Original Blondie, vegan, gluten-free

Elizabeth D Blogs
The creator of Elizabeth D bakes - the award-winning plant-based and gluten-free bakery brand - shares her recipes old and new.

I am full of stories and there is a big pile of recipes ripe for sharing. Each recipe has multiple journeys as they variously get baked, tweaked, reformulated, cast aside and then re-welcomed into the fold. There are also multiple life stories connected to these recipes, some are ready to tell, others not so much.

Last year my bakery business, Elizabeth D bakes, shut its doors. I will talk about the hows and whys of this – a combination of the bizarre times we have been living in plus a series of mistakes on my part. It is a cautionary tale and some of it is truly hilarious. As I begin to cope better with the string of losses attached to this – when it gets funnier in my head - I shall share it in gritty detail as a How Not To for founders, entrepreneurs, women setting up in business and food producers.

But in the meantime, I have had a stream of soul restoring requests from former customers asking for recipes. This reached a crescendo during Thanksgiving and Christmas 2022 when customers realised the pies – one of the things we had become known for - had vanished from Wholefoods.

So the first series of stories I am going to tell are the recipes you are asking for. In some cases I have changed them and – in the spirit of each recipe being a journey – I will share the original and why and how it is changing. I will also do my very best to give credit where it is due when it has been inspired by or adapted from another source (I have never met an original recipe).

Please do not let new ingredients put you off. I realise that it is popular to promote simplicity, cooking from the larder, making magic from a few things. And in spirit I wholeheartedly embrace the concept that we should cook from scratch more, waste less, use what we have and make it wonderful. But we are increasingly spoiled by information and access to ingredients from the plant-based world which are good for us and do amazing things when combined properly. Most importantly they add diversity to our diets and inspire our baking. So let's transform the larder and when access or cost is a problem, think about substitutions that can work.

Elizabeth D Bakes Blondie

(plant-based & gluten-free)

In 2018, I wanted to add new bars or brownies to my range at Wholefoods because the vegan pistachio and the dulce de leche were so popular. At this point, I was focussing more and more on plant-based.

To make my blondie, I looked at others I loved and immediately turned to Ovenly's superb honey blondie. First I replaced the honey with maple syrup to make it vegan-friendly. Over time there were a large number of other changes that were required to make it a plant-based and gluten-free recipe, so it no longer bears much resemblance to the wonderful NY based bakery's original at all. But the idea of combining something thick and syrupy with brown sugar and dark chocolate chips was definitely inspired by them.

There is no question that this is the stand-out super sweet product in the range. Since then, I have had a go at reducing the sugar whilst retaining yumminess. Both versions are here for you to choose. You might also want to try the variation on the theme which is keto-friendly which will be the next blog post.                                                                                       

     

                                                                       Ingredients

    25g Ground flaxseeds
    60 ml Water
    90 ml Coconut oil (melted)
    200 g Light brown sugar
    100 ml Pure maple syrup
    35 ml Coconut milk
    5 ml Cider vinegar
    2 teaspoons Vanilla
    1 teaspoon Sea salt
    260 g Plain gluten-free flour blend
    (I use Dove's Farm)
    75 g Dark chocolate chips

For lower sugar version

125 g Light brown sugar

75 ml Pure maple syrup

Add: 75 g Chicory root powder (inulin)

Method

Preheat oven to 180 (160 fan assisted). Brush a little melted coconut oil in the bottom and sides of an 10" x 10" (25cm) brownie tin and line with baking paper.

Combine the flaxseeds and water and set aside until the seeds have soaked up all the water (10 minutes).

In the bowl of a stand mixer (this can all be done by hand if you prefer), add coconut oil, brown sugar, maple syrup, coconut milk and the flax/water combination. Mix until very smooth. Add the vanilla and cider vinegar and mix well. Add the flour and salt. This will resemble a loose cookie dough. Stir or mix through the chocolate chips. Spread evenly in the prepared tin and bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool completely before cutting. These will keep for 2 - 3 weeks if stored in an airtight container.

Coming this week

Keto blondie bars with vanilla ice cream (plant-based, gluten-free)