Applesauce Blondies
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My applesauce blondies are soft and gooey, with warming apple pie spices laced throughout. Made with 5 ingredients, one bowl, and no white flour or eggs!
Why I love this recipe
When fall comes around, applesauce becomes a staple ingredient for me. The key word is ingredient, because applesauce on its own reminds me of baby food.
I find it works best in desserts, and these apple blondies are a firm favorite. I loosely adapted my peanut butter blondies, swapping the nut butter for applesauce. Applesauce adds moisture and subtle sweetness, and it means I don’t need to use eggs or oil. Here’s why I love them:
- One bowl. Because let’s be real… fewer dishes are always better.
- Naturally gluten-free. I swap white sugar and flour for maple syrup and coconut flour.
- Easy to customize. I’ll be honest- I kept these blondies as simple as possible. You can add in chocolate chips, nuts, flavor extracts, or other spices.
Table of Contents
Key Ingredients & substitutions
Here’s what you’ll need, along with my kitchen notes. Full measurements are in the recipe card below.
- Unsweetened applesauce. Make sure it’s 100% unsweetened. Sweetened applesauce can make the blondies too sweet and too soft in the center.
- Almond butter. For richness and texture. Feel free to swap it for other nut or seed butter (my partner loves these with cashew butter).
- Maple syrup. Adds sweetness and keeps the blondies gooey and fudgy. Honey works, but it can be a little overpowering.
- Coconut flour. This helps to hold the blondies together. Almond or oat flour works, but double the amount, since coconut flour is much more absorbent.
- Apple pie spice. Use packaged apple pie spice or make your own (I’ll include my mix in the recipe card).
- Brown sugar. Optional, but I sometimes sprinkle a tablespoon or two over the top before baking for a sweet crust.
Variations
- For added apple flavor, fold in some diced fresh apples into the batter.
- For less intense apple flavor, omit the apple pie spice.
- Drizzle the apple blondies with some caramel sauce for a delicious caramel apple flavor.
How to make apple blondies
Step 1- Prep. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and line an 8×8-inch baking pan with parchment paper.
Step 2- Mix the batter. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients and stir until a thick mixture is formed.
Step 3- Bake. Transfer to the prepared baking dish and top with sugar if using. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted comes out mostly clean.
Step 4- Cool and slice. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Refrigerate for at least an hour before slicing.
Arman’s recipe tips
- Remove from the oven while they look undercooked. These blondies firm up as they cool down, so don’t rely on a toothpick.
- Enjoy straight from the fridge. I recommend refrigerating them and enjoying them cold. Something about the texture just works.
- Make thicker/cakier blondies. These are very soft and gooey, so if you like corner pieces or more stability, add an extra tablespoon of coconut flour.
Storage instructions
To store: Store leftover blondies in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two weeks.
To freeze: Freeze blondies in a freezer-safe container for up to six months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before enjoying.
More applesauce desserts
Applesauce Blondies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 cup almond butter can sub for any nut or seed butter
- 1/4 cup coconut flour * See notes
- 3-4 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon apple pie spice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and line an 8 x 8-inch pan with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix very well until a very thick batter is formed.
- Transfer to the greased baking dish and top with a granulated sweetener of choice (optional). Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, or until the tops are golden.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Refrigerate for at least an hour before slicing.
just made these and holy wow. They are amazing. I used sunflower seed butter and honey so the taste was a little different, but either way they are amazing and will be getting me through midterms.
🙂 If you don’t ace your mid-terms, we can blame these bars 😀
I made these yesterday and followed the instructions but was only able to fill a 9×9 pan about a half inch. Yours seem thicker. I also didn’t know the ratio for apple pie spice and figured my local bulk store would have it premade. They didn’t, so I settled for a pumpkin spice since I’m assuming some kind of “fall” seasoning would suffice. Regardless, they still turned out nice and tasty for being a healthy treat. I know its your motto not to sacrifice flavour so it’s great when it doesn’t feel like healthy food but it is. Again, something else enjoyable that will help me avoid sugar and carbs.
Hi Jen! Definitely use a smaller pan for thicker blondies! I’m glad you were able to substitute the spice mix 🙂
Hi, I made these exactly following the recipe and they had the best flavour but unfortunately they turned out really crumbly 🙁 Should I have baked them for less time or made the batter less thick?
Hi Emily! It sounds like your coconut flour was one of the more durable ones- In those instances, it’s best to up the applesauce a tad or bake a little less 🙂
How do you make the topping on these?
Hi Rhonda! I just sprinkled it lightly with cinnamon and granulated sweetener 🙂
They look so delicious. I love apple pie flavoured anything! What a hard life your taste testers must have….. ;O)
Cheers, Mel! 😀 Come visit Australia, I’ll make a batch of this 😀
Hi!
I am currently on an elimination diet per the doctors orders (no gluten, dairy, added salt/sugar and many other things!) so I was excited to try your recipe today!
I substituted the maple syrup for raw honey, the coconut flour for almond flour and the peanut butter for raw almond butter. Unfortunately mine came out tastey, but pretty flat and dry. I used a packed 1/4 cup of almond flour and had it in the oven for 30 minutes in an 8×8 pan.
Would you have any ideas as to what went wrong? I’d like to make the recipe again because it looks so delicious!
Hi Kristen! unfortunately, coconut flour is key here so that is why I suspect it didn’t turn out well! It’s supposed to be very soft and fudgy!
Hi! I am planning to try this awesome looking recipe tonight!! Even though it’s not even fall 🙂 Are you totally vegan? Because I am wondering what might happen if I added an egg to this?
Thanks!
Hahahaha I LOVE that- I’m already keen to whip out the pumpkin! I’m not vegan (I LOVE Brazilian BBQ!) but haven’t tried this with an egg, sorry!
Hi! How do you make the golden drizzle? I don’t see any instructions…
Hi Adaria! I used a homemade caramel sauce 🙂
Do you think I could sub casein protein for the coconut flour? Would you suggest any modifications if I did try it? Thanks!
Hi Aryn! I’m sorry, I’ve never tried subbing it out in that method- Let me know if you do try it and it works 🙂
These look super delicious! Coconut flour adds such a nice flavour to everything.
I can’t wait to try this! Does T stand for tablespoon or teaspoon?
Hi Belzina! 🙂 It sure does- so that would be 15 mls 🙂
Syrup is sugar is a carb ? Just saying .. will try it later today.
Hi Penelope- Syrup (the one used here) is refined sugar free! 🙂 This recipe never stated to be low carb though- Apologies if you got that notion!
Enjoy! 🙂
Could almond flour be used as a substitute for the coconut flour?
Hi!! I haven’t tried it with almond flour- You could try it and see (I’d double the almond flour- Coconut flour is like a sponge!)