Vegan Apple Caramel Chai Blondies
by Olivia Biermann
on Mar 20, 2019 (updated Sep 29, 2025)
These vegan blondies are like brownies without the chocolate! They are soft and chewy, with hints of caramel apples and packed with fall chai spices.
PS: for more delicious vegan dessert recipes, check out my cookbook!
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Vegan Caramel Chai Blondies
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 16 Blondies
Description
Blondies: brownies without the chocolate! And these are caramel-chai flavoured! I promise you will love these chewy, golden treats. They are perfect with a cup of coffee or tea.
Ingredients
- ½ cup vegan butter, melted
- 1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
- ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- In a mixing bowl, add melted vegan butter, brown sugar, apple sauce and vanilla and stir to combine.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Add to wet ingredients and stir to form a thick batter.
- Line an 8×8 square baking pan with parchment paper. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth out the top.
- Bake for 20 minutes until golden and a toothpick or fork inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Allow to cool before slicing.
- Optional step: whisk together 1/4 cup powdered sugar with a few teaspoons of water or almond milk to make a glaze and drizzle overtop before serving.
I doubled this recipe and then realized I only have a 9×13 pan instead of two 8x8s. Do you know if they’ll cook right on a larger pan? I’m about to put them in the oven and idk if they’ll even turn out!
(For some reason unless I gave 3 stars or less it wouldn’t let me leave a comment! So for the record this is a FIVE star recipe!)
These are so freaking delicious!! 🤤 I figured they would be good but wow! So easy and quick to make as well. I’ll be making them again this weekend for a bake sale to raise money for pom poms and bows for local cheerleaders. Yum yum yum!
Substitute the applesauce for pumpkin puree..HEAVEN! Put them in muffin tray… I make these once a week haha. LOVE!
Liv, you’ve done it again! This recipe is SO easy and quick BUT SOOO GOOD! It’s my go-to any time I need to make a party dessert in a pinch and it’s a big crowd favorite. I always add a little extra cinnamon and a drizzle of icing (or even just powdered sugar if I’m lazy). Thanks for this great recipe!!
Just pulled these out of the oven and YOU GUYS!! It is SO EASY and too too yummy!! Perfect for fall.
These are great for the fall! I didn’t have any nutmeg on hand so I added in extra cinnamon which made for the perfect amount of spice! I also used Bob’s egg replacer instead of applesauce. They came out a bit oily but the flavor was great!
These are amazing❤️🤤. I make them all the time and i altered the recipe and made the into cakes as well!!
These are absolutely amazing. Every dessert that I’ve made using your recipes, turn out perfectly and exceeds my expectations as far as taste and quality. My friends and family members go crazy over these blondies and they disappear within minutes! Your dessert recipes are amazing and are definitely my favorite out of your cooking series. Just ordered your book so I cant wait to see some new recipes!
i used earth balance for my butter,
I make these when my boyfriend has his friends over and its gone with in minutes. I don’t do the chai sauce on top, they are delicious
I just made these and they are tasty, but for some reason they turned out more like cake than blondies. I followed the recipe exactly and I’ve been baking for 27 years… not sure what could have gone wrong. Any thoughts?
Which brand of vegan butter did you use?
I used the “melt” brand… did you use earth balance?
I used vegan Becel, which is softer and comes in a tub. I haven’t tried the melt brand so maybe that was your issue!
Okay awesome! I’ll give it a shot. Thank you 🙂
Tried these for the first time, they are a big hit in my house!
I used coconut oil instead of applesauce & they ended up being extremely oily on the top/bottom. I am going to try them again with applesauce to try and achieve the more cakey texture. But still a delicious treat!
These. Are. Amazing!
I’ve been watching Liv for years now, but I never tried a baking recipe of hers. About a year ago I was tested for allergens and sensitivities (after being chronically sick), and found that I was allergic/sensitive to gluten, oat, rye, barley, dairy, and peanuts. It’s been so hard to find anything scrumptious and baked to eat since abiding strictly to that diet. Until now…I subbed the flour for a gluten free all-purpose flour, left out the nutmeg because of someone else’s allergy, and didn’t add the ginger because I didn’t know where I put it. It baked beautifully. These came out AMAZING, and were really easy to make! I’ve never really ventured into making super-scratch baked goods, and wow, I am just so happy right now. These are delicious.
I just made these and a weird thing happened. They came out what I can only describe as a block of caramel! The oil kinda separated a bit from it and it’s really greasy on the top and bottom, and the blondie itself is really compact. It looked fine until around halfway through the baking time. The only thing I can think of is my sugar was a bit darker brown, my butter almost white and I used a flax egg. I also baked it on 175C fan.
Do you know why this might have happened?
Funny thing is this almost exact thing happened the last time I made vegan brownies as well – I was adapting a non-vegan recipe. The butter started bubbling on the top and the whole thing was super compact and hard to chew. But I have no idea what causes it, I used a different butter and egg replacement last time, even a different sugar. Help 🙁
Hi, so sorry to hear that!! Can you tell me the brand of vegan butter? I know some probably have more water content than others so it would be helpful for me to know which kind you used.
Also- sometimes flax eggs can react weirdly in brownies (I have found through my failed attempts) and can also be affected my moisture content in butter used. The applesauce might be a better substitute as it helps with a “cakey” texture.
I made these with a flax egg instead of the applesauce. The batter was quite a bit thinner than yours so I added about another 1/4 C of flour, but I also live in high altitude so that might be why. I baked them for 20 minutes and the middle was still pretty gooey and stuck to a toothpick (again, possibly from the altitude), so I left them in another 5-10 min. After I let them cool almost completely, they were perfect! Nice and light but still chewy, the way blondies should be. The top and edges get this nice caramelized crust which is super duper yummy! Now I just have to try not to eat the whole pan in one sitting. 😉
I was just about to make my third batch of your edible cookie dough(seriously, I can’t get enough of those, soooo good) and this recipe came out. So, I went on and try and this is delicious (it super expensive or impossible to get vegan butter or apple sauce in Japan so I used refined coconut oil and a chia egg instead, but it worked fine). As you said in your video, the spices are there but not overpowering (maybe next time I ll add some more). And the caramel like taste…oh my! Yep, this one is a keeper!!
Thanks again for all the recipes.
Lots of love!
I know I’m going to love these. Melted vegan butter creates such a chewier and softer blondie or bar – more so than creamed butter 🙂
These are in my oven as we speak. What a quick and easy recipe! I did have to change a couple things due to what I had on hand. I used maple sugar instead of brown sugar, which has a very similar texture and a flax egg instead of the applesauce. The dough tastes amazing! Now to wait 10 more minutes until they are out… my house smells AMAZING!