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!)
Peanut Butter Blondies (Flourless!)
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!
Hey megan!
I wasnt sure where to start my own thread so i decided to write through a reply. Ive been making a bunch of your recipes and my hubby is loving everything i make! However, I tried making these blondies but after i put all the ingredients the consistency is just too thick and doesnt pour out like your picture shows. Any tips on making it like your batter? ive tried buying different organic peanut butters and even adding coconut oil… no luck PLEASE HELP! and thank you so so much for all your other wonderful healthy recipes that have been a success in our home!
Hi, I am a type 2 diabetic. Do you have a substitute for the honey? Stevia or possibly splenda brown sugar blend? I have had this recipe sitting on my counter for over a week but do not know what to use in place of the honey.
what is the shelf life? do they have to stay in fridge?
Can I replace the honey with Ripe Banana? or is there another sweetener like stevia?
This recipe is my definition of PERFECTION! I’ve done them twice (once with peanut butter and the other with almond butter) and everybody loved them.
I can’t wait to eat these, they are in the oven right now 🙂
For the people who wanted them vegan, I am trying 1 Tablespoon of ground flaxseed with 3 Tablespoons of oil since my peanut butter was not too oily. I also added .25 cup of almond butter and 1 tablespoon of vanilla. Curious as to how the come out. The batter reminded me of reeses pieces so we will see 🙂 Thanks for the great recipes!
Yum! Just made this… delicious!
These are outstanding! I used a very ripe banana in place of the egg. I also doused in about 1tsp of vanilla. Excellent snack for my daughter! Looking forward to trying without chocolate chips.
Hi!
I just made these last night and they are wonderful! A definite 5 star recipe for anyone who has a serious sweet tooth! I’m planning on taking them on our trip to see family this Thanksgiving so I can have something for dessert.
Thank you very much for sharing this!
We love these at our house. My boys now get out the ingredients and make them start to finish themselves. They often complain that my healthy snacks are not “cool” enough for their friends, but they proudly share these with guests. Thanks for your great site, I always look here to find things I can feel good about eating and that my kids and husband will eat!
As my darling husband napped, I prepared this recipe. The aroma in the house is aMAzing… can hardly wait for ‘desert. TYSM for this recipe. I Know it will become a Staple in our home. <3
Thank you Thank you! I had to adapt a bit, as a diabetic… but with a few substitutions, Swerve for honey and Dark Chocolate (70%) for chips… this was incredible. I can’t wait to try it with Almond Butter and maybe even Hazelnut Butter. Shockingly we didn’t eat the whole batch in one sitting. Almost though! Wonderful.
I just made this for the first time for my husband, who is also diabetic. At the nutrition class he took, he was told to limit his carb intake to 60 grams (max) carbs per meal and 12 grams (max) carbs per snack.
I calculated the carb content of these blondies. For one square (assuming you are getting 16 squares from this recipe), you are consuming roughly 10-12 grams of carbs. The entire recipe comes out to about 160 grams of carbs, with about 93 of those grams coming from the 1/3 cup of honey. I personally try to avoid sugar substitutes, since there are no long-term studies that bear out their effects in humans. Even following the recipe faithfully, one serving is sweet enough, satisfyingly rich, and within the given carbohydrate allowance for an adult with diabetes mellitus.
Megan, this is the second “grain-free” recipe of yours that I’ve tried. My husband loves both, so I love you. Happy New Year!
I REALLY want to make these for my man.. BUT we cant use Honey.. is there any way to use powdered stevia? cant use any kind of sugar.. 🙁
Thank you so much for all these amazing recipes.. So excited to make some of them !!
These are very tasty. I have a question though about this and all the desserts with almond butter base. So far, I’ve made these blondies, the raspberry chocochip muffins, and the pumpkin bars and they all come out with a similar “souffle” sort of fluffy texture and eggy sorta note to them. They look great and taste great, but was wondering if this was normal. I’m new to cooking sans flour!
It is funny – when I started my grain free journey awhile ago you were my first fantastic find. Somehow though I lost track of your site as I found more and more resources. What a mistake that was. Just made these – I just hope there are some left when the others get home from work. Or I could just make a second pan.
Glad to be back – and this time I am not going anyplace!
These were simply great! Satisfied my never ending craving for flour and sugar and butter-laden chocolate chip cookies.
I have to admit that I was skeptical as to how good these would be, even though the picture and the reviews were good. THESE ARE DELICIOUS!! I used almond butter, carob chips and flax “egg” and I couldn’t stop eating them! A hit with my family also. Thanks for sharing this and I look forward to trying all of your other dessert ideas.
Just what I needed! Thanks Megan 🙂 I am lactose/milk intolerant and also am in the process of converting to an all natural diet. This recipe worked perfectly and is absolutely delicious. I made them last night and they were very dry and crumbly but after leaving them in the fridge over night, they are now a perfect texture, no longer dry or crumbly and have just the right amount of creaminess between the chocolate and the peanut butter. I did use 1/2 cup almond and 1/2 cup peanut butter instead of all peanut and also took a bar of milk-free dark chocolate and broke it into pieces to equal the 1/2 cup of chips. I am happy to have a new sweet-tooth recipe to satisfy my never-ending cravings!
I stumbled upon this website and so happy I did. I just made this and had thick peanut butter. So I did 3/4 cup like the comments said and added a 1/2 teaspoon of canola oil and they turned out so awesome and soft. I could not stop eating it. 🙂
Made these superbowl Sunday & would have eaten the whole pan if I didn’t want my other guests to try them so bad. When still a little warm I think are the best but ate them the next day too and are fantastic. I was coming off a juice cleanse so it was a good way to start on solids again! Will double the recipe next time for sure. Hoping to still do them in 8″ pan & have them be a little more like “regular” sized brownies – might add another egg for loft???
These look delicious but just in case anyone is looking at making these for someone on the SCD, chocolate is not an allowed food.
These are amazingly delicious and ridiculously easy! Approved by all who have tasted them (4 adults and 9 children). These are my go to dessert now. Thank you Megan!
Hello, I made the brownies exactly how the recipe read and it was a disaster my bater did not look anything like the picture. It was very crumbly. Where did I go wrong?
Thank you.
Tried it yesterday and it was amazing!!! Seriously I had to keep myself from eating the whole thing in one sitting! I did switch 1/2 of the peanut butter for tahini and used a banana instead of an egg to keep it vegan. It held together beautifully and the gooeyness was unreal!! Thank you so much for creating such amazing recipes 🙂
Oh my goodness, I just put a batch of these in the oven for the.. *ahem* ..third time this week. WOW, they are soooo yummy! Peanut butter + chocolate is my all-time favorite combo, so I’m in love with these blondies. Thank you for all your recipes and for making them healthy, easy to make, and delicious! Please keep them coming! 🙂
Absolutely Ah-Mazing!!! We love these and they are soooo easy. Thank you!!
OMG! I swear these are from heaven!!!!!!!! Best thing I ever ate!!!!!
I made these last week, but changed a couple things. I added a 4 oz. bar, melted, of 100% chocolate and substituted a xylitol product for the honey. They turned out great. Honestly, though, I’m done with the xylitol since it was the last bit in the pantry. Next time I’m using honey.
It’s better your way. With honey, that is. The xylitol dried them out too much, though they did taste good. Unfortunately, with honey they are almost too delicious! I’m using the highest cocoa content chips I can find locally and a popular brand of peanut butter that has nothing but peanuts and salt as ingredients. (Unlike some ‘natural’ brands that still have sugar as the second ingredient.) Back of the napkin calculations put the macronutrient ratio at 60% fats, 25% carbs, and 15% proteins, give or take a few. These treats don’t spike my blood sugar too bad, but I’m pretty sure they knock me out of ketosis. Still beats the heck out of a popular chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve been making since I was a kid. I’m glad I found a way to treat myself without eating wheat (and way less sugar than regular cookies).
These came out perfect! I read all the other comments before making them . Once my batter was ready it seemed a little thick so I added a bit of olive oil to thin it out . Next time I’ll use less peanut butter if usinf the same brand. Texture and density was amazing I can’t believe they have no flour.
Made theses with sunflower seed butter and added a teaspoon of cocoa powder and a few sliced almonds. Yummy! Cooked fully in 15 minutes. I began to smell them, checked, and they were done….could have stopped a minute earlier. Thank you for the great recipes!
I am sooooo glad I found your website. I have made several recipes this week and can’t wait to try some more. THANK YOU!!!
Added cinnamon! That’s the secret to slam bam these blindsides home! Mmm!!
I am trying these today
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I made these today and it was a hit 🙂
How many calories and sodium per blondie? Thank you!
Do yo think this would still be good if I added one banana? And if I did should I alter the amount for the other ingredients?
These were so good! I confess I ate nearly half the recipe… Oops! Anyways I did make some modifications because I don’t eat peanut butter (I’m convinced they give me acne). I used a combination of sunflower seed butter, almond cashew butter and almond butter… But I only used 3/4 cup because the butters I used were near the bottom of the jar or generally just not very oily. So I replaced the remaining 1/4 cup with melted coconut oil. I used a combination of honey and maple syrup. I also added a little vanilla and cinnamon on a whimsy; not sure how much of a difference it made. And I definitely included the chocolate chips! Yum! These are not as dense/chewy/cakey as a normal brownie but definitely gooey and moist and just plain delicious. I don’t know if they would be denser without so much oil but doesn’t matter. So amazing and would definitely make again! It’s a great recipe to experiment with too.
These tasted wonderful! I made them yesterday for our weekly game night, and they were gone in seconds, with everyone raving about how good they were. Since I am a vegan, I substituted a flax egg and they turned out great, with no hint of a flax taste.
Hi Megan!
I’m planning on making this recipe tonight for my co-workers to enjoy tomorrow. You used at 8×8 pan, I was planning on using an 8.5×13 pan. Do you think I can double the ingredients or should I just increase all the ingredients by a 1/3? Also, after increasing the amount, do you have any tips for baking time?
I’m still fairly new to baking deserts, I usually just do cookies.
Thank you for the wonderful recipes, I love your site!
i made this, and they were delish. i used flax instead of egg.
Thank you for your wonderful website! When my husband went gluten free/dairy free I was paralyzed with fear. Your website got me cooking again. Made these as well as many other recipes and they were amazing. I subbed in a banana for half the honey and reduced the PB by about 1/6 of a cup. Loved it! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
Can I skip the chocolate?
Absolutely!
Tried these at a friend’s house and had to make them myself! Sad to say, we did not have ANY chocolate chips in the house, so I added a heaping teaspoon of cocoa powder and upped the honey a bit for more liquid. The batter tasted amazing! They’re baking right now!
I tried these for the second time today. The first time they were too dry, so this time I tried a pb brand that is very oily and runny (Trader Joe’s organic creamy). They are still way too dry and crumbly…I’ll definitely be adding an extra egg (or two) if I decide to try it again.
Maybe try lessening the baking time?
Made these last night, they were amazing! Thanks so much for all your great recipes 🙂
Has anyone figured out the nutritional info on these amazing things? Would be greatly appreciated!
I’m not a fan of counting calories while eating real food, but I have to keep track of my protein count at the moment. I use the free app My Fitness Pal and add the ingredients to a recipe and state how many servings it makes and it will calculate the nutritional info for you.
Followed the recipe exactly only I didn’t add salt. My batter was more of a cookie dough, I was worried they would be dry but they turned out moist, chewy and delicious.I will be making these constantly, soooo insanely good.
Yummy! Do you have nutrition info for these?
Hi Megan, I love your web and these blondies:-) however, I would Luke to asi you something. Yesterday I made blondies and I do not know why – when I was combining the ingredients, peanut butter released peanut oil. Firstly in the bowl and then also during baking. I have no idea what I did wrong, I baked it at least 10 times without aby problems. Have you got aby idea what the problem could have been? Thank you very much 🙂 Jana
Mine don’t look golden brown and delicious