As I write this, Milly and I are sitting here watching The Incredible Hulk, my turkey chili is simmering on the stove and once Tony gets home we’ll settle in for our dinner and enjoy one of these incredible blondies (k maybe two).
In all honesty, these are one of my favorite blondie recipes of all time. Simply because I CAN’T STOP eating them. The toasty sweet flavor of pecans is unbelievable.
When I created these blondies for the first time, I was in a euphoric state of mind. Sounds dramatic, but I don’t know how else to explain how amazing, fudgy and addicting they truly are.
Ingredients in these grain free pecan blondies
There’s something truly magical about these pecan blondies. They’re fudgy and decadent while still being completely gluten free, dairy free, and refined sugar free. Here’s what you’ll need to make them:
- Pecans: you’ll toast raw pecans and use them to make your own pecan butter for the blondie batter. SO GOOD. I also like to place some pecans on top of the blondies for a pretty look.
- Sweetener: these pecan blondies are naturally sweetened with coconut sugar and pure maple syrup.
- Eggs: you’ll need 2 eggs to help the blondies bake up.
- Flour: a little bit of coconut flour helps the blondies hold together while still being fudgy.
- Baking staples: don’t forget the baking soda, salt, and vanilla extract. Learn how to make your own vanilla here!
- Chocolate chips: mix chocolate chips into the batter and add them to the top of the blondies for extra fudge factor. I also like to sprinkle fancy sea salt on top!
Optional ingredient swaps
These pecan blondies are perfect as is (trust me) but there are a few simple swaps that should work well:
- Choose your nut butter: I LOVE the toasty, unique flavor of homemade pecan butter in this recipe, but feel free to use natural, drippy almond butter or cashew butter.
- Swap the coconut sugar: feel free to use brown sugar instead.
Can I make them vegan?
I think these blondies should work by using two flax eggs instead of regular eggs. Be sure to also use dairy free chocolate chips, and let me know in the comments if you try it!
Two ways to toast your pecans
- Stovetop method: Add your pecans to a pan and place over medium heat, stirring occasionally for 2-5 minutes until pecans are slightly golden brown. Remove from heat and allow to cool before pulsing them in your food processor to make the pecan butter.
- Oven method: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place pecans on a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes until fragrant and golden brown, stirring once halfway through baking. Watch carefully so that the nuts do not burn!
Gluten free pecan blondies in
- Make the pecan butter. Toast your pecans using the stovetop or oven method, let them cool, then add them to the bowl of your food processor. Process, scrape down the sides, and process again until they reach a smooth, creamy texture like any natural nut butter.
- Mix the batter. Add 1 cup of the pecan butter to a large bowl, and mix in the rest of the wet ingredients until smooth. Stir in the coconut flour, baking soda, and salt, then fold in the chocolate chips.
- Pour, top & bake. Pour the batter into an 8×8 inch pan lined with parchment paper, top with chocolate chips and extra pecans, and bake until barely golden brown on the edges. Sprinkle with fancy sea salt if you’d like!
- Cool & enjoy. Let the blondies cool before cutting into them, then enjoy!
Storing & freezing tips
- To store: I’d recommend leaving the pecan blondies on the counter for no more than a day or two and then storing them covered in the refrigerator. They’re especially delicious straight from the fridge!
- To freeze: allow the blondies to cool completely, then cut them as directed. Wrap individual blondies in plastic wrap, then in foil or a reusable bag such as Stasher bags. Freeze for up to 3 months.
More grain free treats you’ll love
- Grain Free Tahini Brownies
- Grain Free Chocolate Chunk Skillet Cookie (vegan + paleo)
- Healthy Peanut Butter Twix Bars (vegan & gluten free)
- Grain Free Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
- Fudgy Almond Butter Blondies
Get all of my grain free desserts here!
I hope you love these fudgy grain free pecan blondies! If you make them be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked them. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Grain Free Salted Chocolate Chip Pecan Blondies
Ingredients
- For the batter:
- 2 ½ cups raw pecan halves
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons coconut flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup chocolate chips (dairy free if desired)
- For topping:
- ¼ cup chopped raw pecans
- 2 tablespoons chocolate chips (dairy free if desired)
- Fancy sea salt, for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the 2 ½ cups of raw pecan halves on small baking sheet. Toast in the oven for 8 minutes, but watch carefully so the nuts do not burn. Once done toasting, allow nuts to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet. Keep heat in oven.
- Line a 8x8 inch baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Add the roasted pecans to the bowl of a food processor and process for 5 minutes, scraping down the sides as necessary. At this point the pecan should start to clump together, so continue to process until you reach a smoothie consistency similar to peanut or almond butter.
- Measure out exactly 1 cup of the homemade pecan butter and add it to a large bowl. (Note: If you have any leftover you can save it for toast or spreading on fruit.)
- Next mix in coconut sugar, maple syrup, eggs, and vanilla extract until smooth. Stir in coconut flour, baking soda and salt. Fold in chocolate chips.
- Add batter to pan and spread evenly towards the sides. Sprinkle ½ cup chopped raw pecans and 2 tablespoon chocolate chips on top.
- Bake for 20-27 minutes or until crust is golden brown around the edges. It’s best to underbake these blondies a bit to keep them extra fudgy. Mine were perfect around 25 minutes. Sprinkle with sea salt.
- Allow blondies to cool in pan for at least 20 minutes before removing and cutting into 12 blondies. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published on August 8th, 2017, and republished on January 18th, 2024.
My turned out yummy, but more cakey than fudgey… any advise?
Hmmm did you make sure to use just 3 tablespoons of coconut flour? These will get even more fudgy as they sit, too!
These are incredible! Chewy edges, dense fudge center and rich depth of flavor. The pecan butter came together quickly. I used flax eggs and it turned out really well. New favorite!
So good!! Glad you loved them!
These are fudgy and delicious. I’m wondering though why mine didn’t have the light colored crust on top? Mine came out very dark on top as well. Delicious though!
Hmm my only thought is that they could’ve been a tiny bit overbaked. Glad you enjoyed regardless!
How do you never miss?!? I have made SO many of your recipes and they always deliver. These blondies are fantastic – the right amount of chocolate and sweetness and the texture is just right. The 2.5 cups of pecans yielded a little less than a cup once processed, but didn’t seem to effect the end result. Delicious, will make a double batch next time so I can freeze some for later.
Thanks so much, Kimberly! That’s the goal 😉 Glad you loved these!
Can these be made with almond flour instead of coconut?
Hi! I wouldn’t recommend using almond flour because it’s not as absorbent. Oat flour might be a good swap!
Soooo good! Thank you for this incredible recipe!! 🙂
Absolutely! Glad you enjoyed!
This is another prime example of why I ALWAYS Google: Ambitous Kitchen *insert ingredient* when looking for a new recipe. Today it was pecan. Thank you for sharing your gift with us, your recipes never fail.
Amazing! This is the best ❤️ Thanks for always using my site as a resource and for loving my recipes!
These were absolutely amazing! Moist, fudgy and the toasted pecan flavor really comes through. I wish I had made them sooner.
Amazing! I am so glad you gave these a try and are loving them, Kalera.
This looks delicious! Could I use regular flour in place of the coconut flour?
There is a girl claiming your pecan blondies recipe as her on and posting it in her digestive health Facebook group. I have a screenshot. She has a blog to http://www.laurenloliving.com and I have proven that at least 6 of the recipes there she is copied from other food creators and posted, claiming as her own. I have screenshots of them all. She also has recipe books she’s charging money for and no doubt some of these copied recipes are there. Feel free to email me for more info or the screenshot.. Just wanted to make you aware.
These were so delicious!!
I’m one of those people who doesn’t thoroughly read the recipe before starting to make it – I simply make sure I have enough time and the right ingredients. So I was surprised when I got to the part about blending up all the pecans! Personally, I would call these “chocolate chip pecan BUTTER blondies,’ to be more clear….but that’s just for people like me who get started too quickly haha,
Anyway, thank you! So good!
Thanks for the feedback! So happy you ended up loving them!
I am super excited to make these but am wondering if flax eggs would work as I can’t do regular eggs
I haven’t tested that with this recipe but I believe it should work! Let me know if you try it 🙂
I am standing over these eating from the pan with a spoon. So yummy! I used premade pecan butter and added a sprinkle of coconut sugar on top. Tbh they are better the second day!
Yay!! So happy you’re loving them, Renny, and good to know that they taste better the next day 🙂
So yummy! Made for book club and it was a huge hit. The homemade pecan butter really makes the difference.
Right?! So much flavor! Glad to hear you loved them 🙂
Perfection!!! If you can make it past tasting the warm pecan butter and actually make these, they are incredible. Don’t skip the flaky finishing salt, they take these to the next level.
Hahaha so true. Glad you loved these!
This was really good.
Awesome! So happy you enjoyed them, thanks for the review 🙂
These are sooooo delicious – just baked up a batch. Incredibly fluffy, chocolatey, crunchy and salty!
Woohooo! So happy you loved these, Priti!
I modified your recipe as I can’t easily get hold of pecans where I’m based. It turned out exactly as I wanted (a nutella-less Nutella blondie)! I replaced the pecans with hazelnut butter and hazelnuts and I replaced the coconut sugar with brown sugar replacement but kept the maple syrup. It’s perfection! Thank you for sharing this.
This recipe is perfect and one that I have made numerous times. A great gooey blondie with healthy ingredients. Probably one of my favorites on this site 🙂
These are seriously SO amazing and SO addicting! I’ve made them to bring to family gatherings a few times, and even made a vegan version with chia eggs which was equally delicious. Making a pan right now (and not sharing this time!!)
Oh YAY! I’m so happy you’re loving them! Great idea to use chia eggs 🙂
Beyond delicious!! Addictive and satisfying, so so dreamy!! Thank you, will be making these over & over again!
Oh yay!! So, so happy you loved these, Lauren 🙂
I LOVE these blondies!! I can’t even believe there is only 3 TBS of coconut flour. And that you can make such fudgey brownies out of pecan butter. Ive made them twice, and the first time when they rose in the oven they enveloped the pecan and chocolate chip toppings. This time I let them bake a little and then added the toppings before baking them some more. Perfection! Thank you!
Absolutely! Glad you love them 🙂
Just made these and realized I forgot to add in the coconut flour but they still turned out so fluffy and gooey and delicious! I’ll definitely save this as my go to blondie recipe!
I’m glad they still worked out! Yum 🙂
These are the best, come out great every time!
Glad you love them!
My husband is gluten free and misses desserts. These bars are fantastic!! No gritty texture, just amazing funniness!!
So happy to hear that!
These Blondies are incredible! Thank you 😀
So glad you love them!
Excellent recipe and so easy to make. Fudgy, Gooey and Tasty!
Glad you enjoyed!
I can’t rate these because I haven’t made them yet, but they look amazing!
I am thinking of making multiple variations on this recipe. I have a ton of macadamia nuts. Could I use the same ingredients except use macadamia nut butter and white chocolate chips? If so, should I toast the nuts first? Thanks for the great recipe!
I haven’t tried it so I’m not certain it would work, but let me know if you give it a shot. Most macadamia nuts are already roasted, but if your aren’t, yet I would toast them.
I made these wonderfully delicious brownies for Mother’s Day (Yes I made them) but I do love baking! They were so easy and awesome tasting. Very moist! I love using healthy ingredients and then the result was so good! No white all purpose flour!! Great recipe!!
So happy to hear that! The perfect treat 🙂
These were delicious! Even my picky teenager loved them. We topped with a little vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce.
Delicious! Glad you both enjoyed 🙂
I just made these today and they are TO DIE FOR!! I visit your website almost daily and I don’t know how I didn’t discover these sooner!!
So happy you loved them! I hope you keep finding new favorite recipes here 🙂
These are delicious. I’ve made them a few time. They always come out slightly soft. Should I bake them longer or they supposed to be like that?
Another amazing recipe!!! You always knock it out of the park.
So happy you loved these!!
Euphoric is the perfect way to describe how I felt eating these! They are amazing! I just put the banana almond bread (with chocolate chips of course!) in the oven. Thanks for amazing recipes! Keep em coming!
Love that! Hope you keep finding recipes here that you love 🙂
I tried to make this but the measurements seem off bc hers in the video came out fluffy and mine came out flat. I think it should have been 3 cups of the flour instead of tablespoons.
Hi! The recipe is written correctly. Did you add baking soda? They wont be flat if your baking soda is fresh.
This is quite possibly my favorite all time brownie. Amazing flavor and a crowd pleaser!!! I will make this again and again!
One of my favorites, too! Glad you loved it!
Love these grain free pecan blondies.
Hi ,
Would these work well as well with brazil nuts?
Thanks a lot
Hi! I haven’t tried them with brazil nuts, but please let me know if you do!
[…] decided to use the recipe similar to my pecan butter blondies, except this time I wanted to use almond butter and change it up to ensure they’d be extra […]