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This Peanut Butter Blondie recipe is as easy as it gets, calling for only 6 ingredients that you probably already have on hand. They are unbelievably decadent, while being naturally-sweetened and flourless!
What’s the Difference Between a Brownie and a Blondie?
If you’re not familiar with “blondies,” they are basically brownies without cocoa powder added in. They remind me of a deep dish cookie, with more of a buttery, brown sugar flavor. And they’re even more like a deep dish cookie when you add in some chocolate chips!
How to Make Gluten-Free Blondies
These peanut butter blondies are naturally gluten-free because they use NO flour– and you don’t even miss it! They are inspired by the book Breaking the Vicious Cycle, which lays out guidelines for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (also called SCD, for short).
This special diet may help to heal the intestine (including yeast overgrowth, like candida) through avoiding certain types of starches and sugars, while embracing others. Honey is one of the recommended sweeteners for the SCD, as it’s a monosaccharide, and can be used by the body very quickly without expending much digestive energy.
I’ve also included a vegan option using coconut sugar if you prefer to use that. (You can find my substitution notes directly under the printable recipe in this post.)
How to Make Them
Making these flourless peanut butter blondies couldn’t be easier. Simply stir together the peanut butter, honey, egg, salt, and baking soda, and pour it into a pan to bake.
Just 20 minutes later, it’s like a rich deep-dish cookie!
I like to add some dark chocolate chips to these for extra decadence, but that’s totally optional. (And chocolate is not SCD compliant if you follow that protocol.)
It’s important that you let these blondies cool completely before slicing and serving them. They are very tender when they are warm, and will be difficult to hold without them breaking.
I recommend placing them in the fridge to cool down faster, and I even keep mine stored in the fridge because they last longer that way.
Which Peanut Butter is Best for Blondies?
I use all-natural peanut butter when making this recipe, which has no added oil or sugar. (You can make homemade peanut butter in just 5 minutes, too!)
If you want to use a peanut butter like Jif or Skippy, that will most likely work, too, but I haven’t tested those myself. (But let me know if you try it so I can hear how it goes for you!)
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-natural peanut butter (preferably organic)
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1 whole egg
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt , plus coarse salt if desired as a topping
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and line an 8" square pan with parchment paper. (Pro Tip: Grease the pan with a little spray oil first to help keep the parchment paper in place when you add the batter)
- In a mixing bowl, combine the peanut butter, honey, egg, salt and baking soda and stir well, until a thick and sticky batter has formed. Fold in the dark chocolate chips, if using.
- Use a spatula to pour the batter into the prepared pan, then use it to smooth the top. Sprinkle coarse sea salt over the top of the batter, if desired. (I highly recommend it!)
- Bake at 350ºF until the top is a light golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let the blondies cool completely, as they are very fragile when warm, then cut into squares and serve. I like to store mine in the fridge in an airtight container, for a really firm texture and longer shelf life.
Video
Nutrition
How to Make Vegan Blondies:
To make this recipe vegan, replace the egg with a chia egg, and replace the honey with 1/2 cup of coconut sugar. Check out my Almond Butter Blondies, which are naturally vegan & paleo friendly for this method.
As always, feel free to experiment with other nut butters and sweeteners. If you try something different, please leave a comment below letting me know what worked for you! We can all benefit from your experience.
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Reader Feedback: What’s your favorite healthy sweetener? Dates have been my other go-to sweetener lately, so be sure to try my Date-Sweetened Brownies and Date-Sweetened Peanut Butter Cookies!
Could you use the same amount of maple syrup instead of honey for this recipe?
They will probably turn out a little more wet that way, and not quite as sweet as using honey, but I think they should hold together still!
Used cocoa powder instead of chocolate chips, kakato fiber sweetner in place of honey, and coconut oil to help thin out the batter to a choc chip cough dough consistency. Added course sea salt and cocoa nibs for topping. Did a half and half all natural creamy pb and half crunchy. Turned out awesome!
I have cancer, endometriosis, fibromyalgia, digestion issues. This site give me wonderful ideas to still be able to enjoy the foods I like, just made into much healthier versions to cut out all the inflammation!
I learned how unhealthy and processed our diets are in america.. Its making millions so sick. My healing journey began with cleaning up my diet. Thank you♡ ever so greatful♡
Can you add protein powder to recipe?
WE , my 8 year old grand daughter used your recipe for blonde PB cookies and I must say they were very good.
I’m glad you both enjoyed them! Thanks for coming back to let me know– I really appreciate it!
I mean…how is this even possible with no flour?! Absolutely amazing. Used a combo of PB and Sunbutter as that’s all we had in the pandemic pantry. These were delish! Thank you 🙂
Awesome recipe. JIF worked great
Made these didn’t have enough to spread in the baking pan so made another batch to add to the mixture. I didn’t have enough of the organic peanut butter so I used regular to fill the rest up but it turned out great.
Tried this with stevia since my friend has a condition in which she can’t have ANY sugars, monosaccharides or no. I had to had about a tablespoon of chickpea flour and an extra egg, as well as 1/3 coconut oil to make the consistency a bit softer. They’re still in the oven at the moment, but the way they’re rising looks great. Thank you for the recipe!
These are always what I make whenever I need cookies or something (aka always)
I use maple syrup since I don’t like honey and it works wonderfully!
I found the blondies burned on the bottom at 350 for 20 minutes….I think I’ll try 325 next time; however they were delicious (and we ate them with the overly brown bottom and all lol)