Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Prepare an 8 x 8-inch (20 x 20-cm) square baking pan by covering with parchment paper. It’s okay if it bunches up in the corners. If the paper comes up a bit over the top of the pan, it’ll help you remove the blondies.

2. Add the flaxseed mixture, oil, sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, and salt to your stand mixer and mix well. (Note: You can certainly do this in a bowl, by hand, if you don’t have a mixer.)

3. Add the flour about ⅓ cup (42 g) at a time and mix until just incorporated. When you’ve added the full cup of flour, the batter will be extra thick. Add the walnuts, mix, then scrape into the prepared pan.

4. Spread the batter as evenly as you can in the prepared pan. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes. You want to slightly underbake these to keep the fudge-like texture, so pull them out before a fork comes out of the middle completely dry.

Tip: Switch out the nuts for chocolate chips if you can’t live without chocolate in your blondies.

This recipe was excerpted from The Easy Vegan Cookbook.

Photo courtesy of the author with illustration by Chloe Bulpin for MBG