [2 favorites]


I don't know about GF, but I do want to mention that browning your butter instead of just melting for blondies makes them better.
posted by vunder at 3:31 PM on May 9, 2024 [4 favorites]


Best answer: My guess is that you could perhaps just leave out the cocoa, but leaving out the chocolate chips is a whole other thing because of their fat content. If you are up for experiments, try adding 2 extra tablespoons of butter and 1/2 cup of almond flour (or very finely ground almonds) to replace the cocoa and the chocolate chips.
Technically, you should also add more sugar because the chocolate chips also have sugar, but I'd wait with this if using almond flour. If using normal GF flour, I would add 1/2 cup more sugar.
The reason I am so keen on almonds is for texture. It could be any ground up nut, like pecans or cashews. Just adding more flour will make it more cookie-ish.
posted by mumimor at 7:50 AM on May 10, 2024 [1 favorite]


Blondies rely on brown sugar for a flavour base instead of cocoa or chocolate, so I don't think just omitting chocolate from a brownie recipe would work.

I've been making these blondies from Smitten Kitchen forever, and the recipe has never let me down no matter what mix ins I've tried. The recipe as written isn't gluten free but there are tons of comments outlining ways people have successfully adapted it to be.
posted by peppermind at 6:15 AM on May 11, 2024


Response by poster: In case anyone is curious and finds this in the future, it did in fact blondie! I took the recipe linked above, browned the butter, subbed chopped walnuts for the chocolate chips, and subbed chestnut flour for the cocoa powder. They were fantabulous, butterscotchy, and made me way less sad that I’m not permitted chocolate at the moment.
posted by cabbage raccoon at 7:13 AM on May 23, 2024 [1 favorite]


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